Auditions!

CHARACTER BREAKDOWNS:

(8 female; 7 male – Approximate role distribution; Subject to change)

Note: Gender and age is how the character reads onstage. Also, ethnicities are open, but some characters have to “match” as they are playing each other.

Narrator – (Female, any age, any ethnicity) Brit – Lead – Basically Agatha Christie, who helps to move the story along.

Young Jane Finn / Porter Boy / Page – (Teen Girl, any ethnicity) – Young Jane Finn is on the Lusitania and agrees to an important mission; the Porter Boy is Cockney and helps Tuppence and Tommy with their adventure; the Page works at the Ritz and delivers telegrams.

Danvers (Amer or Brit) / Superintendent (Brit) / Kramenin (Russian) – (30s+, Male, any ethnicity) Danvers is on the Lusitania carrying important papers; the Super relays information on a former office occupant; Kramenin is a Russian conspirator working to cause a revolution in England.

Prudence “Tuppence” Cowley – (20s-30s, Female, British but can speak with an American accent, any ethnicity) – Lead, energetic, clever, tenacious; creates the “Young Adventurers” to make money and becomes embroiled in espionage.

Tommy Beresford – (30s+, Male, British, any ethnicity) Lead, charming, resourceful, quick-thinking, and devoted to Tuppence, also becomes embroiled in dangerous espionage.

Mrs. Carter (British Gov’t Agent) – (40s+, female, supporting role) Works for the British government and sends Tommy and Tuppence on an “unofficial” mission; firm, business-like, but not unfriendly.

Julius P. Hersheimmer (American with Western drawl) – (30s+, male, any ethnicity, inherited wealth from a rich uncle; is seeking his long, lost cousin, Jane Finn; a bit over-zealous in his enthusiasm to join the adventure.

Edward Whittington (Brit) / Conrad (Cockney) / Prime Minister (Brit) / George – (40s+, Male, any ethnicity) Whittington is a conspirator against England, cunning, cautious, mercurial; Conrad (Cockney) is also a conspirator in different scenes; PM is the PM; George is a driver assisting Julius.

Waitress / Mrs. Marguerite “Rita” Vandemeyer (Brit) / Dr. Rolance / Ambassador’s Wife – (40s+, Female, any ethnicity) – Rita is an upper-class British conspirator, poised and deadly; Dr. Rolance is attending to an amnesia patient and can be any nationality; Other characters are Ensemble parts.

Boris Ivanovitch (Russian) / Clerk 2 / Mr. Carter – (40s+, Male, any ethnicity) Russian conspirator against England, self-assured, aggressive; Other characters are Ensemble parts.

Sir James Peel Edgerton – (40s+, White, Male, British) A well-known, high-powered King’s Counsel (lawyer) who agrees to help in the search for Jane Finn; charming and trustworthy.

Clerk 1 / German Conspirator / Coroner / Drunk / Amer Ambassador – (30s+, Male, any ethnicity) German conspirator “chairs” the ring until “Number 1” shows up, aggressive, threatening; Coroner easily accepts accidental overdose to avoid an inquest; Drunk is actually a conspirator after Tuppence.

Woman 1 / Servant Woman (Cockney) / Irish Conspirator / Dr. Hall – (30s+, Female, any ethnicity) – Servant is a surly Cockney (a deadpan and funny cameo); Irish conspirator is an Irish Revolutionary assisting in starting an uprising in England; Dr. Hall can be from any country and works at a mental institution.

Woman 1 / Maid / English Conspirator / Cook / Nurse Edith (Amer) – (20s+, Female, any ethnicity) English conspirator in the ring; Nurse Edith pretends to be Jane Finn; other characters are Ensemble bits.

Waitress / Annie / Jane Finn / Annette (French) – (20s+, Female, American who can speak French) Annie is a maid leaving her position and bad-mouthing her employer; Jane Finn is now grown and a victim of amnesia – she can’t remember anything before the sinking of the Lusitania; Annette is a French “prisoner” of the conspirators.