Audition call for Okanagan College theatre troupe’s annual stage production

KELOWNA – Holy stage fright, Batman! Okanagan College’s Red Dot Players theatre troupe is seeking actors to perform in its sixth annual theatrical production, the comic book comedy A.K.A. Fangirl. Auditions will be held Nov. 4, 6, and 8 at the Kelowna campus lecture theatre.

This will be the inaugural stage production of A.K.A. Fangirl, which was written by playwright and Okanagan College English Professor Jeremy Beaulne. Uniquely, Beaulne will also direct the play.

“I'm a bit nervous about directing my own play. Ideally, a director should have some distance from the material being directed,” says Beaulne. “At the same time, I'm excited at the prospect of tackling some of the directorial challenges I built into the script.”

He points to an example on the first page of A.K.A. Fangirl’s script, where a character levitates. “I'm looking forward to finding out how exactly we’ll achieve that effect!”

Blurring the lines between reality and a world of comic superheroes, the play focuses on protagonist Nichelle O’Neil, a high school student and aspiring comic book creator. During her adventures at Fanaconda Fest, a science fiction convention, her world is juxtaposed with the adventures of the Midnight Sentinels, the superhero characters she has conjured for the graphic novel she is writing.

The play is seeking nine actors: five men and four women, with most of the actors playing more than one role. For a detailed character list and an audition schedule, visit www.reddotplayers.com. Evening and weekend rehearsals will commence in January 2016, and public performances will be in March. Actors must be a minimum of 17 years old, and roles are on a volunteer basis.

Those interested in auditioning can email Jeremy Beaulne at jbeaulne@okanagan.bc.ca to book an audition time. Actors will not be required to memorize any material prior to their auditions.

In addition to seeking actors, the production is seeking volunteers for the crew, including a stage manager, a costume coordinator, a prop coordinator, a sound designer, and a set designer.

The Red Dot Players is a theatre troupe for Okanagan College students, alumni, employees and community members and is based at the Kelowna campus. Previous productions include The Beaux' Stratagem (2011), Blithe Spirit (2012), Les Belles-Soeurs (2013), The Government Inspector (2014), and The Black Bonspiel of Wullie MacCrimmon (2015). This year’s production, A.K.A. Fangirl, won “Best Full-Length Play” in Theatre BC’s 2014 Provincial Playwriting Competition.