Announcing Auditions For A Bad Year for Tomatoes

November 16 & 18 From 6:00-8:00pm at

Garrison players arts center

No appointments necessary - please arrive by 6:00 PM.

Callbacks (if necessary) will be on Thursday, November 19 by appointment

Synopsis:

Gracious, glamorous Myra Marlowe, fed up with fame after an exceptionally lengthy career as a television actress, retreats to a small new England town, planning to live quietly and anonymously, write her juicy autobiography, and grow her own tomatoes. The complaints of her faithful agent and less faithful lover that she is throwing herself away on a backwards backwater of a town, fall on deaf ears, until she gets to know her neighbors: Reba and Cora, the Hospitality Ladies, full of rapid fire gossip and rapid fire questions; woodcutter Piney who terrifies his victims with the force of his sales pitch, and Willa Mae Wilcox, the widow woman with the purple shutters on her house, who put a voodoo curse on her husband. With these colorful characters inviting themselves over at every hour of the day, Myra gets no time to write, and in frustration, invents a dangerous, mentally disturbed sister—based on her first, best-known TV role, Sis Sadie—to frighten away her neighbors and give her some peace and quiet. However, the upstanding citizens of Beaver Haven react in unexpected ways to Sadie’s shrill, childlike charms and sad plight, and before her charade is over, Myra finds herself accused of murder! A Bad Year for Tomatoes, John Patrick’s ridiculously clever comedy, with brisk and uproarious dialogue and sharp comedic characters is delightful!

Audition Requirements:

Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script.

Please complete the online audition form. Headshots & resumes welcome but not required

Character Breakdown

• • Myra Marlowe (Female)

    • Description: A famous, glamorous television actress who is exhausted by the pressures of Hollywood and fame. She retreats to the quiet New England hamlet of Beaver Haven to write her autobiography and grow tomatoes. To get rid of her intrusive neighbors, she invents "Sis Sadie"—a deranged, homicidal fictional twin sister whom she supposedly keeps locked upstairs. 

  • Tom Lamont (Male)

    • Description: Myra’s loyal long-time agent (and less-than-faithful romantic admirer). He tries to convince her that she is wasting her career in a sleepy backwater town and urges her to return to Los Angeles and marry him.

  • Reba Harper (Female)

    • Description: One of the local "Hospitality Ladies" of Beaver Haven. Along with Cora, she is full of rapid-fire gossip, endless nosy questions, and an unyielding desire to pry into Myra’s private life.

  • Cora Gump (Female)

    • Description: The other half of the local neighborhood welcoming/gossip committee. She frequently invites herself over at all hours to check on Myra and exchange town news.

  • Piney (Male)

    • Description: An eccentric, aggressive local handyman and woodcutter who sells manure, chops wood, kills hogs, and traps skunks. He surprisingly develops a soft spot and romantic affection for Myra’s fake, batty "sister Sadie" (Myra in a fright wig).

  • Willa Mae Wilcox (Female)

    • Description: A local widow living in a house with purple shutters who reportedly put a voodoo curse on her late husband. Like the other church and community ladies, she takes it upon herself to try and "save the soul" of Myra's troubled imaginary sister. 

  • Sheriff (Male)

    • Description: The local law enforcement officer. He gets pulled into the chaos when Myra desperately announces that her fake sister has suddenly run off to Boston, sparking wild town suspicions and an investigation into alleged murder.