Love, Loss & What I Wore – our Studio Diner Theatre Production

Auditions – SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9 – 12:30-2:30 pm

Callbacks – MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11 – 7:30-9 PM

Cast Requirements: Minimum of 5 Roles – Mid 20’s – 60’s

Director – Nikki Ameling

Rules for Living

Auditions – SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 9 – 12:30-2:30 pm

Callbacks – MONDAY, NOVEMBER 11 – 7:30 pm

Cast Requirements: 7 Roles (3m/4f); flexible with age just have to be 18+ to audition; British (RP) accents; comfortable with getting messy and fight/movement

Director – Allison Granat

Everyone creates their own coping strategies or “rules for living.” But what happens when an extended family gathers in the kitchen for a traditional Christmas and they each follow those rules, rigidly? As long-held mechanisms for survival are laid bare, even Mum, who’s been preparing this lunch since last January, becomes embroiled. Time-honored rivalries and resentments will out. Accusations fly, relationships deconstruct, the rules take over. In Sam Holcroft’s theatrically playful, dark comedy the instructions are there for all to see, audience included – so there’s really no place to hide.

For example:

Rule #1 Matthew must sit to tell a lie

Rule #2 Carrie must stand to tell a joke

Rule #3 Sheena must drink to contradict

…and so it goes and the mayhem increases. Flying food may be involved.

Vision/Concept: The whole family is home for Christmas dinner, and with many things left unspoken, every player must play by the rules to keep the peace. The audience is clued in on the exact rules each character must enact (ie. Matthew must sit to tell a lie), and will be able to watch as the characters begin to rack up points on the scoreboard.  The characters, however, are just living their life–however absurd that may become over the events of the play. Rules for Living is a show that explores the masks and performances we put on for ourselves and those we love; and the extreme lengths we’ll go to live within an arbitrary set of rules for living our daily lives. 

Character Descriptions:

Matthew: (30’s), boyfriend of Carrie; well-spoken, a gift for theatrics, and a bit dodgy-a standard lawyer, which he just so happens to be.

Carrie: (late 20’s-30’s), girlfriend of Matthew and an aspiring actress; loud and a bit chaotic, in a quirky way; has a crass sense of humor and loves a good jig. 

Sheena: (40’s), married to Adam; witty, calm, and reserved, but has an affinity for wine and allows her contradictory nature to lash out whilst imbibing; once was the girl-next-door, but life has begun to drag her down.

Adam: (40’s), married to Sheena; a cricket player once on the road to success, but now is a lawyer and is always in the shadow of his younger brother; skilled with voices/accents which he weaponizes in his mocking tendencies.

Edith: (60’s), married to Francis, mother of Adam and Matthew; has always been the glue that held the family together, even at her own expense; a ticking time bomb that self-medicates to maintain her ever-fraying composure; sweet and demure until the other shoe drops.

Francis: (60’s), married to Edith, father of Adam and Matthew, almost mute and using a wheelchair; can be a bit crass and grabby; actor should be comfortable with light improv.

Emma: (18-20’s) Fourteen year-old daughter of Adam and Sheena; has depression and anxiety, but is trying her best.