The Annex Theater (baltimoreannextheater.org) immediately seeks a male-identified actor for its upcoming production of Life or Theatre?, directed by Carly J. Bales and adapted from the life and work of visual artist Charlotte Salomon. Rehearsals begin immediately and run through May. Rehearsals and show dates will take place at Annex Theater (219 Park Avenue, Baltimore, MD). This is a non-equity show and artists are provided a stipend compensation for their time. All interested parties should contact [email protected] with a resume/headshot.
CASTING:
DABERLOHN
M. 30-40s Paulinka’s voice teacher. Charlotte’s secret lover. An eccentric renaissance man and passionate intellectual who is the classic embodiment of a wounded male genius / egoist. A charming, infuriating, obsessive man whose emotions and fixations turn on a dime.
ABOUT THE SHOW
Between the years of 1941 and 1943, Charlotte Salomon, an enigmatic young German-Jewish artist exiled in Cote d’Azur, France, painted a massive autobiographical tome of 1299 individual gouache paintings chronicling her dark family history as well as her struggles with love, death, creativity, and self-hood. Salomon then edited the works down to 796 paintings with 340 vellum overlays of text and musical cues to create a visual work she called Life? or Theatre? A Tri-Coloured Play with Music. This artistically uncategorizable, ferocious body of work fuses autobiographical prose and expressionist painting with classical music, opera, cinema, and theater into a singular expression of self – a demand by a young woman to exist in a world that demanded otherwise.
Today, her legacy remains relatively unknown to much of the world but the themes of the work are compelling, pressing, ever-relevant nearly a century later – a woman tackling identity, fate, and confronting what it means to create agency for oneself in order to tell one’s own story on one’s own terms.
REHEARSAL DATES
April – May 2018
SHOW DATES
May 24th – June 17th, 2018
Thursdays – Sundays, 8PM
at Annex Theater, 219 Park Avenue, Downtown Baltimore
ABOUT ANNEX THEATER
Since 2008, the Annex Theater has produced over 46 plays, embarked on three national tours, held community workshops for performance and devising, and become the leader and go-to for experimental theater and interdisciplinary performance in Baltimore. Most importantly, the Annex has helped to create a thriving experimental performance culture in the city that extends beyond the traditional theatre space, constantly embarking into unknown creative territory where risk is everything and the strange is cherished.
The Annex Theater has been consistently recognized and praised as a leader in Baltimore’s experimental theater and performance scene. Annex Theater is Baltimore’s Best Theater (Baltimore Magazine, 2016) and our “big, bold, and unendingly impressive” productions have received such accolades as: Best Company (2016, Baltimore City Paper), Top 5 Plays of the Year (2015, Baltimore Sun), Best Play (2014/2016, Baltimore City Paper), Top 10 Plays of the Year (Multiple Years, Baltimore City Paper), Best Use of Music (2014, Baltimore City Paper), Best Trend – DIY Theater (2009, Baltimore City Paper), Best Director (2010, Baltimore City Paper), Best Short Play (2015, Baltimore City Paper), among others!
