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Capriccio Radio

Casting Notice and Audition Resources

Tony Tambasco (director) and Larry Rinkel (playwright) announce auditions for the Long Island premiere Capriccio Radio, to be produced for three performances on April 28-30 at BACCA in Lindenhurst, NY, under the auspices of Modern Classics Theatre of Long Island.

Capriccio Radio is about a classical radio station under pressure to survive in a culture where such music has become increasingly marginalized. Capriccio Radio grapples with the larger question of the survival of classical music today — and by extension, the clash between any art form and the demands of commerce, and the role of classical canons in a changing world

The Story

Capriccio Radio, a prestigious classical radio station founded by Roberta Siegel, has for the past twelve years enjoyed complete creative and financial freedom as part of a media conglomerate headed by Ron Godfrey. But after Ron retires and gives control to his son James, Roberta finds herself pressured to improve ratings and make her station profitable. In the process, the jobs of several of her announcers are threatened, and friendships among them tested. Eventually, James concludes the station to be hopelessly mismanaged and recommends it be dissolved; however, his plan backfires and the station survives but with significant changes.

Resources for Auditioners

Those who would like to read a copy of the script may do so here: tonytambasco.com/capradio/docs/Capriccio_Radio_script.pdf

Character Descriptions and Audition Sides

Roberta Siegel: female, about 55, any race or ethnicity. The founder of the Capriccio Radio station, and a former opera and Lieder singer. She has been successful in her career as the manager of a radio station due to passion, luck, and patronage, and now that her radio station faces a real crisis, and her leadership tested, she begins to feel her own inadequacies as a leader. AUDITION SIDE

Claude Feierstein: male, about 60, any race or ethnicity. An announcer at Capriccio Radio specializing in 19th century orchestral music. Views the traditional classical repertoire as something bordering on sacred. His fear of and intolerance for change extends to modern music, which puts him at odds with Sylvan's aesthetics. Claude fears his irrelevance, and that makes him distrustful and contemptuous of anything that might replace him. AUDITION SIDE

Sylvan Philips: male, about 50, any race or ethnicity. An announcer specializing in modern music and theory. Sylvan is highly intelligent, and although he never felt at home in academia, Sylvan would fit in at any conference of musicologists, if only he had the confidence to attend. He is close friends with Ed, and is a skilled piano player. Sylvan was once a composer, but there came a time when the notes wouldn't come, and he lives in the shadow of the beauty he might have made. AUDITION SIDE

Lydia Moroll: female, about 70, any race or ethnicity. An announcer at Capriccio Radio specializing in opera and early music. Lydia's confidence in her convictions makes her eager for a fight, if only to show she is still capable of fighting, and has left her with a tendency to speak and act without thinking things through. AUDITION SIDE

Ed Ramsey: male, about 30, any race or ethnicity, Capriccio Radio's sales manager, and an announcer specializing in piano and chamber music. Ed is soft spoken and reserved, but with a strong sense of pragmatism and a temperament to do what needs to be done. Unique among the other employees of the station, Ed values his audiences' opinions more than his own, although his impulse to go along can lead him to compromise his convictions. Ed plays the violin, and while this can be mimed on stage, some experience with the violin will be helpful. AUDITION SIDE

James Godfrey: male, mid-late 20s, any race or ethnicity, newly appointed Director of Radio Services in his father's company, the conglomerate that owns Capriccio Radio. James is intelligent, ambitious, and driven, and an MBA grad, but feels like he hasn't earned his place in the company, and is under intense pressure to prove to his coworkers, his father, and himself that he has earned his seat at the table. James has no taste for classical music, preferring the aesthetics of country and the revenue of talk radio, and is resentful of his father's attempts to make him value the classical canon. AUDITION SIDE

Noah Brock: male, 17ish, any race or ethnicity, a high school student who dreams of being a composer, and a fan of Sylvan's. Noah is a social outcast from his peers, and is in desperate need of approval from the adults he respects, and he resents them (and himself) for that weakness. AUDITION SIDE

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Rehearsal Process and Schedule

Capriccio Radio will utilize a hybrid rehearsal schedule. Our initial table read and most working rehearsals will take place over zoom (or some other vodeo conferencing software). There will be several rehearsals for blocking and rehearsing the staging that will take place in a studio space in NYC, location TBD. These rehearsals will be subject to the availability of the actors and director, so please be sure to fill out your schedule info as accurately as possible.

From 24 - 27 April, rehearsals will take place in the evenings at BACCA in Lindenhurst, NY (this is located within walking distance of the Lindenhurst LIRR station). These rehearsal times are already fixed, and all cast members are expected to attend. Cast members commuting to Lindenhurst will be reimbursed round trip LIRR train fair from NYC to Lindenhurst for all rehearsals and performances in Lindenhurst.

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To Submit

Please submit a resume, headshot, schedule information, and a link to your recording of your audition from one of the above sides through our Google Form: forms.gle/f5owAhpmWFVaXDSg8. Please note that you will need a (free) gmail account to submit your information through this form.

For your self tape, we ask that you record yourself from the waist up, and light yourself well enough so that we can see you. Please pick some point just behind the camera to use as the focus for your audition. The director and playwright would like to emphasize that they are not evaluating the production values in your self tape audition, we just need to be able to see and hear you. Due to the size of video files, we ask that you upload it to a video hosting service and share a link to it with us.

Review of auditions will begin on 1 March 2023. Callbacks will be offered as necessary. These will be held over zoom, or some other video conferencing medium, and the director will be in touch via email to schedule these as needed.

Please direct any questions to Tony Tambasco at tambascot@yahoo.com

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About Capriccio Radio

Performance and Publication History

Capriccio Radio was first performed as an on-line production for Rogue Theater Festival in 2021. Two monologues from the play were published in Smith & Kraus's Best Men's Monologues: 2022.

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Some Comments on the Play

"A loving and incisive look inside the box to see what makes the music come out, and the characters are just as you'd imagine in the world where money and culture clash. But in this case, the storytelling and the action make beautiful music together." - Philip Middleton Williams, on New Play Exchange

"The clash between high art and commerce is played out with unabashed ardor in this thought-provoking play. The characters, many of them on the downhill side of middle age, struggle to preserve their dignity (and livelihoods) in a brave new world that no longer values their intelligence or accrued knowledge. A great piece for a theatre company with seasoned, older actors, Capriccio Radio will speak to a cultured audience that feels its tastes have been relegated to dinosaur status." - Robert Weibezahl, on NPX

"Capriccio Radio is Rinkel at his most passionate." - Doug DeVita, on NPX

"An excruciatingly human look at those of us who have dedicated our lives to a dying art form and are finding it difficult to reconcile integrity with accessibility." - Alexander Perez, on NPX

"Bracingly intelligent, and speaks to your experience in and knowledge of the theatre and effective stagecraft." - Brian Reinhart, classical music critic for the Dallas Observer and MusicWeb International.

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Team Bios

Larry Rinkel (Playwright) Before turning to playwriting full-time, Larry Rinkel taught college English in New Jersey and later worked as a technical writer. A lifelong devotee of art, theatre, film, and classical music, he has had work produced across the United States. His full-length A Kreutzer Sonata was awarded Best Play at the Secret Theatre's 2017 UNFringed Festival, and his Canterbury Sextet was published in 2021 by Next Stage Press. Two monologues from his Capriccio Radio were published in Smith & Kraus's Best Men's Monologues for 2022, and the full play will have its Long Island premiere in April 2023. Most recently, Larry's A Semicolon is a Double won first place at the Secret Theatre's One-Act Festival, summer 2022. newplayexchange.org/users/7668/larry-rinkel

Tony Tambasco (Director) holds M.F.A. in directing and a Master of Letters in Shakespeare and Performance from the American Shakespeare Center's graduate program at Mary Baldwin University, a BA from SUNY Potsdam, and is a proud associate member of the SDC, the theatrical union that unites, empowers, and protects professional Stage Directors and Choreographers throughout the United States. Some recent directing credits include Fun Home at the Studio Theatre of Long Island, The Mikado: A Long Island Fantasy with the Gilbert and Sullivan Light Opera Co. of Long Island, Ion with αgora θeoria, The Unnatural Combat with Sweet Tea Shakespeare, and All About Image / We Are the Elite at the New York International Fringe Festival. www.TonyTambasco.com

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