Marion Dunk (left) writer and director of music for “Time in Westfield” and Kathy Palmer, script writer and director of the play. (Photo by Peter Currier)
WESTFIELD- The Westfield Theater Group will be holding auditions this week for their May production of “Time in Westfield” written in honor of the Westfield 350th anniversary.
The play, which explores the history of Westfield through a comedic and musical lens, was written by Kathy Palmer, while the music was written by Marion Dunk. There will be an interest meeting for those hoping to be cast in the play at the Westfield Women’s Club on Sunday at 4 p.m.
“It’s fun, entertaining, and on the comedic side,” said playwright Kathy Palmer, “obviously we can’t do all of Westfield history. What we have tried to avoid was a history lesson.”
Palmer said she has done a lot of research on the history of the city. She has gone through more than half a dozen Westfield history books in the process. The main characters of the musical explore the history of Westfield via time travel to comedic effect.
“They really drive the story, but in the end, we have what is going to be a fun surprise ending,” said Palmer. She added that there may be a surprise visit by a certain unnamed Mayor during some showings of the musical.
There are 43 openings for various roles in the play, some with dialogue and musical parts and some nonspeaking roles as well. There are roles for 22 male characters, 11 female characters, and 10 children preferably over the age of nine. Palmer said that there will be five people selected from the audience who will be asked to read some lines at the beginning of each showing.
“I would really like widespread community involvement. I don’t want this to be a small group of people,” said Palmer, “you don’t need acting experience because there are bystanders who just stand there, in costume.”
There are seven roles in the play that have already been precast. Palmer is looking for people to help out as theater staff as well. They need people to work concessions, ushering, and to work on the programs.
Palmer had begun working on the play last Spring when she first started researching Westfield’s history. The story and music for the play are all original works by Palmer and Dunk respectively.
The Sunday meeting will go over the parts of Westfield history that will be included in the plot of the musical. The expected run time for the full production is approximately two hours including intermission.
Auditions will be held on Sunday, January 20th and Wednesday, January 23rd at 6:30 p.m.. The show itself will premiere on Friday, May 10th and will have further showings on May 11th, 16th, 17th, and 18th. The May 17th show will be a special performance for the Westfield 350 Committee. For those who do land a role in the play, there will be rehearsals throughout April and early May.
