Aug 08, 2024 - 3:30 PM to Aug 12, 2024 - 6:30 PM CDT
Where: KRC - 1 E. Erie, Suite 660
The next script for the AT THE TABLE Table Read Series is Belladonna by Beah Travis. The read will take place at 6 pm on Monday, August 12, with a rehearsal on Thursday, August 8 at 5:30 pm. If you are available on both dates and interested in auditioning, please see the breakdown below. Email Kathy.Byrne@sagaftra.org to request sides and submission details. Please include the name of the character you would like sides for in the subject line of the email. Deadline for submissions is Friday, July 19th at 5:00 pm.
Belladonna by Beah Travis
Logline: After living her life as a devoted wife and mother of five, a housewife helps her husband end his life and embarks on a new chapter of her own.
BILLIE (70s, Lead)
A lifelong, Midwest housewife and mother of five, Billie is in the throes of caring for her dying husband, Pat. And while her life should be winding down, she has the restless energy of a twenty-something. She struggles with the toll of caring for Pat’s every need and how stagnant her life has become. Her best friend, Carol, lives next door but doesn’t dare to dream of new possibilities for their lives; and her daughter, Mary, doesn’t understand her mother’s newfound desire for adventure. Billie finds herself relating most to her 25-year-old granddaughter, Kate, who is living abroad in Paris.
CAROL (70s, Lead)
Carol has lived her life by the expectations set for her in the 1950s. Right out of high school, she married her high school sweetheart, a talented but temperamental musician, and started having children. Carol is intelligent and well-read, but her talents and passions stay bottled up by the rules of an antiquated society and faith. Carol attends church religiously every Sunday, where her husband Gil plays the organ. They seem like the perfect couple to their fellow churchgoers, but behind closed doors, Gil is a mean alcoholic who doesn’t give Carol the time of day. Carol finds peace in the pages of a book, her lush vegetable garden, and through her friendship with Billie.
KATE (late 20s, Supporting)
Kate is your average millennial–raised to do anything only to graduate art school and discover the world is not exactly her oyster. She saved up money working at a restaurant to attend an artist residency in Paris but doesn’t have a plan for when she returns home. Her mother, Mary, wants nothing more than for her to move home and accept the art teacher position at the local elementary school. Kate has no idea where her life is headed; but she knows she doesn’t want to move home and settle down. Or maybe she does? Maybe she would be content with a quiet small town life making art… She’s confused and searching and filled with modern expectations of love, art, and ambition.
MARY (late 40s/early 50s, Supporting)
Mary was tailor-made for her small town Wisconsin life. She’s never had a desire to leave her hometown and happily married her first boyfriend out of high school, ready to start a family. But Mary’s idea of the perfect family hasn’t gone as planned. While she hoped for a large family with lots of kids, she was only able to have one, Kate. And Mary can’t understand why her only daughter won’t move home to be near her and why her own mother seems to resent her life. And while she set out to have the perfect marriage (like she thought her parents had), her husband spends more time at his hunting cabin than at home; so much so that they are spiraling towards a divorce. On top of it all, her dad is dying; and as the only girl in the family, she grew up the apple of his eye.
TOMMY (early 40s, Featured)
Billie’s sweet youngest son and secretly her favorite, Tommy is always there to give his mom a hug, although he is not always there for the hard conversations, which fall to Mary. As a sensitive kid, Tommy avoids conflict and strong emotions because if he engages, he will probably cry. Always naturally athletic, Tommy works as a gym teacher at the local high school.
GIL (70s, Featured)
A talented musician and former high school heart throb, Gil has not aged well. He was always narcissistic but he could at least be charming, at times. Over the years, his charm has faded and been replaced by anger: anger his life didn’t amount to more, anger arthritis is making his music hard to play, anger he’s not the playboy he used to be. He doesn’t pay any attention to his wife, Carol, unless it’s to ask when dinner will be and ignores his grandson, Charlie, on their days to watch him.
HERBIE (50s, Featured)
Ma Wagner’s sweet and loyal son, Herbie, is a true mama’s boy. He can’t bear to think of the day his mom passes, although it will be any day now. To keep her spirits up, he takes her driving around town to see some of her regular customers from over the years.
NARRATOR (70s, Female)
A down-to-earth woman who has raised her family in the same small town in Wisconsin where she was also born and raised. Trips to the grocery store take twice as long because she knows everyone from the person behind the deli counter to the cashier to fellow shoppers, and she takes the time to catch up with them all.
Email Kathy.Byrne@sagaftra.org to request sides and submission details. Please include the name of the character you would like sides for in the subject line of the email.
This event is only open to paid-up SAG-AFTRA members in good standing (paid thru Oct. 31, 2024.) No guests are allowed. Parents/guardians of performers under 18 years old are welcome.
Please note that ADA requests must be received 72 business hours before the start of the event.
