AUDITION INFORMATION

Thank you for your interest in the 2025 fall play, THESE SHINING LIVES!  The first round of auditions will be held through video recordings, which are due no later than SUNDAY, AUGUST 17.  Live call-backs will be held during the week of AUGUST 18 after school in the Performing Arts Center.

THESE SHINING LIVES is a drama by Melanie Marnich.  

These Shining Lives is a powerful play based on a true story.  In 1922, Catherine Donohue takes a job at the Radium Dial Company in Ottawa, Illinois.  She quickly becomes friends with several other young women, who talk and laugh as they apply radioactive paint to the dials of watches.  Only later do they discover the fatal consequences of their daily radiation exposure.

These Shining Lives chronicles the strength and determination of women considered expendable in their day.  Theirs is a story of survival in its most transcendent sense.  They refuse to allow the company that stole their health to kill their spirits--or endanger the lives of those who come after them.

The show calls for a large cast, with many female and male roles.

The cast will have its first meeting during the week of August 18.  Cast members should plan to attend the work day on Saturday, August 23, starting at 9 a.m. in the Performing Arts Center.  Rehearsals will take place Monday through Friday beginning the week of August 25 and running through the week of October 6.  (Not all cast members will be required to attend all rehearsals.  Cast members will receive a detailed calendar at the first rehearsal.)  The show will be performed for junior high students on October 9 and 10.  The production will be performed for the public on Thursday through Saturday, October 9 through 11, at 7:00 p.m. in the Belleville West Performing Arts Center.

To audition for the show, please follow these two steps:

• Complete all questions in the AUDITION FORM no later than SUNDAY, AUGUST 17.  

• Record and submit your audition video (at the end of the audition form) by SUNDAY, AUGUST 17.  You can read or download the audition scenes at THIS LINK.

You must use your school email account to log in to the audition form.  You can access the audition scenes (which you may download, print, or read from a device) in the audition form.  Please read all instructions for the audition video.  Familiarize yourself with the appropriate passages; then record and post your video. 

Call-backs will take place during the week of August 18.  Students needed for call-backs will receive notification through school email, so be sure to check your email after August 17.

Please be aware that being a part of the fall play requires a commitment of your time throughout the rehearsal process.  We will have daily rehearsals for a period of approximately seven weeks.  Much like playing on a team or performing with a musical group, staging a play requires a dedication of your time.  Please also be aware that students cast in this production will be responsible for providing specific costume pieces (which you may need to purchase), for participating in a fund-raising activity to help with the expense of rental costumes, and for paying the District #201 activity fee.

If you have any questions, please email me at jlodle@bths201.org.  I look forward to seeing your audition video for THE SHINING LIVES.

Mr. Lodle

Director