The Merritt Live Theatre Society will hold open auditions for its first play of 2012, Last Rites, next week.

Auditions will begin for five female roles and one male role at the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology lecture theatre this Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. The audition will consist of “cold reading”, or reciting short sections of the Last Rites script.

Leslie Hamson, a First Nations activist, wrote Last Rites. Theatre society vice-president Nedra McKay is slated to direct.

The play focuses on two lesbian women, Charlotte and Rachel, who have taken refuge in the trapline cabin of supportive native friends.

“Charlotte is dying and makes contact with the daughter that her sister raised as her own. Eventually, all the women come together,” reads a synopsis from the Playwrights Guild of Canada.

Last Rites takes place in the cabin, located on a lakeshore and the community of Carcross in Yukon Territory and Edmonton, in about 1980.

The female characters range in age from a 16-year-old girl to a Tlingit elder. The sole male character, Frankie, is in his 20s.

A notice from the theatre society announcing the audition invites aspiring actors to bring in a headshot or curriculum vitae. However, neither is necessary to audition.

Out-of-town applicants are also welcome.

In addition to actors, the society also needs to fill out the technical crew for Last Rites. Anyone looking for a backstage role is welcome to attend the auditions.

Last Rites will be the theatre society’s first production under new president Mil Juricic.
Juricic was elected president of the Merritt Live Theatre Society at the group’s annual general meeting in January. Former president Jim Bruce resigned last summer and Harvey Keys then took over as interim president until the annual general meeting.

In addition to Juricic, members elected McKay vice-president, Anya McVean as secretary, and Jodi Latremouille as treasurer.

The society had planned to perform Last Rites last spring. However, the production was postponed due to illness from one of the principal cast members.

The society now plans to mount Last Rites this spring. The show will be the first of what the society hopes to be a busy schedule of at least six local and touring productions throughout the year.

Anyone interested in joining the production or looking for more information about the auditions can contact the society at merrittlivetheatresociety@gmail.com.