Audition for ‘Drop Dead’

Auditions for the comedy “Drop Dead!” are at 7 p.m. Sunday and Monday, July 13 and 14, in the Black Box Theater of The Phipps Center for the Arts, 109 Locust St.

Director Keith Isaacson is looking for seven men and three women for character roles — a variety of ages are needed from 20s to beyond retirement for both men’s and women’s roles. All will be asked to read from the script.

This murder/mystery farce is by Billy Van Zandt and Jane Milmore. A group of pathetic has-been and never-been actors attempt to revive their careers in “Drop Dead!” This potboiler murder mystery is directed by “the wonderchild of the Broadway stage,” Victor Le Pewe, now a psychotic, eye-twitching megalomaniac.

Starring in the production are Mona Monet, TV star/diva best known for her starring role in “My Little Mona;” Constance Crawford, senile, deaf and partially blind stage star of the ’20s; Brent Reynolds, female heartthrob and method actor; Candy Apples, the producer’s gum-snapping, bustier-wearing girlfriend; Chaz Looney, the apprentice actor; and Dick Shalit, film critic Gene Shalit’s look-alike brother.

During dress rehearsals, things go awry as the set falls down, props break, and producer Sol Weisenheimer and actor Hal Holst are mysteriously murdered.

During the opening night performance, the murders continue.

The remaining thespians must save the show and their own careers while trying to solve the mystery and stay alive until the curtain call.

Tickets

Ten performances are scheduled Sept. 12-Oct. 5 on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays, Sept. 21 and Oct. 5, at 2:30 p.m. on the main stage.

Isaacson previously staged “Drop Dead!” in 2000 for The Phipps. Most recently he staged “Over the River and Through the Woods,” “Nunsense II,” “I Do, I Do” and “45 Seconds from Broadway.”

For more information, call The Phipps Center at (715) 386-2305.

Tags: entertainment, hudson, phipps, drop_dead, auditions