Valentino Auditions

I'm looking to cast a few more actors for a public reading of Valentino: a play in verse. The event will take place at the Valencia Library multipurpose room on Saturday, June 23.

We will read the complete play. Admission is free. Actors will have books in hand. No memorization necessary, but I will schedule rehearsals for the week prior.

The New Works Festival cast of Valentino is invited to reprise their roles for this event. For those of you who were in the New Works cast, please confirm your interest and availability.

In addition, I will be holding auditions for the following roles:

Niccolo Machiavelli (Male, 32)
Leonardo da Vinci (Male, 50)
Pope Alexander VI (Male, 72)
Ramiro de Lorqua (Male, 50s)
Francesco Orsini (Male, 20s)

If you'd like to familiarize yourself with the verse style of the play, here are four short monologues from Valentino:

MACHIAVELLI:
My Magnificent Lords, et cetera:
I woke this morning startled by a cry
That echoed through street. Amazed by the
Commotion, I followed. I know not why
Or how, but Ramiro — anathema
Of Italy and scourge of men — is dead.
Two pieces, both his body and his head,
Were displayed with a block and knife. My quill
Cannot do justice. Why decapitate
Him? Why would Valentino want to kill
The man? Except, perhaps, to demonstrate
That men are made, and broken, at his will.
The wheel has turned. We folly at our fate,
Until we fall beneath Fortuna's felly.
Your servant, Niccolò Machiavelli.

LEONARDO:
A genius knows his mystery demands
A sacrifice, the blistering of hands.
His life is dedicated, disciplined,
To conquer chaos — formlessness to form.
The traits of nature must be tamed and twinned.
Inspiration? A constant, seething swarm.
It’s not the sudden windfall, but the wind —
The whirling, swirling, skirling of the storm.
The genius learns to stand, instead of duck,
To live life under stress, till thunderstruck.
Though pangs of anguish claim him on the cliff,
He does not languish, living out his lot.
While other men are scuttling the skiff,
He crowns the crest, a fearless Argonaut.
All life has genius. Yet you speak as if
I have some gift that others haven’t got.
No. Genius is a quest. It’s not a quirk.
It is a willingness to do the work.

LUCREZIA:
My words can save you from the other side.
I'm standing between you and your Creator.
But if my brother hears that I have died,
He'll stop at nothing, kill you now or later.
You may try hiding, but he'll have your hide.
My brother always knew you were a traitor —
Your colors are more Ghibelline than Guelph.
But if you kill me, then you kill yourself.
He found you out, and he will do you in.
My brother is a beast you'll never tame.
He'll kill you first, and then he'll kill your kin.
He'll put your field and family to flame.
He'll leave them crying, dying in the din.
I swear he'll burn all books that bear your name,
Till all your dreams are buried in the sod.
My brother is the bloody hand of God.

ALEXANDER:
This is a wicked world that we must live in.
Confess your sins and clear your conscience, child.
There are no crimes that cannot be forgiven.
God's grace can save what demons have defiled.
Please, let me help you save your soul. Be shriven.
It's time that you and God were reconciled.
All men are sinners, down deep in their bones.
You will not find me casting any stones.
Impart your cares. Sometimes it helps to talk.
The heart's a reliquary, the abode
And haunt of revenant remorse. We walk
A dark defile, that long, bedeviled road
Between the cradle and the catafalque.
We need not walk alone. Please, share the load.
So much wreckage, where recollection delves.
Guilt is revenge we take upon ourselves.

— from Valentino: a play in verse

© 2007 by David Wisehart

If you are interested in auditioning, please email me at: David_Wisehart@hotmail.com