Website Parker Players Theater Company
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Parker Players Theater Company presents PRIDE AND PREJUDICE by Kate Hamill adapted from the novel by Jane Austen and Directed by Sara Mountjoy-Pepka.
ABOUT THE PLAY
This isn’t your grandmother’s Austen. It’s fizzy, festive, and timely. In this bold, boisterous spin on Pride and Prejudice, Lizzy Bennet swears off marriage—but love (and one vaguely handsome, mildly amusing, and impossibly infuriating Mr. Darcy) has other plans. Packed with wit, chaos, and charm, this screwball take on literature’s greatest tale of latent romance is a dazzling celebration of love, freedom, and the delightful absurdity of it all.
We welcome and encourage all artists of all races, ethnicities, abilities, faith/belief traditions, sexual orientations, gender expressions, gender identities, ages, socio-economic backgrounds, and nationalities to submit!
Material to Prepare:
Kate Hamill's Pride and Prejudice is a blend of the original Austen style and Hamill's own contemporary spin. The emphasis, however, is on HEIGHTENED COMEDY. We encourage you to read the play in advance, to get a sense of the style. Please prepare one of the following, 90 seconds:
1. A Period or contemporary comedic monologue, OR
2. A comedic monologue cutting directly from any Jane Austen book or Kate Hamill Austen play.
Note: A selection that features RP dialect would be wonderful to see in the first round.
No Shakespeare please...19th - 21st Century only!
Time Commitment:
Please note: All rehearsals and performances take place in Barrington (540 W Northwest Hwy 60010).
Rehearsals begin: Wednesday June 4, 2025
• Mondays, Wednesday, Thursdays 7:00 PM – 10:00 PM
• Saturdays 10:00 AM – 2:00 PM
No rehearsals July 2–July 6
Tech Week: July 13–17
PERFORMANCE DATES
• Evening Shows at 7:30 PM:
July 18, 19, 24, 25, 26, 31 and August 1, 2
• Matinees at 2:00 PM:
July 20, 27 and August 3
Character Type/Restrictions:
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN
These are the suggested actor tracks. However, we may choose to vary from these doubling suggestions based on who we meet during auditions.
Actor 1:
Jane: Late 20 – early 30s. The eldest and most beautiful Bennet daughter. Kind, idealistic, diffident. Always tries to do the right thing.
Miss de Bourgh: Lady Catherine’s daughter. A gremlin. Probably allergic to sun. Underneath all her veils, she may be covered in scales.
Actor 2:
Lizzy: Late 20s – early 30s. A year or two younger than Jane. DOES NOT DOUBLE. Clever, spirited, can be sharp-tongued. Gets flustered, which makes her klutzy. Prides herself on good judgement. Not especially beautiful. Very very scared of marriage, after absorbing the lessons of her parents’ marriage.
Actor 3:
Lydia: Plays age 14 (casting actor age 18 or older to play 14). The youngest Bennet. Lively, prone to imitating others’ behavior and eavesdropping.
Lady Catherine: Patrician Caesar – meets-drill sergeant.
Actor 4:
Mr. Darcy: Late 30s – 40s. DOES NOT DOUBLE. One of the richest men in England. Too proper for his own good; awkward in most social contexts. Prides himself on self-control and good judgement.
Actor 5 (roles could be split to include more actors):
Mr. Collins: A pedantic, obtuse man. The original mansplainer. Rector to Lady Catherine.
Wickham: An unfairly handsome and charming gentleman. Probably a sociopath. Raised with Darcy.
Miss Bingley: A very rich, very beautiful young woman. Fancies herself witty.
Actor 6:
Mr. Bingley: Late 30s – 40s. Loves the world and the world loves him. Mr. Darcy’s particular friend. Almost literally a dog.
Mary: The third Bennet girl. Violent and dark undertones; prone to pedanticism and sulking. A dark goth Brontë character trapped in an Austen world. Coughs to get attention, or to make a point; may fancy that she’s dying.
Actor 7:
Charlotte Lucas: Same age as Lizzy. A practical girl with a good sense of humor.
Mr. Bennet: The patriarch of the Bennet family. Finds amusement in absurdity; often looks for respectable escape from the chaos of his family life. Can be somewhat apathetic; probably a bit depressed, under everything. Enjoys antagonizing. Disappointed in marriage.
Actor 8:
Mrs. Bennet: The matriarch of the Bennet family. Mostly a silly woman, of mean understanding and variable temper. Hypochondriac; when she’s upset, she fancies that she’s dying. The business of her life is to get her daughters married. She traumatizes her family with some regularity.
Servants:
To apply for this job please visit forms.gle.