Condolences

A summary of the newest drama by Wade Schacht

In Condolences, a pair of childhood best friends, Charlie and Vince, grapple with the difficulties of maintaining a lifelong friendship in a series of deeply personal conversations. When tragedy strikes, the two must deal with the ramifications of their loss. As they attempt to heal, paranoia and deep-cutting tribulations threaten to bring their friendship – and their lives – to a crashing end.

SEEKING:

Charlie Powers. Early-Mid 20s. Male.

A small-town, upstate boy turned big city financier, Charlie is ambitious and slick, but a genuinely well-meaning man. He lives alone in New York, married to his work and embattled in a fight with addiction. His love of money and power is rivaled only by his fear of commitment, all three of which have dominated his adult life. A certain cynicism is pervasive in his life philosophy, and he views attachment as a deficiency. Despite all this, he has stayed seemingly down-to-earth in the face of success, fame, and excess material gratification. This facade, however, slips over the course of the show. When loss and grief are mixed with this already brewing storm, he falls deeper and deeper into addiction and further detached from reality.

Through it all, there is but one constant: his love for Vince.

Vince Johnson. Early-Mid 20s. Male.

Charlie's childhood best friend, Vince - in his honest, salt-of-the-earth way - is the direct counterpart to Charlie's big city tendencies. He never left their hometown of Hyde Park, as his ambitions and desires rest at home with his loving family. He married his wife, Kathryn, at 18, after the two became pregnant with their first child. Upon learning this, Vince decided to get a union job laying concrete for the county, where he has worked ever since. Vince is sensible and measured, and he tends to take a pragmatic approach to life. But when grief hits, we begin to see the one glaring similarity between him and Charlie: neither are equipped to handle it.

THIS IS AN OPEN CALL, OPEN TO BOTH NON-EQUITY AND AEA PERFORMERS.

PLEASE FOLLOW ALL DIRECTIONS AND SEND HS/RESUME TO ACCOMPANY. Audition packet: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1-00WIw0QSqNXAr8RO-BbgkLFIAoisbUT
Feel free to submit for either/both characters.

DUE DATE: 11/16 @11:59PM EST

REHEARSAL AND PERFORMANCE DATES TBD, LOOKING AT Early-Mid '25