149 audition for Sound of Music at The Renaissance Center

Release Date: 1/22/2003. Expired: 1/30/2003

Three days of auditions brought out 149 people looking for parts in the upcoming Renaissance Players production of The Sound of Music at The Renaissance Center in Dickson.

More than 75 children auditioned for seven roles as the Von Trapp family children in the popular Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, prompting the director to double cast the parts.

Kim Leavitt, managing director of the Renaissance Players and director for the March production, said she was thrilled and overwhelmed by the enthusiastic response to the audition call.

“This is the largest turnout we have had for auditions for any of the community theatre productions in the three-year history of The Renaissance Center,” Leavitt said. “While we saw many familiar faces of people who have been on stage in previous shows, we are delighted with the number of people who are auditioning for the first time.”

Leavitt said the large turnout especially for the children’s roles will provide the first opportunity to cast more than one person for the critical roles. With the children’s roles double cast, the two-week run of the show will feature separate casts each weekend.

“This allows more people to participate in the production while also reducing the burden of having to devote two weekends to the performances on the children,” Leavitt said. “It also provides us with some insurance in the event that someone gets sick or has an unforeseen conflict come up because there will be someone else ready to step into the role.”

The Renaissance Center has already come face to face with a threat to a production when two cast members in the 2000 production of Tommy were involved in an automobile accident in the middle of a three-week run, leaving the show scrambling to cover parts.

“While in community theatre we don’t normally have the luxury of having understudies for every role, the turnout for The Sound of Music means we’ll have at least the children’s roles covered in the event of an emergency,” Leavitt said.

Leavitt has spearheaded the formation of the Renaissance Players as the core troupe for community theatre productions at The Renaissance Center beginning with last year’s production of Harvey. Since that effort began, participation has grown steadily as more and more people from all over Middle Tennessee are enjoying taking part in theatre at the center.

“Last spring we were forced to make a change in a planned production because we didn’t have enough people to fill the roles for a play,” Leavitt said. “Now less than a year later we have almost 150 people auditioning for 25 individual roles in one of the most popular stage productions of all time.”

In addition to the 25 specific roles, Leavitt also will cast a chorus of approximately 30 nuns. With the double casting of the seven children’s roles, more than 60 people will have the opportunity to perform on stage when the play is presented March 14-23.

The Sound of Music will be presented at 7 p.m. March 14-15 and 21-22 and 2 p.m. March 16 and 23. Tickets are $10 for adults, $8 for seniors and $5 for children 12 and under. For more information, call (615)740-5600.

The Renaissance Center is an arts and technology education and performing arts center at 855 Highway 46 South in Dickson, just 35 miles west of Nashville on Interstate 40 at exit 172.

Visit the Theatre page for more about community and professional theatre.

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