November 4, 2009

SMACKBANG (Auckland) TO HOLD OPEN AUDITIONS FOR TWO MALE ROLES IN FLIPSIDE

The first play the exciting year Auckland’s SmackBang Theatre has planned for 2010 is Flipside by Ken Duncum. We will be holding auditions for it on 14 & 15 November. These auditions are open to all professionals; part of our aim at SmackBang is to be as open as we possibly can.

Flipside has a cast of 4 men and we will be auditioning for 2 of them:

Please contact us – e: smackbang@gmail.com – if you are a professional actor and fit the criteria below:

Rick
25-35 years old. Any ethnicity. Rick is the strongest sailor and the most resourceful of the foursome; however this is balanced by the fact that he spends half of the play dying of cancer. The actor needs to be strong and tough, but also be able to convey a man dying of cancer and frustrated at his inability to ever be the man he was again.

John
40-50 years old. Any ethnicity. Strong. Is a stubborn set-in-his-ways sailor. It is his fault that their vessel capsized but never admits it. John is not all bad; fear and guilt drive his decision-making as much as his stubbornness. The actor needs to be a salt of the earth type.

Auditions:  Rick- 14th November, 2009
                     John-15th November, 2009
Rehersals: Feb 8- March 3, 2010
Performance: March 4 – 14, 2010
Fee: Minimum $600 per week

Director: Charles Unwin
Producer: Tainui Tukiwaho

Synopsis:

Adapted from the book ‘Capsize’, Flipside is the true story of the incredible survival of four men trapped on an upturned yacht for 119 days. By turns comic, tragic and uplifting, it is a fundamentally human drama of characters in life-or-death conflict with the elements, with each other and with themselves.

Jim Nalepka, a young American on a working holiday in NZ, light-heartedly embarks on what he thinks will be a short and easy voyage to the sunny South pacific. A novice sailor, he instead finds himself caught in a desperate fight for survival. Jim is challenged on every level – not least in keeping peace in the fractious crew of four very different men jammed together in a space the size of a double bed.

Ultimately, Jim’s experience on the upturned Rose Noelle changes his whole view of life and relationships. He forms strong bonds, particularly with his friend Rick – which is then tested in the aftermath of their voyage when Rick develops terminal cancer. Jim opts to nurse Rick and strives to draw some meaning out of what seems to be a malignant twist of fate. Over their last days together, the two critical periods of their friendship interweave – the similarities of both life-and-death struggles coming into sharp focus.

Thanks to the compassionate and insightful testimony of Jim Nalepka, Flipside is far more than an adventure story. It’s a privileged glimpse into male friendship, and an affirmation of life and hope in the face of an arbitrary universe.

SmackBang Theatre Co.
PO Box 68312
Newton
AUCKLAND
p: +64 (0)21 179 0111
     +64 (0)21 303 106
e: smackbang@gmail.com