Auditions – The Last Five Years
Director Meg Nemeth and Music Director Rolanda Brown seek four actors for the November production of Jason Robert Brown’s “The Last Five Years”.
An emotionally powerful and intimate musical about two New Yorkers in their twenties who fall in and out of love over the course of five years, the show’s unconventional structure consists of Cathy, the woman, telling her story backwards while Jamie, the man, tells his story chronologically; the two characters only meet once, at their wedding in the middle of the show.
Auditions will be held August 22 and 23 from 7 to 9pm, at the Greenbelt Community Center (15 Crescent Road) in Room 103 with callbacks if needed on August 25 by invitation only. Rehearsals will be primarily Monday and Tuesday evenings and Saturday afternoons until tech week, beginning October 29. Performances will be held November 4, 5, 6, 11, 12, 13, 18, and 19 (Fridays and Saturdays at 8pm, Sundays at 2pm)
For the audition, please sign up here to reserve a ten-minute audition slot. Walk-up auditions will be accommodated if time permits. Please prepare 32 bars of music from a contemporary musical, and come prepared to list all conflicts from August 29 through October 28. No conflicts will be permitted for tech week or performances.
We are double casting the show. Each character will perform as either Jamie or Cathy for 4 shows and will perform as non-speaking characters for the other 4 shows. This will allow for understudies if the need arises.
Character Breakdown
Cathy Hiatt (female identifying)
Character arcs from an ambitious, fresh-faced girl in a new relationship to a woman stunned by a betrayal and a divorce that she is only beginning to understand.
Gender: Female
Age: 25 to 35
Vocal range top: D#5
Vocal range bottom: F3
Jamie Wellerstein (male identifying)
Character arcs from an ambitious guy with a dazzling career on a promising first date to someone who is blinded by success and ego. He is very lovable, yet makes unintentional choices that sabotage his own happiness.
Gender: Male
Age: 25 to 35
Vocal range top: Bb4
Vocal range bottom: A2
The Greenbelt Arts Center strives to be an open and welcoming place for all. As such, we encourage performers of all races and ethnicities, gender identities, sexualities, abilities, and ages to attend every audition. We encourage our directors to use color-conscious casting and to otherwise limit their casting choices only when specifically stated in the script.
In further support of our goal of inclusive casting, GAC will strive to implement known and creative solutions in order to aid actors who require accommodations that might otherwise be barriers to participation. While we cannot guarantee all possible accommodations, we encourage actors who anticipate requiring further assistance to contact director Meg Nemeth or producer Pamela Northrup with questions about how GAC can best meet your needs.
Casting and Audition Policy
As part of our ongoing effort to be an inclusive and welcoming space, the Greenbelt Arts Center requires that all productions follow our audition and casting policy, which can be found in full here. Production teams are not to limit casting choices unless a script specifies that an actor portraying that character must fit a specific demographic (ex. August Wilson’s plays, Lynn Nottage’s Sweat, the musical Hairspray.)
GAC will work with actors to accommodate needs within our capabilities as a non-profit organization, and is always open to suggestions about how we can improve the experience for all volunteers.