NTAC Audition Notice For:
ON GOLDEN POND
written by Ernest Thompson
directed by Jim Rice
Monday May 13th & Tuesday May14th
7-10 pm
with callbacks on Wed. the 15th.
On Golden Pond is a classic American comedic drama that's every bit as touching, warm, and witty today as when it debuted off Broadway in 1978. Retired couple Ethel and Norman Thayer are spending their 48th summer at their vacation home on Golden Pond, in the woods of Maine. Their delightful summer routine--fishing, picking strawberries, enjoying old mementoes, listening to the loons call--is given a bitterly comedic edge by Norman’s unreliable memory and cantankerously morbid statements. When their daughter Chelsea visits for Norman’s 80th birthday, bringing her boyfriend Bill and Bill’s teenage son, Billy Jr., the whole family must come to grips with Norman and Chelsea’s mutual bitterness, while Norman blossoms with his chance to mentor young Billy. The turbulent relationship between father and daughter, the generation gap between young and old, and the difficulties of a couple in the twilight years of a long marriage, all combine in a play that effortlessly illustrates the hilarious, heartbreaking, human moments of which life is made.
Norman Thayer, Jr.: 60-70 (or able to play 80) all ethnicities. Nearing his eightieth birthday, Norman is flirting with senility and is aware of it enough to use it to his advantage, usually in a humorous way. He walks slowly but upright. He is vigorous and grand. He is very much in love with Ethel, his wife, but doesn’t quite know what to do about their daughter, Chelsea.
Ethel Thayer: 50-70 (or able to play 70) All ethnicities. Norman’s opposite in many ways, his match in many more. Ethel is a spritely, active woman who loves her husband completely and who is in love with simply being alive. She is caregiver, sweetheart, and friend to Norman.
Charlie Martin: 40-45 (or able to play those ages). All ethnicities. The local delivery-by-boat mailman, Charlie is a long-time family friend and a typical Maine down-Easterner. Still single, he has had a life-long crush on Chelsea.
Chelsea Thayer Wayne: 35-45 Attractive, divorced, and in her forties, Chelsea is still dealing with the lack of closeness between her and Norman. She is engaged to Bill Ray, whom she brings to meet her parents.
Billy Ray: 14 or able to play 14. All ethnicities. The fourteen-year-old son of Bill Ray, he is a typical California teenager who comes to spend a month with Norman and Ethel on Golden Pond while his father and Chelsea are in Europe.
Bill Ray: 40-45 all ethnicities. Chelsea’s fiancé and Billy’s father, Bill is definitely not the outdoors type. He is trying his best to make a good impression on Norman and Ethel. tad self-serious but with a good sense of humor when he remembers to use it.