Announcing Auditions for ADA AND THE ENGINE

ADA AND THE ENGINE Auditions

By Lauren Gunderson

Directed by Raven Lawes

AUDITION DATES: Saturday, Nov. 5, 2022 from 10am-12pm & 2-4pm

CALLBACKS: Monday, Nov. 7, 2022 from 7pm-10pm

Auditions will be held at the MainStage 222 Studio - 222 E. Irving Blvd.; Irving, TX 75060

AUDITION INFORMATION: Please bring a current headshot and resume.

Auditions will be by appointment. Cold readings from the script using the character breakdown below. Sides available at the audition. Actors should be familiar with the script prior to auditioning. If you are auditioning for the role of Ada, Babbage, or Byron, please prepare 16-32 bars of any song to be sung acapella. The following roles may be double cast: Lady Anabella Byron as Mary Sommerville and Lord Lovelace as Byron. Please be prepared to read both roles. For information about the script, contact admin@mainstageirving.com.

SCHEDULE:

  • December 6, 2022 - First Rehearsal
    • Rehearsal Schedule: Mon, Tue, Wed, & Thur 7pm-10pm
  • OFF: December 19, 2022 - January 2, 2023
  • January 3, 2023 - Resume rehearsal
  • January 15, 2023 - Begin Tech Week
  • Performance Dates: January 20 - February 4, 2023 - NO CONFLICTS

AVAILABLE ROLES AND CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS:

  • Ada Byron Lovelace – (18 – 36) Curious, funny, brilliant, aware of her brilliance, stories, aware of her story. Never met her famous father, tries to be a “good girl” but just cannot help her curiosity and love of all things impossible. A woman of our time stuck in hers.
  • Lady Anabella Byron – (35 – 55) Ada’s mother, harsh, strict, jealous? Yes. But realistic. She has had a hard life largely due to Ada’s father. Projects his sins onto her daughter.
  • Charles Babbage – (40 – 60) Ada’s soul mate, friend, mentor. Lauded genius of London. A holder of famous salons, an inventor, a mathematical scholar, a dreamer who just cannot seem to make his dreams into the metal they require to be real. Almost perfect for Ada. Almost.
  • Lord Lovelace – (25 – 45) A gentleman who becomes Ada’s husband. He’d rather that he was more rich and more lordly but he’ll manage with his lot. A proud man. A wanting man. A serious man. Is not madly in love with Ada but she’ll do just fine. (Can be doubled as Byron)
  • Mary Sommerville (40 – 60) Charles’ friend and colleague and Ada’s mentor. There are no women as successful and respected in science and math as her. Pragmatic, sharply friendly, someone who will tell you when you’re wrong. (Can be doubled as Lady Anabella Byron)
  • Byron – (36) A charming man, darkly funny, unpredictable, emotional, brooding but self-aware. A poet.

COMPENSATION:

Actors will receive a gas stipend and comp tickets

ABOUT THE PLAY: ADA AND THE ENGINE tells the story of Ada Lovelace; a fiery, brilliant woman who wrote the first computer program and imagined that computers would make music… in 1830. She is the daughter of Lord Byron and at 17, befriends the inestimable Charles Babbage. Together, their brilliance imagines the wondrous possibilities of the future - a world where a “thinking engine” could not only do complicated calculations, but talk to itself, predict outcomes, and even make music. While Babbage’s machine was never built, the program Ada wrote for it remains. She died at 36. So too did her father, whose lyrical poems she can’t seem to get out of her head even though they never met. Ada dreamt of the future, of talking to the future through machines and engines. Today she almost is.

ABOUT MAINSTAGE IRVING-LAS COLINAS: MainStage is an award-winning, nonprofessional theater located in the heart of the Metroplex in Irving Texas. MainStage Irving-Las Colinas supports the City of Irving's efforts to improve the quality of life for its citizens by providing:

Quality theatre to the Irving Community through the organization of qualified individuals.
Affordable theatre to the Irving Community as a result of MainStage’s volunteers.
Entertaining theatre to the Irving Community through careful selection of material presented.
Opportunities for involvement by the community in all areas of theatrical production through open auditions, mentoring, special project support, and formal classes.
The Irving Community with the benefit of top local volunteer and professional expertise in all areas of theatrical production and arts management through the ability to involve participants from many disciplines.

MainStage Irving-Las Colinas Board of Directors supports a culture of diversity, inclusion and equity. We strive to represent the Irving community, one of the most diverse cities in the nation. We celebrate an environment which welcomes diverse expressions of creativity. We are committed to growing and sustaining a diverse, inclusive and equitable space where everyone who participates in our theater – patrons, artists, employees, volunteers, and vendors – feels valued and respected regardless of gender, age, race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, education, or ability.

For questions or more information, contact admin@mainstageirving.com.

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