Perform Musical Auditions 2010

Echelon Productions is a multi award-winning theatrical producer and one of the largest touring theatre companies in Australia. Based in Melbourne, the company has been established since 2000 and in that time has produced a number of Helpmann Award and Green Room Award nominated plays and musicals. Also operating as Perform Educational Musicals, which specialises in touring educational musicals for schools across Australia and New Zealand, the company employs around 50 performers throughout the year. Our educational theatre division is holding auditions across Australia during March for our 2010 productions celebrating Book Week, Science Week and Financial Literacy. Since we began touring our educational musicals we have performed to over one million students. The performances, which take place within schools, are highly interactive and feature action packed narratives, appealing, identifiable characters, loads of comedy, singing and dancing that captivate and engage all audiences, including teachers! Question time at the conclusion of the performance reinforces the learning outcomes. Casts of two actors perform up to three shows a day in schools within a one hour radius of the metropolitan area. Each cast will have one performer nominated as the team driver who has access to their own reliable car for the contracted period. Both cast members are required to bump in and out the basic set which takes around 20 minutes either side of performance. All productions are one hour musicals and include PA and individual headset microphones for each performer. Cast requirements: Performers are the ambassadors of the company and significant role models for thousands of students and this means we have high standards for hiring performers. Age: between 20 and early 30s Skills: strong singing voices, excellent comedic inventive acting and ability to move well. Personal qualities: Warm, friendly, energetic, excellent communicators, fun loving, reliable, committed and most importantly enjoy working with children. We are casting: MELBOURNE – 2 males and 2 females (Science Week and Financial Literacy productions) SYDNEY – 8 males and 8 females (Book Week, Science Week and Financial Literacy productions) PERTH – 3 males and 3 females (Book Week production) BRISBANE – 3 males and 3 females (Book Week and Science Week productions) ADELAIDE – 2 males and 2 females (Book Week production) Auditions will be held on the following dates: MELBOURNE – Wednesday 3rd March SYDNEY – Thursday 4th March PERTH – Wednesday 10th March BRISBANE – Tuesday 23rd March ADELAIDE – Thursday 25th March Auditions details: The acting audition will involve a 30 minute group session involving 8 auditionees per group. This will be followed by an individual singing audition. The aim of the group session is to offer a relaxed and enjoyable experience that closely resembles that of our productions – creative, playful, interactive and fun. Scene - We will forward one short scene from the script to get a sense of style and character however there is no need to learn this off the page. This scene will be used as a basis for improvised play. Song – We will forward a specific song to be learnt including vocal and backing track plus vocal chart. Please note auditionees may be asked to do some simple dance steps in the audition. These auditions may be video recorded for casting reference only. Book Week 2010 production: JUMP TO IT! By Craig Christie Claire never intended this to happen and now she was learning the hard way that a thoughtless word can lead a kid into all kinds of trouble! It was going to take some kind of miracle for her to find her friend Oliver and get back home before anyone realised they were missing. Strangest of all they were missing AT HOME, sucked through the TV screen to a virtual world where anything could happen and nobody is at the controls! Craig Christie has been writing educational musicals for nearly 20 years and has also written several full scale commercial musicals including Eurobeat – Almost Eurovsion which opened on the London West End in 2008. www.craigchristie.com Science Week 2010 production: WIPEOUT! By Dean Bryant & Mathew Frank It is the year 2050 and life across the planet has changed. The biodiversity of the planet is shrinking as the sixth mass extinction draws closer. The biggest stars and politicians across the world have gathered on the Great Barrier Reef for one massive fundraising concert WIPEOUT! to bring about a major shift in awareness across the globe – together we can WIPEOUT extinction – before we wipe ourselves off the face of the earth. WIPEOUT! features the hottest acts on the 2050 planet, each with their own message of diversity and is hosted by “scientainer” Chaz Lovejoy and “actorivist” Julia Jux. Financial Literacy 2010 production: DOLLARS & SENSE! By Dean Bryant & Mathew Frank Join Sir John Flynn, Dame Nellie Melba, Edith Cowan and Sir John Monash amongst other famous faces on Australia’s bank notes in learning all about FINANCIAL LITERACY! Dean Bryant and Mathew Frank are the award-winning writers of Once We Lived Here, Virgins and Prodigal, the first Australian musical produced in New York. www.bryantandfrank.com CONTRACT DETAILS: Performers will be contracted full time for a specified period. All successful performers will be required to undertake a Working With Children Check in their state. Rehearsal dates/times: Book Week & Science Week: Between Monday 2nd August – Saturday 7th August 2010 Financial Literacy: Between Monday 10th May – Saturday 15th May 2010 All productions between 9am – 6pm (Will not exceed 8 hours per day) Exact dates to be confirmed – dependent upon which production is offered. Season dates: Book Week & Science Week: Between Monday 9th August – Friday 10th September 2010 Financial Literacy: Between Monday 17th May – Friday 4th June 2010 Exact dates to be confirmed – dependent upon which production is offered. Pay: Wages will be offered in line with the Live Performance Modern Award 2010. Rehearsal wage $800 total and Performance wage $880 weekly, plus Team leader: person in charge for each cast an extra $45 per performance week On-costs: Superannuation and annual leave Travel Reimbursement: 74 cents per km per cast for the nominated team driver TO SUBMIT YOUR DETAILS FOR AN AUDITION EMAIL US AT: info@echelon.net.au PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR CV AND HEADSHOT SUBMISSION DEADLINE: WEDNESDAY 24 FEBRUARY 2010