Auditions — Compulsion Dance & Theatre

Compulsion Dance & Theater presents:

Auditions for the San Diego Premiere of THE FIRST OF DECEMBER, a new play about the Vietnam draft.

Written by Richard Fouts

Directed by Michael Mizerany

WHEN AND WHERE:

Diversionary Black Box, 4545 Park Blvd., San Diego.

Performances March 6 – March 22. Friday, Saturday 8pm, Sunday 3pm

Rehearsals begin on February 16th, Monday - Friday, 7pm - 10pm

Tech week begins on March 1st. (No conflicts will be accepted for tech rehearsals or performances).

Compensation: $250.00 per week.

ABOUT THE PLAY:

As the Army’s draft lottery unfolds in real time, the futures of five college men are shattered as their birth dates are used to determine the order they will be called to fight in Vietnam. The play takes place in a fraternity house at the University of Pennsylvania, December 1, 1969.

ROLES: Five males, one female. Role descriptions specify the character’s age, but actors can be late teens to early thirties.

Please submit a dramatic monologue between 1 and 1 1⁄2 minutes as a YouTube or Vimeo link. Make sure you slate your submission. Please email your Youtube or Vimeo link to artisticcompulsion@gmail.com

Callbacks: In person, Thursday, December 11th in the evening. You must be available for callbacks.

CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS - THE FIRST OF DECEMBER

MIKE HARRIS (Male, 21)

The fraternity president and moral center trying to hold everything together on his 21st birthday, a day already shadowed by his mother's death three years prior. Natural leader with genuine care for his brothers, but the weight of responsibility is crushing him. Uses humor and optimism as defense mechanisms. Draft number 129 places him in agonizing limbo. Intelligent, empathetic, but struggles with his own grief and the impossible task of fixing what cannot be fixed.

LINDA HARRIS (Female, 23)

Mike's older sister, a graduate student in English. Independent and maternal, she's trying to fill the void left by her mother's death while navigating her own losses. Former lover of Chad's, she carries the secret of a hysterectomy that ended her ability to have children. Strong-willed and politically aware (attends anti-war meetings), but feels she's failing everyone. Serves as both emotional anchor and voice of anti-war sentiment. Compassionate but can be sharp when pushed.

CHAD DUMONT (Male, 21)

Star quarterback, Mike's roommate, and the golden boy whose September 14th birthday makes him draft number one. Covers fear with bravado, jokes, and hyper-masculinity. From a military family with a domineering, alcoholic father he both resents and can't disappoint. Still in love with Linda. His homophobia and occasional racial insensitivity mask deep insecurity. Physical, athletic presence. Shows flashes of tenderness beneath the tough-guy exterior. Faces his fate with a mixture of defiance and terror.

RORY McALLISTER (Male, 20)

The most vulnerable and least equipped for war. Draft number four. Accounting major, a bit of a loner who worships Chad and desperately needs Mike's approval. Anxious, fearful, and honest about his terror. Gay (arrested at Stonewall) but cannot come out without destroying everything. Caught between his father's rigid expectations and his own identity. His fear sometimes manifests as radical ideas (bombing the draft board). Sweet-natured but cracking under pressure.

DAVID ROTHWELL (Male, 21)

Strikingly handsome, "Big Man on Campus," Pre-law student from a wealthy Palo Alto family. Intelligent, articulate, and seemingly perfect, which breeds resentment. Carries profound survivor's guilt over his brother Dan's death in Vietnam and his own Sole Surviving Son exemption (draft number 354). Genuinely wants to help his brothers avoid the draft but struggles with his privilege. More emotionally complex than his polished exterior suggests. Becomes the play's researcher and record-keeper.

TIM WANG (Male, 21, Asian-American)

Good student and athlete who lives in Chad's shadow. Draft number 51. Son of a Chinese immigrant whose father was executed by communists, making this war deeply personal in complicated ways. Sharp, sometimes confrontational, willing to call out racism and privilege. Desperate enough to cut off his own toe for a medical exemption. Quick-witted but also impulsive. His self-mutilation is both darkly comic and tragic. Has a crush on a nurse. Represents the intersection of immigrant experience and American war.

COLONEL DANIEL OMER (Voice Only, Male, 54)

Never seen, only heard via radio throughout the play. The voice of bureaucratic authority calling out birth dates with military precision. His voice should be clear, official, matter-of-fact, the mundane delivery making the life-and-death stakes even more chilling. Represents the impersonal machinery of the military-industrial complex.