AUDITIONS _ THE EXONERATED - Expressions of Interest — Theatre Australia Forums

A well established, respected and award-winning Melbourne Fringe Theatre company, Hoy Polloy is seeking expressions of interest from actors required for 4 African-American roles (1 x male 30's, 2 x males 40s/50s and 1 x woman 40s/50s) for their forthcoming May/June premiere production of The Exonerated by Jessica Blank and Eric Jensen.

Directed by Chris Baldock - The Laramie Project (winner of the Victorian Green Room Award for Best Fringe/Independent production 2005)

Imagine everything you did between the years of 1976 and 1992. Now remove all of it. Those 16 years were taken away from Sunny Jacobs, convicted and sentenced to death for a crime she did not commit. But her story is not unique. The Exonerated shares the true stories of six innocent survivors of death row. Their stories, told in their own words.

Heart-breaking and uplifting verbatim theatre, The Exonerated is a powerful take on the death penalty. A major hit in New York, Edinburgh and most recently London, it has attracted guest cast names such as Danny Glover, Susan Sarandon, Stockard Channing, Mia Farrow, Alanis Morissette, Gabriel Byrne and Vanessa Redgrave in the past.

With very few exceptions, each word spoken in the play comes from public record: 'found' legal documents, a transcript, a letter or an article about the case. But the vast majority of the piece is as it was said by the actual participants.

The Exonerated relates what it is like to be wrongly accused and convicted, what it is like to be on death row, and what it is like to get out and be in the world again. This is not primarily a play about anger and revenge. It is a play about strength, hope, redemption and forgiveness.

"[A]stark, spellbinding play [and] a profoundly moving excursion through the cracks in the justice system." -- Peter Marks, Washington Post

"An artful and moving evening of documentary theater . . . The play is on the one hand a devastating memorial to injustice but it also pays handsome tribute to the resilience of human hearts and minds." --Charles Isherwood, Variety

"Both compelling and deeply moving... This documentary-style presentation relating the true stories of people exonerated of their crimes while serving on death row is a riveting theatrical experience." --Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

"Intense and deeply affecting"--Ben Brantley, The New York Times

"That rare thing: a piece of theatre that can uncontrovertibly claim to have changed people's lives" - Time Out

" These real-life stories of life on Death Row are gripping, harrowing - but never depressing - highly effective, superbly eloquent - I found myself gripped" - The Daily Telegraph

Please email chris.baldock@gmail.com if you are interested or know of actors who may be and for further information. PLEASE NOTE: Open auditions for the other 6 roles will be held in March. Information regarding these roles will be posted soon.

A profit-share production to be performed at The Mechanics Institute Performing Arts Centre, Corner Glenlyon and Sydney Roads, Brunswick

AUDITIONS _ THE EXONERATED - Expressions of Interest

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