Welcome to the Calgary-ACTS Audition Website

by Mark Medoff

CHILDREN OF A LESSER GOD focuses on the conflicted professional and romantic relationship between speech teacher James Leeds and his profoundly deaf student, Sarah Norman. Sarah will have none of his instruction but in the course of their sparring, the two of them develop a chemistry. A love story that articulates not only the challenges of bridging two worlds and two cultures but also the beauty of accepting and cherishing the other as they are.

The show runs November 26, 2010 - December 4, 2010 at the Pumphouse Theatres. Rehearsal schedule to be determined.

The Characters

James Leeds (thirty-ish)
James Leeds is a speech teacher at a State School for the Deaf. He is bright and articulate, but struggles throughout the play to understand the "other language" of Sarah and her deaf counterparts. For the whole length of the play, James tries to "help" Sarah, to make her value speech. James wrestles with his motives, struggling to determine whether they stem from a desire to help or a desire to control.

Sarah Norman (mid-twenties)
Sarah is a woman who has been deaf from birth. She works as a cleaning woman at the State School for the Deaf. Sarah signs throughout the play, speaking only in the final scene. She uses American Sign Language (ASL; a complete conceptual language) rather than me Signed English (a word-by-word, grammatical rendition) technique favoured by James. **only Deaf actors will be considered for this role**

Orin Dennis (in his twenties)
Orin has been a student at the State School for the Deaf since he was a young child. Orin, however, has some residual hearing and practices both his lipreading and speech and American Sign Language. Because of his lip-reading and speaking skills, Orin acts as a bridge between the two worlds, although it is apparent from his thoughts and actions that he feels more comfortable in the deaf community.

Mrs. Norman (fifties)
Mrs Norman is Sarah's mother, a hearing woman whose husband left her not long after Sarah was sent to the State School for the Deaf. Mrs. Norman knows a few signs and tries to use her limited understanding of ASL and speech to communicate with her daughter.

Mr. Franklin (anywhere from his early thirties to his mid-forties)
Mr. Franklin is the Supervising Teacher at the State School for the Deaf. He takes a condescending attitude toward everyone. He views all the deaf, even the adults like Orin and Sarah, as needy children who need his protection and guidance.

Edna Klein (thirty to forty) Ms. Klein is a lawyer who helps Orin with his claim of discrimination against the State School for the Deaf. She does not know how to sign or how to communicate with Orin or Sarah. She plans to read a speech that she has written before the commission but is accused by Sarah of writing the same old garbage - that deaf people are helpless and need hearing people to get along in the world. Ms. Klein is well-intentioned, but recognizes neither Sarah or Orin as human beings who can speak for themselves.

Lydia (in her late teens)
Has some residual hearing; a lip reader Lydia is a State School for the Deaf student in her late teens. She, like Orin, has some residual hearing, and she faithfully practices her speech and lip-reading skills. However, she is not as mature as Orin and throws herself at James throughout the play. She wants to appear "hearing," and even chides James after Sarah has left: "You need a girl that doesn't go away. You need a girl that talks."

Special Note about age: As always, the ages listed are ages of the characters and not of the actors. Further, for this specific production there are special requirements. Therefore, we may cast older students in order to get culturally Deaf actors and fluent American Sign Language users for the parts of Sarah and Orin. If, we cast older individuals as students, we will also consider older actors for the parts of James, Mrs Norman, Mr. Franklin and so forth. If you are interested in the show, please come out regardless of age as we don’t know which way we will be going until we see everyone that come out.

Special note about American Sign Language: We will be casting a Deaf, fluent ASL user as Sarah Norman and a Hard of Hearing, signing individual as Orin. Lydia will also be hard of hearing and though she signs, it is not as much. Other characters also sign during the show, in particular James Leeds. You do not need to know sign language to audition for these roles. We will be teaching the sign language needed to perform the script...and maybe a bit more!

Cast Auditions

Wednesday July 21st from 7 pm to 10 pm
Thursday, July 22nd from 7 pm to 10 pm
Call-backs may be held later that week if necessary.

Auditions are by appointment only

at the Workshop Theatre Space
120 Forge Road SE
Click here for a map / directions to the space.

Audition Requirements:
Please prepare a short monologue for the audition, maximum 2 minutes. We will also be teaching some brief sentences in American Sign Language for some actors to repeat.

For more info, email the director at andrea.sereda@shaw.ca.

Available Audition Times: