Mornings at Seven

Mornings at Seven
Directed by: Pam Brown
Produced by: Jim Leach
Auditions – Saturday, January 29, 2011 – 1-4 p.m. – NOTE:  New early audition date/time
Performances: May 13-22
Curtain Times: 8 p.m. Friday & Saturday; 2 p.m. Sunday

The Gibb sisters and their men have been living a little too close to each other for about a half-century. They are the steady Cora, married to the perennially jolly Thor; the long-suffering Ida, married to pathetic Carl; the nosy, flame-haired maiden aunt Aaronetta; and Esther, the eldest, married an amazing 50 years to the priggish David. When the play opens, Homer, the son of Carl and Ida, 40 years old and still living at home, is finally bringing his fiancée of seven years — he’d been dating her, sort of, for 12 — to meet the folks. The folks, of course, are thrilled, for nothing much has happened for decades. They are enchanted with Myrtle, and she with them.

So what’s the problem? For one thing, Homer has an appalling case of arrested pre-adolescence; the thought of sex so terrifies him that he can’t believe his ears when Ida suggests installing a double bed for him and Myrtle. Myrtle is also hardly more than a child; at 39 she gushes to one and all like a teenager with a crush. “I’ve never had so many people be so nice to me all at once!” she bubbles. But 24 hours with the Gibb sisters teach her that the men in the family can be rolled like dice; she has no problem taking advantage of Homer’s ignorance of the facts of life. More complications ensue, but all’s well that ends well, and the ending, indeed, has a delightful, laughable little twist.

STAFF

Director – Pam Brown
Asst. Director – Nikkie Prosperini
Stage Manager – Nicole Sylvester
Set Design – Don Russell
Master Painter – Don Russell
Master Builder – T. David Parker
Make-up Designer – Brett Rutherford
Costume Designer – Deb Iams
Prop Designer – Melody Sheehan
Lighting Designer – Adam Grogan
Music Designer – TBA
Sound Design & Operation – TBA
Make-up/Hair Consultant – TBA
Producer – Jim Leach

AUDITION INFORMATION

Morning’s at Seven is a charming family portrait set in small town America, circa 1938, and weaves its plot around the intersected lives of the four Gibb sisters, their husbands, a son, and his longtime fiancée. The delightful story entertains us as the funny, heart-warming, and endearing characters question the life paths they have taken and labor to accept the new choices facing their extended family. The cast of 9 requires 4 women and 3 men who can play late sixties to early seventies. Also needed are a man and a woman in their late thirties to early forties.

Character breakdown:
  • Ida Bolton: 66 years old, simple, naïve, motherly
  • Carl Bolton: 68, Ida’s husband, bald on top, quiet, reflective
  • Homer Bolton: 40, Ida and Carl’s son, shy, still lives at home, not stupid
  • Myrtle Brown: 39, Homer’s fiancée for 7 years, not unattractive
  • Cora Swanson: 70, mildest sister, patient, lives next door to Ida
  • Theodore “Thor” Swanson: 65, Cora’s husband, cynic, healthy smoker
  • Aaronetta Gibb: 65, wildest sister, never married, lives with Cora and Thor
  • Esther Crampton: 72, oldest sister, smartest, lives two blocks away
  • David Crampton: 70’s, Esther’s husband, educated, looks down on Esther’s sisters
CAST LIST

Thor - Rich McCoy
Cora - Susan Jeffers
Arry - Betty Jo Smith
Carl - Mike Coulter
Ida - Felicia Coulter
Homer - Kevan Kavanaugh
David - Regan Smith
Esty - Pat Pennington
Myrtle - Shirene Thomas