Monday, November 19, 2012

Auditions Announced for TIME STANDS STILL at Heartland

Time Stands Still, the Donald Margulies play about journalists, ethics and how covering international conflict affects one's personal life is scheduled to play at Heartland Theatre next Feburary. In the meantime, director Sandra Zielinski will be assembling her team of actors and getting the play's gritty issues up on their feet. To that end, Zielinski will be holding auditions December 16, 17 and 18 at Heartland Theatre.


There are two women and two men in Time Stands Still, with photojournalist Sarah front and center. When the play begins, Sarah is attempting to mend after suffering injuries in a bombing somewhere in the Mideast. She's used to recording events as they unfold, right there on the front line, and this recuperation period safe at home makes her uneasy. Does no excitement and no danger also mean no purpose?

Her long-time boyfriend, James, himself a journalist, is already there, waiting at home. He was injured, too, and that has made him think it's time to settle down and stop traveling halfway around the world, putting himself in the middle of other people's messes. He wants to get married, have kids, and act like normal people for a change.

Sarah has never considered herself the marrying kind, and the example of her editor, Richard, and his new bride, Mandy, who's half his age, isn't exactly endearing Sarah to the institution. To Sarah, Mandy seems like a cheerfully brainless twit. The fact that she's perfectly happy that way is is even more infuriating.

Who's right? Who's wrong? What is the point of a well-lived life, anyway? Is it ever possible to be an objective observer and not get involved when the world is exploding around you?

In the Broadway production of Time Stands Still directed by the legendary Daniel Sullivan, Laura Linney played Sarah, with Brian d'Arcy James as James, Eric Bogosian as Richard the editor, and Alicia Silverstone as Mandy. Earlier this year, Austin Pendleton directed it for Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, with Sally Murphy as Sarah, Randall Newsome as James, ISU alum Frances Guinan as Richard and Kristina Valada-Viars as Mandy.

If the play's issues of responsibility, ethics and personal choices appeal to you and you feel like you fit one of those roles, you'll want to pencil December 16, 17 and 18 in on your calendar. Auditions will be held from 2 to 4:30 pm on Sunday the 16th, 7 to 10 on Monday the 17th, and 7 to 9 pm on Tuesday the 18th. For more information, you can visit Heartland's Auditions page here, or the current season page here.

And if you'd like a copy of the script to study up, email me, 'cause I have one!

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