CURRENT AUDITIONS

Theatre Guild of Simsbury is excited to announce auditions for an exciting new production!

For any questions regarding auditions, please reach out to auditions@theatreguildsimsbury.org.

The Theatre Guild of Simsbury is excited to join Simsbury High School to present a staged reading of Thornton Wilder's "The Long Christmas Dinner".

Show Synopsis

The Long Christmas Dinner–nine decades long–showcases the lives of several generations of the Bayard family, and some of their Christmas dinners. Wilder breaks the boundaries of time as we measure it, and invites us to partake of “one long, happy Christmas dinner”-past, present and future. As generations appear, have children, wither and depart, only the audience appreciates what changes and what remains the same.

Audition Information

In collaboration with SHS, this stage reading invites SHS students and members of the wider Simsbury community to audition.

No preparation is necessary, actors will be asked to read sides from the script.

Audition is in-person at Eno Memorial Hall on Monday November 9th from 7pm-9pm, auditioners must sign up for a slot.

Actors will be asked to complete this audition form, or may fill it out in advance.

Please sign up for an audition slot here.

Roles Available

For this stage reading, roles have been split in availability to SHS students, and any member of the wider Simsbury community.

HIGH SCHOOL ROLES (HS)

These roles are available to SHS students

GENEVIEVE (Lucia and Roderick's daughter)
Character ages: teens to 60s
Intense, sharp, and devoted to her mother. Early on she swears she'll never leave the house. Her mother's death devastates her, and late in the play she snaps and announces she's going abroad to die alone.

LUCIA (2) (Leonora and Charles's daughter, Samuel's twin)
Character ages: child to 20s
Bright and good-natured, often the peacemaker at the table. She eventually leaves to start a family of her own, carrying the Bayard traditions forward.

SAMUEL (Leonora and Charles's son, Lucia's twin)
Character ages: child to about 20
Earnest and likable, he goes off to fight in World War I and doesn't come back.

RODERICK (2) (Leonora and Charles's youngest son)
Character ages: child to early 20s
Restless and rebellious. He's bored by small-town life and the family business, and after a blowup with his father about his drinking, he storms out to find a town "where something happens."

CHARLES (Lucia and Roderick's son)
Character ages: baby to 60s. Open to high school students and adults
Grows from an eager young man into the stern head of the family firm, echoing his father. He later clashes with his own son over drinking and duty to the business.

LEONORA BANNING (Charles's wife)
Character ages: 20s to 70s. Open to high school students and adults
Sweet and gracious, and a steady presence through a lot of loss, including her first baby and later her son Samuel. She leads the play's grief over the war.

TGS ROLES
These roles are available to adults and non-SHS students

LUCIA (1) (Roderick's wife)
Character ages: early 20s to 60s.
The first mistress of the Bayard house, newly married at the top of the show. Warm, a little prim, and the keeper of family tradition. She starts the rituals everyone else inherits.

RODERICK (1) (Mother Bayard's son)
Character ages: mid 20s to 50s.
Lucia's husband, a hearty, self-satisfied businessman who prospers along with the town. Jovial at the table, with drinking suggested as part of his decline.

MOTHER BAYARD
Character ages: 60s to 70s.
Roderick's mother and the first family member to leave. She's the family's living link to the pioneer past, reciting family names so they won't be forgotten. A short role that sets the play's tone.

COUSIN BRANDON
Character ages: 40s to 80s.
The ever-present relative who loves a good turkey and a glass of wine. Genial, gossipy, and a bit of a tippler. He stays at the table through multiple generations

COUSIN ERMENGARDE
Character ages: 50s to 90s.
An elderly relative who joins the table later and outlasts nearly everyone. Mild, kind, and a bit fussy. She closes the play alone onstage, reading a letter announcing the birth of the next generation.