Auditions: Centennial Station Arts Center (121 South Centennial St., High Point). 
Monday, December 18 @ 7:00 PM (sign in begins 6:30)
Tuesday, December 19 @ 7:00 PM (sign in begins 6:30)
Callbacks (by invitation) Wednesday, December 20 @ 7:00 pm

Performances: February 22-25, 2018 at High Point Theatre
Thursday 2/22 @ 7:30 PM
Friday 2/23 @ 7:30 PM
Saturday 2/24 @ 2:00 PM and 7:30 PM
Sunday 2/25 @ 2:00 PM

Directed by Jordan Beswick
Music Directed by Mike Lasley

MUSIC BY Tom Kitt
BOOK & LYRICS BY Brian Yorkey

All roles available (16 and up). Please prepare 1-1.5 minutes of a song in the style of the show. Bring sheet music in the proper key; an accompanist will be provided. CD will be accepted, but not preferred. A capella auditions are strongly discouraged. 

Character descriptions and required audition monologues are listed below.

If you are unable to attend auditions, a video audition is acceptable. Send videos, completed audition form and a complete conflict calendar to hpct.info@gmail.com with "Next to Normal Audition" in the subject line. Video auditions must be received NO LATER than 6:00 pm on December 18. 

ABOUT THE SHOW

Next to Normal, with book and lyrics by Brian Yorkey and music by Tom Kitt, explores how one suburban household copes with crisis and mental illness. Winner of three 2009 Tony Awards, including Best Musical Score and the 2010 Pulitzer Prize, Next to Normal was also chosen as "one of the year's ten best shows" by critics around the country, including The Los AngelesTimes, The Washington Post, Rolling Stone and The New York Times.

Dad's an architect; Mom rushes to pack lunches and pour cereal; their daughter and son are bright, wise-cracking teens, appearing to be a typical American family. And yet their lives are anything but normal because the mother has been battling manic depression for 16 years. Next to Normaltakes audiences into the minds and hearts of each character, presenting their family's story with love, sympathy and heart.

This deeply moving piece of theatre provides a wonderful opportunity for performers to explore dramatic material and showcase vocal talents with an energetic pop/rock score. Next to Normal is an emotional powerhouse that addresses such issues as grieving a loss, ethics in modern psychiatry, and suburban life.

CHARACTER BREAKDOWN & VOCAL REQUIREMENTS

Diana: Late 30s to early 40s - bipolar - delusional - manic depressive. Still, attractive, appealing, quick witted. Vocal range G below middle C to high G - strong mix to a D

Natalie: Must read 16 - Diana's daughter, bright and attractive, she craves her mother’s affection and attention and gets none. Vocal range G below middle C to high G - strong mix to E flat.

Dan: Early to mid 40s - Diana's husband - good looking, patient, kind, but exhausted by family circumstances. Vocal range B below written middle C to high A full voice and to high D flat falsetto.

Gabe: Diana's son, must read 18. Charming, fun, energetic, carefree...BTW he's a ghost, or actually part of Diana's delusion. Vocal range C (written middle C) to high A full voice and high D (above staff) falsetto.

Henry: Must read 17. Natalie's boyfriend, romantic, a musician, solid, but lazy. A “stoner”. Vocal range low A below written middle C to high G full voice and high A falsetto.

Dr. Madden/Dr. Fine: Played by the same actor. Age range 35-50. Dr. Fine is a psychopharmacologist, practical, maybe a bit cold. Dr. Madden Diana's psychiatrist, described in the script as a “rock star” in that way that doctors can be perceived as saviors, confident and unflappable. Vocal ranges low A below written middle C to high A flat full voice.

MONOLOGUES

(If you wish to be considered for multiple roles, please come prepared with both appropriate monologues. ie. Dan and Dr. Madden/Fine or Gabe and Henry)

FOR ACTORS AUDITIONING FOR – DIANA

Sometimes I’ll be sitting in my room…or even out here…and everything will take on a dreamlike quality; people, the room, everything…like it isn’t really happening. At first I could snap out of it almost immediately. But now, it hits me and I can’t shake it. This feeling of sheer terror comes over me. God, I don’t know what to do. I sit there panic stricken, for no reason at all. People around me go about their business. I don’t think they even know I’m having a problem. And then it passes.

FOR ACTORS AUDITIONING FOR – NATALIE

I have out of body experiences. No. C’mon. I don’t mean any of this to be taken literally. Sometimes I just get too “in-my-head.” That’s the best way to describe it. I shrink down inside myself and become an observer who is capable of functioning alongside the actors. You know what I mean by actors? Not like stage actors. Just “actors” as in people who have no problem fitting in. They’re all cast in their parts. They all know what to do. And then there’s me. I just watch and I have no idea what everybody is talking about. And this isn’t how I am all the time or anything but I’ll get into certain situations where, like, people are being too civilized or taking themselves too seriously or doing things I can’t go along with and instead of catching on, I get totally left behind.

FOR ACTORS AUDITIONING FOR – DAN

He’s just right there, you know? Look at him, and he looks back. Smile, and he smiles. You just barely touch the inside of his hand, he curls those little fingers up and holds on…he’s just ready! For the whole world! Scares me, you know? Wake up in a sweat sometimes, dreaming how I’m gonna screw him up. But I figure, while he’s still real little, I can’t mess with his head. And what I do for him is…real. Change his diapers…feed him…take him out to see the world! No one can say he doesn’t need all that! He does! And I can give it to him! I wish I could nurse him! You know? To give your kid the milk from your own breast…to know you were his only source of life! How could you feel like a washout? You couldn’t.

FOR ACTORS AUDITIONING FOR – GABE

We should vote for Dumbo because it’s about this little guy with long stupid ears that make him look different and sets him apart and is ridiculed because of them. The neighbors all gossip about him and his mom and make fun of him and think he’s stupid and worthless. All seems lost until he realizes that the trait you have about you that’s the most odd and inspires the most hatred in others can become your greatest asset. All it takes is a little faith in yourself and soon those long stupid ears you tripped over, that kept you face down in the mud beneath the feet of the mediocre population become the very wings which allow you to soar above their heads and see and do things they’ve never dreamed of.

FOR ACTORS AUDITIONING FOR - HENRY

I went grocery shopping with my mother last week, and she put a box of tampons in the cart. They were right there for everyone to see, right on top of the Pop Tarts. When we got to the checkout line, Dan Sherman was bagging. He’s in my English class. He saw the tampons right away and smiled at me, real big, like they were my tampons. The next day, he stopped me in front of the lockers and said, ”Hey how’d those tampons work out for your old lady?” And I said, “Menstruation is a natural part of a woman’s life cycle. I’m sure your mother menstruates too.” And he turned red and said I shouldn’t talk about his mother and I should shut my mouth. And then he beat the hell out of me.

FOR ACTORS AUDITIONING FOR - DR MADDEN/DR FINE

Cancer is awesome. How does it do it? The intercellular regulatory mechanisms-especially for proliferation and differentiation-the malignant neoplasia just don’t get it. You grow normal cells in tissue culture in the lab, and they replicate just enough to make a nice, confluent monolayer. They divide twenty times, or fifty times, but eventually they conk out. You grow cancer cells, and they never stop. No contact inhibition whatsoever. They just pile up, they keep replicating forever. They got a funny name for it. Immortality in culture.