SMITHFIELD – Amid the busy summer theatrical season here in Cache Valley, the Four Season Theatre Company is wasting no time in advancing its 2024 production schedule.
While the debut of its staging of the Disney musical Tarzan is still about three weeks away, the performing arts group based in Smithfield has already set auditions for its very first non-musical production, The 39 Steps.
Adapted from a 1915 novel by John Buchan and the 1935 film by master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock, The 39 Steps is a comedic parody of those earlier versions of the classic spy mystery.
Director Jon Rash — who calls the show a blend of Hitchcock with a juicy spy novel and a dash of Monty Python on top – promises that The 39 Steps will be a fast-paced whodunit that should charm local audiences.
The play will also be something of a departure from the Four Seasons’ tradition of staging big-cast musical, since its concept calls for the entirety of the 1935 Hitchcock film to be performed by just four actors.
One actor plays the hero, while a lone actress plays the three women with whom he has romantic entanglements as the play progresses.
All of the rest of the play’s characters – more than 150 of them — will be played by just two additional actors who will occasionally play multiple characters simultaneously.
Rash says that the award-winning show will be packed with non-stop laughs, zany characterizations, an on-stage plane crash, handcuffs, missing fingers and some good old-fashioned romance.
Auditions for The 39 Steps will be held one night only on Monday, June 3 only at Sky View High School in Smithfield from 5 to 8 p.m.
The performance dates of The 39 Steps will be Thursday, Aug. 1 to Saturday, Aug. 10.
Performers who wish to audition should park in the school’s south parking lot, then follow the signage to the Sky View Theatre Room to check in and reserve an audition appointment.
But Rash says walk-in auditions are also welcome.
Those wishing to audition should prepare three acting sides from the dialogue samples at https://fourseasonstheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/39-STEPS-AUDITION-SIDES.pdf
Would-be actors should also bring a filled-out Four Seasons audition form, a portrait head shot and a list of all conflicts from July 1 to Aug. 10.
The Four Seasons audition form can be found at https://fourseasonstheatre.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/39-Steps-Audition-Form.pdf
Rash promises that performing in The 39 Steps will be a challenging, but exhilarating, theatrical experience.
Sky View High School is located at 520 South, 250 East in Smithfield.