Auditions for Agatha Christie's THE UNEXPECTED GUEST

Director
KEITH PAUL
Stage Manager
TARYN GLASSER

 PERFORMANCE DATES:    
Saturday, Sept 22, 2018 | 8PM
Sunday, Sept 23, 2018 | 2PM
Friday, Sept 28, 2018 | 8PM
Saturday, Sept 29, 2018 | 8PM
Sunday, Sept 30, 2018  | 2PM

Monday, June 25, 2018 at 7:00pm (by appointment)
Tuesday, June 26, 2018 at 7:00pm (by appointment)
                                  
All roles are open to audition. We are seeking 7 men and 3 women for this production.  Auditioners are asked to prepare a short monologue (one to two minutes in length) of their choosing that fits with the style of the production.  Auditioners will be asked to read from the script (reading copies are available from the production office).
 
Rehearsals will be held three nights per week on Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday evenings from 7:00-10:00pm beginning Sunday, July 29th. There will be a read-thru for all cast on Monday, July 16th at 7:00PM.

Tech week rehearsals will be Sunday through Thursday, September 16-20, 2018.  We do ask that Friday, September 21, 2018 be held in case an additional tech week rehearsal is needed.  The pickup rehearsal will be held on Thursday, September 27, 2018.
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If you are unable to make the mandatory tech week rehearsals and/or pickup rehearsal, we will be unable to cast you in this production.

The Warner Stage Company is a regional community theatre company and does not offer compensation or housing for performers.

CALLBACKS:        
​Wednesday, June 27, 2018 at 7:00pm (if needed)
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AUDITIONS BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

Click on "READ MORE" (below the audition appointment request form) for information about the show, as well as full character descriptions. ​

ABOUT THE SHOW
One of Agatha Christie’s most ingenious murder mysteries! Through the thick fog of the English countryside, a lost traveler whose car has broken down stumbles up to a manor house looking for assistance… only to find the owner of the house, Richard Warwick, shot dead in his wheelchair and his wife standing nearby holding a gun. Warwick was a detestable brute hated by his entire household, so when the wife confesses to the murder, the unexpected guest agrees to give her an alibi. But when the police arrive and begin their investigation, they discover that no alibis are foolproof and that no members of the family are free from the entanglements that Richard Warwick tied them up in.  Remarkably, the police clues point to a man who died two years previously but as the ghosts of a past wrong begin to emerge, a tangled web of lies reveals family secrets and chilling motives, where the real murderer turns out to be the greatest mystery of all.
 
“There is an ingenious display of suspects, as if lids were being taken off wells of depravity and hastily put back." - Lawrence Kitchin, The Observer
 
"The impact is tremendous... Just when the murder seems solved ... Miss Christie pulls her almighty knock out punch. I admit her complete victory." - London Evening Standard
 
“It kept last night's audience in a state of stunned uncertainty; guessing wrongly to the last.”  - Philip Hope-Wallace, The Guardian
 
CHARACTER LIST (ALL ROLES ARE OPEN)
 All ages are just a suggestion and will be adjusted to fit the needs of our casting.

LAURA WARWICK (Female, 30s) – The loving and caring wife of Richard Warwick. A longstanding sufferer of her husband’s emotional abuse, she is plagued with nervousness and anxiety… never knowing who she can trust or who she can put her faith in.
 
MICHAEL STARWEDDER (Male, 30s-40s) – The lost traveler who happens upon the family murder. A shrewd and quick-thinking man of action, a bit rough around the edges but so personable that people will talk to him when they won’t talk to each other.
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MRS. WARWICK (Female, 50s+) – Richard Warwick’s mother and the commanding matron of the house.  An indomitable and realistic woman, she holds no illusions about the monster her son had become and what he has done to the people she loves.
 
JAN WARWICK (Male, late teens-early 20s) - Richard’s nineteen year old half-brother.  Sweet, imaginative, and sly… but prone to bouts of awkward hyperactivity and a lack of behavioral constraint that caused Richard to torment the boy mercilessly.
 
MISS BENNETT (Female 40s-50s): Alert, brisk, and showing marks of the ex-hospital nurse, Benny is the family caretaker and confidant.  She suffers no fools and is unwilling to say or hear anything disparaging about the Warwick family.
 
INSPECTOR THOMAS (Male, 40s-50s) - Your typical English police inspector—poker-faced and drily sarcastic.  He is keenly observant and sympathetic to the family’s plight, but not at the expense of discovering the truth.

JULIAN FARRAR (Male, 30s-40s) - Next-door neighbor and good friend to Richard, Laura and the Warwicks.  Handsome, smooth and with a soldierly aspect, he is running to be the next Member of Parliament.
 
HENRY ANGELL (Male 40s-50s): Richard Warwick’s personal valet and nurse-attendant.  He has a proper manner and does his unsuccessful best to appear unassuming and cordial… but underneath lies a more onerous disposition.
 
SERGEANT CADWALLER (Male, 20s-30s) – A youngish man of a winsome type.  Despite being a member of the police force, he is an artistic dreamer with a soft voice who fancies himself a poet.
 
RICHARD WARWICK (Male, 30s-50s) – Dead [no lines – great for someone wanting to get started in community theatre]