Star crossed love

The stage is known as home to the actors serious about their craft. Well, how about acting the part of a television actor struggling between the choice performing Shakespeare or accepting a lucrative role in a TV pilot.

Such is the dilemma of Andrew Rally, the lead character in Paul Rudnick's production "I Hate Hamlet."

Corvallis Community Theatre is holding auditions for this play at Majestic Theatre Dec. 14-16.

Up for grabs are six principal roles. First is Felicia Dantine, Rally's 30-something Manhattan real estate agent. This psychic speaks with a hoarse voice that has a hint of Queens nasality. The lead role is a man is his late 20's/early 30's accustomed to being the center of attention.

Deirde McDavey is Rally's virginal girlfriend who loves Hamlet. Rally's talent agent provides another role, that of Lillian Troy. Troy is a character in her 70's who speaks with a German accent and a smoker's hack.

Haunting the play is John Barrymore, the ghost of the famous American actor. He's the former inhabitant of Rally's apartment.

Gary Peter Lefkowitz is the final character to make an appearance. This 30ish Los Angeles man is much like an overgrown child.

Actors auditioning for the roles of Andrew Rally or John Barrymore should be prepared to recite the first 14 lines of Hamlet’s soliloquy, “To be or not to be,” from Act III, Scene I. Auditions are held at 7 p.m. For more information, contact director Kaitlin Fitzgerald at fitzgeraldkaitlin@comcast.net or 541-981-9901.

Scripts are available for check-out at the Majestic Theatre box office, Monday-Friday 10 a.m.-5 p.m.

Sahara's seniors head west

As the year comes to a close, Lincoln City's Theatre West welcomes guests to sit down and laugh along with the "Seniors of the Sahara."

Opening on Dec. 30, director Stina Seeger-Gibson brings the comedy to Theatre West's stage.

At the center of the story is protagonist Sylvia Goldberg, a retired New Jersey teacher who brings home a unique souvenir from her grandson's Israeli wedding. Her outdoor market purchase has a life of its own. Hidden away in a teapot is a geriatric genie.

"Eugene" as he becomes known by has a bad back and a taste for vodka and V8.

Though Sylvie aims to keep him a secret from her friends, Eugene's former master forces her to take measures to protect herself when he follows her home and threatens her at knifepoint.

"Seniors of Sahara" has a special New Year's Eve gala scheduled. All shows begin at 8 p.m.

For more information on the play or tickets, go to www.theatrewest.com.

No laughing matter

Sibling rivalry sets the stage during auditions that are being held this month at Albany Civic Theatre for Paul Osborn's "Mornings at Seven." Local actors can plead their case to join Leigh Matthews Bock's ACT directorial debut on Dec. 7 and 8.

This comedic play tells the story of the relationship between the four aging Gibbs sisters. They live in close quarters and three of them have lived next door to one another for fifty years with the eldest a mere blocks away. Tensions rise when Ida’s 40-year-old son brings his fiancée of 12 years to the house for the first time.

Mornings is a Broadway revival that takes place in small town America in 1938.

Four actresses are needed to fill the roles of this sisterly connection, In addition, their husbands, as well as Ida and Carl's son Homer Bolton and his fiancee Myrtle Brown are needed to round out the cast. Rehearsals for the March production will be on hiatus between Dec. 23 and Jan. 2. For more information, contact Bock at morningsat7@gmail.com.