X*ACT FAHRENHEIT 451 AUDITIONS JAN 28 & 29 at 7:00 pm
FAHRENHEIT 451 by Ray Bradbury
In a future American society where books are outlawed and “firemen” burn any that are found. the temperature at which books catch fire and burn is 451 degrees Fahrenheit. Guy Montag, is a fireman who becomes disillusioned with his role of censoring literature and destroying knowledge, eventually quitting his job and committing himself to the preservation of literary and cultural writings.
Directed by Mike Taint
Auditions are cold readings from the script, no preparation necessary.
See downloadable script sample pages: Download Script Sample
SHOW DATES: April 5-14
X*ACT 45 E. Second St in Xenia.
(937) 372-0516
Cast of Characters:
*NOTE: Actors do not have to be the actual age listed – but must be able to play these ages.*
• Guy Montag – male, late 20’s to early 30’s. A fireman in a dystopic near future where firemen BURN books rather than put out fires. Eventually abandons his profession to join a fringe group living outside the city dedicated to preserving, rather than destroying, literature and culture – “the book people”.
• Captain Beatty – male or female, age 40 and up. Chief of the local fire unit, former book reader turned ardent fireman, who detects Montag’s change in attitude toward their profession and ultimately drives him from it.
• Clarisse – female, late teens to early twenties, Free – spirited young woman who befriends Montag, then mysteriously disappears, joining the book people.
• Mildred (“Millie”) – female, late 20’s to late 30’s. Montag’s emotionally distant and very conventional wife.
• Mrs. Hudson – female, 50’s and up. A citizen who, despite the law, keeps and reads books; she refuses to leave her home and dies with her books during a raid by the fireman.
• Faber – male, late 50’s and up. Clarisse’s grandfather, a former literature professor who aids Montag in his transition to the book people.
• Holden, Black – male or female, early 20’s up. Two associates of Montag, also under Beatty’s command. Unlike Montag, they are completely committed to book burning.
• Two Paramedics – male or female, late teens and up – two paramedics who resuscitate Mildred after a drug overdose. (May be doubled with “book people”)
• Alice – female, late 20’s and up. Friend of Mildred’s who begins crying as Montag reads a poem. . (May be doubled with “book people”)
• Helen – female, late 20’s and up. A friend of Mildred’s who also does not understand Montag’s “odd” interest in books.
• THE BOOK PEOPLE – do not have to necessarily be the same gender as the author they embody.
• Aristotle – the unofficial leader of the book people. Has memorized Aristotle’s Poetics.
• Tolkien, Bronte, Rostand, Dostoevsky, St. Exuperey, Tolstoy, Wilde, Carroll, Plato, Melville, Robert Louis Stevenson – people who have memorized one or more works by “their” author.
