Private Lives

BrightSide Theatre Auditions for

Noël Coward’s Private Lives

Director: BrightSide Theatre’s Artistic Director Jeffrey Cass

Who

BrightSide Theatre is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion while promoting cultural awareness and sensitivity. We encourage performers of all races and ethnicities, gender and sexual identities, ages, body types, and abilities, to attend every audition.

Seeking adult actors.  Local hires only (no housing or travel provided). We encourage Trans and Gender Non-Conforming performers to audition as genders listed as those of the character, not the performer.

When

In Person Auditions will be on Monday, November 10 6:30pm-9:30pm at BrightSide Theatre’s Rehearsal Studio, 1989 University Lane, Unit D, Lisle, IL 60532.  Sign up for a time at https://signup.com/go/vzcneSK

Prepare 2 contrasting monologues that total no more than 3 minutes combined.

Bring your Headshot/Resume.

Callbacks will be by invitation only the evening of Tuesday, November 11.

Time Commitment

Rehearsals will begin Sunday, February 22, 2026, and take place on Sunday through Thursday evenings.  Not all cast members are called to each rehearsal.  Tech week is April 5-9.  No rehearsal conflicts will be accepted for tech week or any performances.

Performances

All performances will be at the Theatre at Meiley-Swallow Hall on the Campus of North Central College, 31 S. Ellsworth in Naperville. Opening 4/10/26; Closing 4/26/26 (Fri/Sat evenings at 7:30pm and Sun matinees at 2pm – 9 performances total)

Pay Rate: $300 Stipend

Casting Breakdown:

Elyot Chase (Identifies Male) 30’s-40’s – a handsome man. When the play begins, he is honeymooning at Deauville, France, with his second wife. Five years earlier, he had divorced Amanda, to whom he had been married for three tumultuous years, and then traveled around the world. When he sees Amanda again, he realizes that she is his true love. Together, they flee to Paris. Despite their bickering and fisticuffs, they remain reunited. Elyot represents the witty, irreverent, sophisticated Englishman.

Sibyl Chase: (Identifies Female) 20-25 – Elyot’s attractive, young twenty something bride. Conventional, unimaginative, and innocent, she is Amanda’s antithesis and suggests the playwright’s dim view of the “nice” English girl. She implies to Elyot that she will tailor life to suit his whims.

Amanda Prynne (Identifies Female) 30’s-40’s Elyot’s first wife, newly married to Victor Prynne. She, too, is honeymooning at Deauville as the play opens. She is the most vivacious character in the work. She is not only beautiful but also spirited, independent, and unconventional — a fit partner for Elyot.

Victor Prynne (Identifies Male) 30’s-40’s. – A handsome man a few years older than Elyot. Stuffy and stodgy, he lacks a sense of humor. Like Sibyl, he is shocked by the elopement of Elyot and Amanda; when he and Sibyl catch up with the other couple, he chivalrously offers to divorce Amanda even though he deeply loves her. He wants to make over someone’s life and takes it upon himself to do so for his new wife. This drives her back into the arms of Elyot. Sibyl is his true soul mate, and their fierce quarreling at the end of the play, mirroring the battles between Amanda and Elyot, indicates that the conventional Victor will end up paired with her.

Louise (Identifies Female) any age – Amanda’s French-speaking maid. She makes a brief appearance in the third act. Her inability to speak English and her incomprehension of the bizarre occurrences in the apartment provide a number of laughs.

All roles will be understudied.