Pentacle Theatre
Pentacle Theatre presents Black Comedy
What: Open auditions for Black Comedy
Written by Peter Schaffer. Directed at Pentacle Theatre by Debbie Neel
When: 1 p.m. – 5 p.m., Saturday, Apr 19.
Where: Pentacle Theatre, 324 52nd Ave. NE Salem OR 97304
Casting call:
- Casting actors able to play 5 male-presenting roles, and 3 female-presenting roles
- For a full list of roles, genders, and ages, visit pentacletheatre.org/auditions.
- Pentacle Theatre affirms, promotes, and celebrates the participation of all, without regard to race, color, sex, disability, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, or socioeconomic status.
Things to know:
- Doors open at 12:30 p.m. and open auditions for all roles begin promptly at 1 p.m. Please be on time and plan to stay through 5 p.m.
- Please arrive early to fill out an audition form. We encourage you to download the form at PentacleTheatre.org/auditions and complete it in advance. Please write clearly, especially your contact information. Headshots and resumes are not required but are always appreciated.
- Bring your calendar and provide a complete list of your conflicts through July 19, 2025. If you have a conflict with the audition date, please contact the director.
Additional Information —
Callbacks: TBA if needed.
Rehearsals:
- Generally, 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays, beginning April 22 or 23.
- The director will set weekend rehearsals and work sessions as needed. Please keep this in mind when providing your list of conflicts.
- Rehearsals will be scheduled to make the best use of everyone’s time. Cast members are required to attend every rehearsal once Black Comedy moves into the theatre. If you have questions about rehearsals, please contact the director.
The story:
- Lovesick and desperate, sculptor Brindsley Miller has embellished his apartment with furniture and objects d’arte “borrowed” from the absent antique collector next door, hoping to impress his fiancée’s pompous father and a wealthy art dealer. The fussy neighbor, Harold Gorringe, returns just as a blown fuse plunges the apartment into darkness and Brindsley is revealed. Unexpected guests, aging spinsters, errant phone cords, and other snares impede his frantic attempts to return the purloined items before light is restored.
The characters: Casting actors able to play the following roles, genders:
- Brindsley Miller – male presenting, lead. A young sculptor, mid-twenties, intelligent and attractive, but nervous and uncertain of himself.
- Carol Melkett – female presenting, lead. Brindsly’s fiancée. A young debutante; very pretty, very spoiled, very sill. Her sound that is an unmistakable, terrifying debutante quack.
- Miss Furnival – female presenting, lead. A middle-aged lady. Prissy and refined. Clad in the blouse and sack shirt of her gentility, her hair in a bun, she reveals only the repressed gestures of the middle-class spinster – until alcohol undoes her.
- Harold Corringe – male presenting, lead. The bachelor owner of an antique-china shop, and Brindsley's neighbour, Harold comes from the North of England. His friendship is highly conditional and possessive: sooner or later, payment for it will be asked. A specialist in emotional blackmail, he can become hysterical when slighted, or (as inevitably happens) rejected. He is older than Brindsley by several years.
- Clea – female presenting, supporting role. Brindsley's ex-mistress. Mid-twenties; dazzling, emotional, bright, and mischievous. The challenge to her is to create a dramatic situation out of the darkness is ultimately irresistible.
- Schuppanzigh – male presenting, supporting role. A German refugee, chubby, cultivated, and effervescent. He is an entirely happy man, delighted to be in England, even if it means being employed full time by the London Electricity Board.
- Colonel Melkett – male presenting, supporting role. Carol's commanding father. Brisk, barky, yet given to sudden vocal calms which suggest a deep alarming instability. It is not only the constant darkness which gives him his look of wide-eyed submission.
- George Bamberger – male presenting feature role. An elderly millionaire art collector, easily identifiable as suck. Like Schuppanzigh, he is German.
Pentacle Theatre affirms, promotes, and celebrates the participation of all, without regard to race, color, sex, disability, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identity, ethnicity, national origin, age, religion, or socioeconomic status.
Show dates: June 27 – July 19, 2025
- Cast members may be required to make special appearances for marketing purposes in the weeks before the show opens.
Suitability: Black Comedy is suitable for ages 12 and up.
Information: If you have questions or a conflict on the audition date, please contact director Debbie Neel at dneel17@gmail.com or 503-991-1479.