Auditions for World Premiere Play at FSU with Visiting Professor Walter Allen Bennett, Jr.
Fayetteville State University Theatre Company and the Department of Performing and Fine Arts will host auditions for Walter Allen Bennett, Jr.’s new play, entitled “And then came tomorrow…” on January 28 & 29, at Butler Theater on the FSU campus. The world premiere of “And then came tomorrow…” runs April 19-21 and 26-28, with rehearsals running in March and April.
“And then came tomorrow…” follows a family confronting decisions it must make in the generations after Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun. Auditions are open call and will run 2-4pm and 6:30-9pm on Monday, January 28, with callbacks from 6:30-9pm on Tuesday, January 29. Auditioners should prepare a 3-minute monologue of their choosing and be prepared for cold readings from the script. Persons interested in auditioning are strongly encouraged to pre-register for auditions by emailing jfiebig@uncfsu.edu with a theatre and/or film resume and headshot, but these items are not required.
Roles are as follows:
- Franklin Younger, is 49-year-old African-American man.
- Darlene Younger, the 45-year-old African-American woman. Franklin’s wife.
- Steven Younger, 17 year old African American male. Son of Franklin and Darlene.
- Travis Younger, 60 year old African American male. Brother of Franklin.
- Cameron Willis, 50-year old Caucasian male. Franklin’s close friend and neighbor.
- Rita Willis, 46 year old Caucasian female. Cameron’s wife.
- Theresa Richards, 17 year old female. Steven’s girlfriend. (Ethnicity open)
Bennett is an award winning playwright who has written fourteen plays. He has been the recipient of many honors such as: the Best Play Award from the Company of Theatre in Los Angeles; The Voices UnSilenced Festival Award; the New Professional Theatre National Playwriting Award; a New Jersey State Council on the Arts Playwriting Fellowship; and citations from the New York City Council, the Brooklyn Congressional Office and the New Jersey State Assembly.
Walter Allen Bennett has written and/or produced and executive produced more than 200 episodes of series television. His break into television came as a writer on the long running, Emmy Award winning “The Cosby Show.” From there, he became a writer/producer on “704 Hauser Street,” created by Norman Lear. His career also includes him becoming a producer on the hit comedy “In the House”, starring LL Cool J and Debbie Allen. He was the executive producer of “The Steve Harvey Show.” Bennett has written pilots for CBS, FOX and Nickelodeon Networks and wrote HBO’s first original programming for the Internet entitled “The Deadwood Mysteries.” Most recently, he has collaborated with R&B artist Alicia Keys on a television pilot for the Nickelodeon Network.
On the film side, Bennett wrote and directed, “Contradiction of the Heart,” an independent feature starring, Clifton Powell, Wendy Raquel Robinson, Vanessa Williams and Christopher B. Duncan, which marks his feature directional debut. His script, “Article One,” was a finalist in the Sundance Writers Workshop as well as a Semi-finalist in the Chesterfield Screenwriting Competition.
Bennett holds a MFA in playwriting from Yale University’s School of Drama, and an MFA in Acting from UCLA. He has served on the faculty at St. John’s University, New York University, and has lectured at the Yale School of Drama. Currently, Bennett is a professor in the Graduate School of Film and Television at Loyola Marymount University where he teaches Directing and Scene Analysis. Bennett is Fayetteville State University’s first Visiting Professor in Theatre.
The primary mission of the Department of Performing and Fine Arts is to produce graduates in the performing and fine arts – music, dance, theater, visual arts – that will be leaders in their respective fields and its advocate.
For more information regarding this event please contact Jeremy Fiebig, Assistant Professor of Theatre, at (910) 672-2574 or email jfiebig@uncfsu.edu.
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