Are You Ready To Audition?

This weekend marks the beginning of the 2011 Sarasota Medieval Fair. Not the fair
itself, but the Open Auditions are.

If you’ve ever visited our festival and thought, “Wow, this is so much fun! How
can I sign up?” This is your chance. General cast auditions are from 11:30am
– 1:30pm Saturday and Sunday, rain or shine. It’s not important if you haven’t
much experience – everyone has to start somewhere! At the auditions, you will
be partnered up with another aspiring cast member and given a scene (something
along the lines of you losing the King’s horse and you’re the one that has to break
the news to him). Never fear, several still have the butterflies, so just getting
the courage to step on the stage is a triumph upon itself. The reason we have
rehearsals is to hone cast members’ improvisational skills.

If you feel like the Human Combat Chess match is where your intrigue lies,
auditions to wield a sword in choreographed battle will shortly follow at 2pm –
3:30pm. You will be instructed with a few basic moves of staged combat, directed
by Dean Bowden, and he will see how you mimic the moves given. Every piece
of the final performance is essential, so please consider this before accepting this
big commitment. Rehearsals will begin the first weekend in September on both
Saturday and Sundays from 9am – 3pm. It’s a lot of time to devote, but the end
result of the crowd cheering on a festival day makes it worthwhile.

Finally, if you have a unique talent or act you want to showcase in the festival,
such as period musician, juggler, fire eater, bag pipe player, drums or something of
that nature, please attend the Independent Act audition at 9am – 11am. Be ready
to demonstrate your talent in costume for a small audience. Please consider that
this is “for hat” only, no contract pay to be confirmed, as the 2011 Entertainment
contracts have already been finalized.

If this sounds like your sort of fun, we hope to see you this weekend at the
Sarasota Fairgrounds, on the festival site (behind Robarts Arena and across from
the Sarasota County DMV), and be ready to show your talent!

The Sarasota Medieval Fair will hold auditions on Saturday and Sunday,
August 20th & 21st, 2011. For full details on the audition process, please visit
http://www.SarasotaMedievalFair.com, call 1-888-303-3247 or email Dean Bowden:
ArtisticDirector@sarasotamedievalfair.com. The 8th Annual Sarasota Medieval Fair
will be held on November 12-13 & 19-20, 2011 from 10am – 6pm rain or shine.