A Musical Revue of the Music & Lyrics of Jerry Herman 
Concepts by Larry Alford, Wayne Cilento and Jerry Herman 

directed by LEE HAMBY 
musical direction by ZEEK SMITH 

AUDITION DATE: Sunday, June 24, 4pm 

Performances Dates: September 7-22 (runs for three weekends) 

JERRY’S GIRLS is a musical review celebrating glamour, optimism, love, melody, and women, and  features musical selections from Mame, Hello Dolly!, Mack & Mabel, Milk and Honey, Dear World, La Cage aux Folles and more. 

Looking for 3 to 8 women ages 18 and up with strong voices

Please prepare 32 bars of a Broadway Showstopper that shows off your range. Please bring sheet music in your key. An accompanist will be provided. Be prepared to learn a short dance combination.

ABET Cast The Definition of Ensemble 
by STEVE BAILEY, Columnist 

By the end of Act I, “The Oldest Profession” seems like just a cute play. 

By the end of the play, you find yourself strangely moved by it. And once you’ve left the theater, the more you think about the play, the deeper the darned thing gets. 

This current production of Atlantic Beach Experimental Theatre begins with a cutesy premise. It centers on five New York ladies-of-the evening, a week before the election of Ronald Regan as President in 1980. From the start, the play makes it clear that this quintet has seen more than a few N.Y. sunsets in their line of work.

So at first, it seems as though we’re getting an ankle-deep play about some over-the-hill hookers making a lot of one-liners about the Regan Era. And if the play stayed at that level, it would be funny enough but forgettable.

But then there’s the hook. [Spoiler paragraph follows.] One by one, each of the women exits from the Earth and the play. And as each one goes, she performs a sparkling little number that shows how sexy she really was.

And it makes you realize that each woman was just doing her best to get through life, albeit in a profession frowned upon by polite society.

Also nicely done is the women’s pretense of handling their job as though it’s as honest-to-gosh business, with ledgers, lunch breaks, and the like. As such, the play makes a light but pointed comment about how the girls’ business, like so many mock businesses in the 1980′s, is done in by exactly such pretense.

This group is the very definition of “ensemble.” Leslie Lyne, Patty Zipperer, Jane Bull, Judy Hulett, and Pam Larson click together as though they’ve been trading gossip over the neighborhood fence for years. It would be nice to single out a stand-out, but they’re all equally delightful. Leonard Alterman also offers lovely support as a jazz man who ushers the ladies to the “other side.”

The best message from the play is that older women are sexy by definition. I’m tired of how society uses sex to sell everything, and then expects anyone over 30 to forget that they were ever under 30. This play is a rich antidoge to that way of thinking.

That said, the play contains adult language and discussions from the start to finish. But if you can’t figure that out from the play’s title, please don’t go out of your way to be offended by seeing this play.

by GINA GIONFRIDDO 

directed by LESLEY NADWODNIK 

AUDITION DATES | Sunday, March 18, 1-3pm 

Rehearsals begins Mon, April 23 | Performances Dates: May 11-26

Auditions will consist of reading selected scenes from the script.  
(fill out request at the bottom of page  if you would like to download the audition scenes)
NOTE: The roles of Justin and Julie may be cast a little older than in the script due to content. 
You can read more about this show HERE

AVAILABLE ROLES

JUSTIN HAMMOND | Late teens to mid twenties (plays 14-17). Justin is very intelligent for his age, and hides behind it after tragedy comes into his life. Despite this, Justin is a realist and expects nothing more from everyone else in his life.

ALDEN HAMMOND | Late thirties to early forties. Justin’s father who loves his family, just never took the time to know his family. He deals with tragedy in a very typical manner, looking at the past through rose colored glasses.

DAVID GAVIN | Fifties. Host of a crime re-enactment show. Also a victim of tragedy, David went the show business ladder climbing route and feels he needs to try to be a second father to Justin.

JULIE BELL | Late teens to mid twenties. Modern society may classify Julie as an emo kid, but she is a very literary with Justin’s intelligence and a dash of female compassion.

RODERICK LORD | Early to mid thirties. Roderick is the perfect conglomerate of a remnant hippie, a slimy salesman and an amateur porn star.

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AUDITION SIDES

If you would like to get a copy of the audition scenes, please fill out request form below and you’ll be sent a download link

[contact-form-7]

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Three months after the performances of THE PAST AS A PRESENT, which was the culmination of the REMINISCENCE PROJECT at ABET this fall, the kids and the seniors who took part are still talking about it! Both groups bonded throughout the twelve weeks and close friendships formed within and between both groups.

The kids who took part rejoiced at seeing one another again in January and urged new students to sign up if they are given the opportunity to take part in the program. Some of the women from the Reminiscence Group – strangers in week one – are now in close contact with one another and continue to meet for lunch and recreation regularly including regular trips to ABET to see both adult and children’s productions. The children are thrilled to see them in the front row and hugs and kisses are readily exchanged when members of the two groups meet.

WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 29 at 12PM there will be a showing of the video of “The Past as a Present’ at the Bennie Furlong Senior Center in Jacksonville Beach. All are welcome to come and see this recording and meet some of the people who took part in the program.

Some quotes from the children and the seniors who participated…
 

I learned that young or old you always have a story, and that the seniors were once kids just like us. I like that the play was about real stories told right to us.   — KATY ORUM, student

I learned about history and American culture before my generation. I realize how much I can learn from my elders and their unique experiences.  — BRITTANY FORSHAY, student

The last few months have been a learning experience because I have learned about what life as like back in the 1940′s. I loved being a teacher in the play and learning how things were taught back then. I also enjoyed learning about things that were popular back then. Overall this learning experience has been one I will never forget.  — MARY-GRACE VON THRON, student

From this experience, I have learned that getting to know the elderly is educational, and fun! I learned about how the bombing of Pearl Harbor affected lots of families and people. Many people were very nervous and scared for the family members being drafted in the war. I also discovered that lotsof families were extremely limited in clothes, food, and toys because of the cost of these resources. So, to end this summary, I would like to say, this whole experience has changed my perspective on the 1940’s and forever will.  — EMILY CZERKAWSKI, student

I learned how much work goes into a production….from start (writing the script) to finish (all the many details ofthe play). Every person is important, as well as every part. Everyone must pull together and work hard to put on a great play.  — ANNA TOUTAIN, student

I believe the past is worth remembering and worth sharing. Life in our youth was so different. Memories that have faded to the back our minds have been unlocked by our weekly meetings. These wonderful women who I now consider to by my friends have helped me to recall moments in my past that I thought were long forgotten.  — IRENE DUVALL, senior

The sponsors and whoever is helping to do this should be applauded for their role in helping to bring us together to share our memories. I deeply appreciate the opportunity to recall some memories that are very dear to my heart and I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience.  — DEE TAMMARO, senior

The Friendships that have been formed in this group will be life long. This is a great way to teach children about theatre and where stories come from.  — NANCY GRAEME, senior

The memories this group has stirred up are amazing, the stories I have heard from others are poignant, extremely interesting and enlightening. I will never forget the wonderful people I’ve met in the the past twelve weeks.  — DOLORES NARDINO, senior

This project was made possible by a Blue Cross and Blue Shield Arts and Cultural Education Grant through the Jacksonville Cultural Council, to whom we are very grateful.

We reached our goal…
ABET has a new floor!

ABET wishes to thank the generous patrons who donated
toward our Soft Shoe Project:

Three decades ago, Paula Vogel conceived a play about five “seasoned” hookers sitting on a bench near the Broadway and 72nd Street subway station. The result was THE OLDEST PROFESSION, a mix of a send-up of supply side economics before and after Ronald Reagan’s election and the power of food and music and friendship to help us through life. This play’s political implications are likely to feel up-to-date for people struggling with today’s tough job market, as Vogel’s Midtown Manhattan hookers are faced with younger, drug-addicted competitors.

Paula Vogel describes THE OLDEST PROFESSION as her only pattern play. This means a structure which moves a story forward through variations on a particular situation or experience — we have six scenes, each beginning on the park bench and updating us on the five shady ladies’ situation. Their enterprise not only continues to lose customers, but its own members. And so, the five become four, then three, then two until only one is left, and the park bench scene openings are book-ended with a song from the last departed in route to a facsimile of the New Orleans bordello where all five got their start.

You’ve heard footsteps echoing on our old stage.

Tap dancing sounds hollow.

By FEBRUARY 1 we need $1200 to fund the floor.

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Be a $5 philanthropist and buy a third of a roll of tape to put down the floor. A $29.99 contribution will buy 1 square yard of the stage. $100 will cover half of the shipping costs.

All contribution are tax deductible.

“Fantastic! The performers should be on Broadway.” – J. Goodling

NICHOLAS BOUCHER and MICHAEL SMITHGALL performing in THE 39 STEPS | Photograph by SUSAN J ROCHE

By the way, if you happen to have any extra cash laying around and are wondering what to do with it, please remember ABET! It’s quite expensive doing what we do – around $4000 for a comedy or drama and $10,000 to $12,000 for musicals. We are always appreciative of any help in that area.

Hope to see you in January at The Oldest Profession!

THE OLDEST PROFESSION

by Paula Vogel

JAN 20, 21, 27, 28, *29, FEB 2, 3, 4 

COMEDY/DRAMA | As Ronald Reagan enters the White House, five aging practitioners of the oldest profession are faced with a diminishing clientele, increased competition for their niche market, and aching joints. With wit, compassion, and humor, they struggle to find and learn new tricks as they fight to stay in the Life.

MORE ABOUT THE SHOW…

directed by JUDY HULETT
musical direction by AARON MARSHALL 

AUDITION DATES | SAT, JANUARY 7 at 12PM 

Performances Dates | MARCH 23 – APRIL 7,  2012 
You can read more about this show HERE

AUDITION REQUIREMENTS

Please bring a picture and resume along with sheet music. Prefer broadway upbeat tune, Be prepared to dance. Dancers please bring tap shoes.

AVAILABLE ROLES

HARRY FETTERHOFF (M 50ish) A private detective

MEL TOTZKEY (M 50ish) A motion picture producer

VICTOR (M 50-60) A studio head

BODYGUARD (M 20-30) Burly type

GINGER DALTON (F 30-40) Fetterhoff’s secretary

ALSO NEED:  3 men and 3 women for singing/dancing chorus

The project began with seniors taking part in a twelve week program at the center to celebrate their lives and memories in a group. As part of that process they were visited by the Drama Dreamers and shared stories with them about their unique childhood memories. Then for the next ten weeks the children worked on dramatizing some of those stories as told to them during their visit.

November 19th and 20th the seniors who took part, along with their families and friends, attended performances of their stories as our honored guests.

Both parts of project were run by Aine Healy-Richardson who is passionate about story-telling in all generations and is currently running the Children’s Creative Drama Program at ABET.

READ MORE about this event in a terrific article on Jacksonville.com.

This project was made possible by a Blue Cross and Blue Shield Arts and Cultural Education Grant through the Jacksonville Cultural Council, to whom we are very grateful.