Brighton Beach Memoirs- Audition Info
Description: Brighton Beach Memoirs is part one of Neil Simon’s autobiographical trilogy: a portrait of the writer as a Brooklyn teenager in 1937 living with his family in crowded, lower middle class circumstances. Eugene the young Neil Simon is the narrator and central character. His mind is full of fiercely fantasized dreams of baseball and dimly fantasized images of girls. The play captures a few days in the life of a struggling Jewish household that includes Eugene’s hard working father, his sharp tongued mother, his older and vastly more experienced brother Stanley, his widowed aunt and her two young daughters. As Eugene’s father says, “If you didn’t have a problem, you wouldn’t live in this house.” Two have heart disease, one has asthma, and two at least temporarily lose jobs needed to keep the straitened family afloat. Family miseries are used to raise such enduring issues as sibling resentments, guilt ridden parent child relationships and the hunger for dignity in a poverty stricken world.
Auditions are:
December 13-Last name A-M
December 14- Last name N-Z
December 16 & 17 Callbacks
Please prepare an appropriate 90 second memorized monologue. You are strongly encouraged to prepare a monologue from the play. As an alternative you may choose to work with a partner and prepare a 3 minute 2 person scene instead. Call back scenes will be posted soon. Scripts are available on Amazon.com.
Scans of the monologues are available below the character descriptions.
Eugene Morris Jerome: He is a normal 15 year old boy who has recently discovered girls in a BIG way. He is obsessed with the female anatomy, which he’s never seen, and his other love of baseball. The play revolves around his memoirs.
Suggested audition monologues: Page 38-39
Stanley Jerome: 18 years old. He is the older brother who, due to financial reasons, must work a factory job, which he hates. He tries to temper Eugene’s passions while attempting to please his parents, but he struggles with feelings of being trapped.
Suggested audition monologues: Page 24-26
Jack Jerome: He is the father who feels the pressure of supporting an extended family by working two jobs. In addition, all family members turn to him for advice and answers. He is patient, but very weary.
Suggested audition monologues: Page 86
Kate Jerome: 40 years old. She is the very strong mother who attempts to hold the family together and solve the hurts and problems of all of them. She is opinionated and very verbal, but also very loving.
Suggested audition monologues: Page 84
Aunt Blanche: 38 years old. She is Kate’s younger sister, recently widowed, very indecisive, and dependent. She wants to have a life for herself and her daughters, but she does not know how or where to begin. She feels buried with her husband.
Suggested audition monologues:Page 95-96
Cousin Nora: She is a very beautiful and ambitious 16 year old girl with dreams of Broadway. She is often resentful of her younger sister who is pampered due to heart flutters. In addition, she is angry at her father for dying and leaving her with a weak mother.
Suggested audition monologues:Page 16-17 or Page 95
Cousin Laurie: She is a studious, yet quietly mischievous, 13 year old who is all ears around the adult situations. She appears innocent, but she really has a grasp on what the others around her are “up to.”
No monologue available
BBM Aunt Blanche audition monologue pgs. 95-96
BBM Eugene audition monologue pgs. 38-39
BBM Stanley audition monologue pgs. 24-26
BBM Kate audition monologue pg. 84
BBM Jack audition monologue pg. 86
BBM Cousin Nora audition monologue
BBM Cousin Nora audition monologue pgs. 16-17
BBM Cousin Nora audition monologue pg. 95
