| Created Date | December 10, 2024 | |
| Expiration Date | January 09, 2025 | |
| Posted by | Administrator | |
| Country | United States | |
| State | Illinois | |
| City | Chicago | |
| Location | Chicago | |
| Project Type | Non-Equity Audition | |
| Project Title | Jane | |
Description:
Violet Surprise Theatre and Fat Theatre Project are casting a staged reading of Paula Kamen's play "Jane: Abortion and the Underground."
A timely and provocative part-documentary drama about "the best-kept secret" in Chicago, "Jane," an underground abortion service that operated from 1969 to 1973. The Jane network run by a feminist collective was the one safe alternative for an estimated 8,000- 11,000 Chicago women of all backgrounds. This play follows Jane's founder Heather Booth and many of the brave real-life women and men who kept Jane going.
This is an all-volunteer-run one-night reading to raise funds for Chicago Abortion Fund and Planned Parenthood. Actors will be on-book with some rehearsal and minimal staging. The event will include a panel with local activists and former members of the real Jane collective.
Content advisory: Abortion
Characters:
HEATHER (TOBIS) BOOTH: : (she/her) Founder of Jane. Twenty years old at time of first referral. Lead character of first part of play, until she leaves Jane. Very driven and focused. From Long Island.
JODY PARSONS: (she/her) Late 20s. Takes over the lead role after Heather leaves the group and is termed the "papa" of the organization (working with Ruth as the "mama"). A naturally charismatic leader and self-described "hippie."
JUDITH ARCANA: (she/her) Late 20s. Very intense, sensual and sometimes confrontational. Doubles as other Jane collective members and other ensemble roles.
ALICE (she/her): Corny and motherly, but yet has an edge. WASP of the group.
RUTH SURGAL: (she/her) Late 20s. A former social worker, she is always trying to mediate and be sensitive to the feelings of others. Very warm and sensitive, but not to be crossed. From Chicago.
MICKI: (she/her) Black and in her early 20s. She is very much into excitement and extremes of counterculture and revolutionary "scene" of period, but is always acting in the background. Doubles as other Jane collective members and other ensemble roles.
REV. E. SPENCER PARSONS: (he/him) Serious but very warm Minister in his fifties with an irreverent and mischievous streak. Doubles as other male ensemble roles.
SUNNY:(she/her) A hippie activist and artist in late teens. She is scarred from her rough upbringing in a small Illinois town. Doubles as other Jane collective members and other ensemble roles.
DR. C: (he/him) Doctor who performs some of the first Jane abortions. Butts heads with Heather and Jody. While he struggles to keep secrecy and control, he slowly learns to trust and depend on Jane members. Doubles as other male ensemble roles.
LORY: (she/her) An 18-year-old woman of color from a Northwest-Side Chicago family who comes to Jane for an abortion. Doubles as other Jane collective members and other ensemble roles.
This reading is unpaid, since it's a fundraiser for pro-Choice charities Chicago Abortion Fund and Planned Parenthood as a response to the recent election.
Directed by Iris Sowlat
Location: Bramble Arts Loft Cabaret Space
Date: January 20
Produced by Eileen Tull and Chloe Gracias, for Fat Theatre Project and Violet Surprise Theatre
A fundraiser for Chicago Abortion Fund and Planned Parenthood
Rehearsals: We will have 3-5 rehearsals total between January 3 and 19, most of which will be over Zoom. We'll build the rehearsal schedule based on actor availability. No one will be called to every single rehearsal. There will be an in-person rehearsal at Bramble on the afternoon of the 20th before the reading, with a break between the rehearsal and reading.
Performances: Evening of January 20, 2025 We're also looking into the option off livestreaming the reading so that audience members who don't live near Chicago can access it for a limited time. More details about any video or streaming will be sent to the cast.
Contact Info:
Please submit a one-minute contemporary dramatic monologue as a video, via this Google form anytime before Dec 20. Actors will be notified of their roles by January 1.
