The Town Players of New Canaan will hold open auditions for Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen, directed by Lynne Bolton, on Monday and Tuesday, March 1 & 2 at 7:30 PM at the Powerhouse Performing Arts Center, Waveny Park, New Canaan (3/10 mile to left off Merritt Parkway Exit 37) with callbacks, if needed, on Wednesday, March 3rd at 7:30 PM. Perusal scripts are available at the New Canaan Library. Performance dates are April 30 - May 15, 2010. For more information, www.tpnc.org/auditions.asp or email info@tpnc.org.
Copenhagen is set in German occupied Denmark at the beginning of the Second World War. The play begins with a discussion of what took place during a visit between Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg in 1941. During the course of the play, the characters, from the afterlife, thrash out the details of this meeting, looking back and trying to grasp the feelings, the setting, and the circumstances that led up to the meeting, as well as what took place while the two scientists took a short walk outside of Bohr's home.
Nazi Germany was occupying Denmark, where the Bohrs lived. Niels Bohr, Denmark's most revered scientist, is half Jewish, and his life is threatened by the occupation. Heisenberg is a high-ranking physicist in Nazi Germany. Both men have the knowledge of how to create a nuclear bomb. They were once colleagues but now stand on opposite sides of the war.
There are roles for three actors. Margarethe Bohr, age 50-65, the wife of physicist Niels Bohr, is strong, intelligent and opinionated. Margarethe drives the conflict and action of the play through asides and monologues and also participates in the action of the play in real time. Niels Bohr, age 55-70, is the father of theoretical physics and an expert in nuclear fission. A genius, Bohr is sometimes distracted and forgetful but careful and thoughtful on matters of scientific importance. His slow, thoughtful countenance is the perfect foil for Heisenberg’s quick mind. Werner Heisenberg, age 40-55, is a brilliant, young physicist and protégé of Niels Bohr. A gifted mathematician, Heisenberg, charming, young, brilliant and compelling, is not afraid to challenge conventional thought.
