Auditions for TRUE WEST

The upcoming Alchemist production of Sexual Perversity in Chicago aside, Sam Shepard's True West is possibly one of the most uber-masculine plays to be written in the past forty years. It's the story of two men--brothers. One of them is a screenwriter (Austin) working on a script for his next film while housesitting for his mother, who is vacationing in Alaska. He's just settling-in to work on the script when the far less accomplished, slacker brother (Lee) drops by unannounced. The cast also includes a Hollywood producer named Saul and a relatively brief appearance by the mother. The play has reached a kind of epic status since it first debuted in 1980.

At the center of the play is the relationship between the two brothers who haven’t seen each other in years. It’s a brilliant play for the right actors. And the right actors have a unique opportunity to be involved in a unique production of the play as Pink Banana Theatre hosts open auditions for its upcoming staging of True West. The production in question will be performed in an actual apartment in the Kunzelman & Esser Lofts. There's no stage here--just the intimate space of an actual apartment south of Downtown. The show runs in October.

Auditions for Pink Banana’s True West happen June 27th and 28th at Kunzelman & Esser Lofts on 7th and Mitchell. Auditions by appointment only run 1 – 4pm an the 27th. Open auditions run 4pm – 6pm. Callbacks are 1-4pm on the 28th.  

And, just for the hell of it, I thought I’d post this link to old low-res PBS video footage of Gary Sinise and John Malkovich from an early ‘80’s Steppenwolf production of the play that later went on to success in New York.