UNH Dress Guidelines for Acting/Musical Theatre Auditions
SALIM SALIM
Open Call Video Submission: A one-minute contemporary dramatic monologue video submitted by Sunday, Jan 23, 11:59pm. Please frame in a medium shot (waist up).
Audition Form: Fill out audition form and submit video audition HERE.
Script: To view the script, click HERE.
Call-Backs: Will be held face to face on Saturday, Jan 29, 2022, from 1-4pm.
A Note on Casting: Salim Salim takes place at the border crossing between Israel and the Gaza Strip and has Palestinian and Israeli characters. THDA has the full support and encouragement for any of our UNH theatre students to play any of the roles from Caché Owens-Velásquez, Director of the Beauregard Center for Equity, Justice and Freedom, Nadine Petty, UNH’s Chief Diversity Officer, and Dr. Islam Karkour, who teaches all levels of Arabic, is a critical faculty member in UNH’s Middle Eastern Studies Minor, and who is a scholar and researcher in the field of intercultural competence. The Executive Board of MECA, The Middle Eastern Cultural Association and Dr. Karkour have volunteered to continue offering input and assistance in the mounting of this production. (David Richman will be serving as our dramaturge). The playwright also fully supports any student being cast in any role.
Zoom Chat with Director David Kaye on casting and other questions: David Kaye will host a zoom chat for anyone who would like to ask any questions concerning casting, the play, the cultural stages program, or any other relevant subject on Wed, Jan 19 at 7pm: https://unh.zoom.us/j/99682540620
Rehearsal and Production Dates:
- Rehearsals will not begin until AFTER spring break.
- First Rehearsal: Monday, March 21
- Rehearsals will generally be Mon-Fri, 6pm-10pm., Sun TBA (Time set on what works best for the cast)
- Tech Rehearsals: April 16, 17, 12pm-5pm
- Dress rehearsals: April 18, 19, 5:30pm-11pm
- Performances: April 20-23: 6pm call, April 24 1pm call
About the Play: Salim Salim is an intense play the tells the story of Salim, a Palestinian man who is released from the Israeli prison after serving a ten-year sentence. Salim plans to return to his wife and children who live in the West Bank. However, Salim is sent by the Israeli authorities to the Gaza border crossing. Salim was born in Gaza and his address is listed in the Israeli population registries as the Gaza Strip because the Israeli government does not allow Palestinians to change their address from Gaza to the West Bank. On his release day, Salim is sent to the Gaza border crossing and asked to enter Gaza. When Salim refuses to cross, he finds himself trapped between Gaza and Israel. Salim’s fierce refusal to enter Gaza is connected with a shameful secret. During his time in the Israeli prison, Salim was forced to become an informer for the Israeli authorities. He informed on his brother, and now he is afraid of retaliation. The two brothers had fallen out years ago when they both fell in love with the same woman, Nai'ma. Salim ended up marrying her and Fadel still carries the pain of his defeat. Now, at the Gaza border crossing, they all meet again.
SALIM SALIM is the tragedy of a man who wanted to live a peaceful life but was torn by political forces that are much stronger than him. The play deals with human rights, with the Israeli occupation, and the pain that war inflicts on everyone involved.
The Characters being cast:
- SALIM, a Palestinian man, 34 years old.
- THE COMMANDER, the officer in charge of the Erez Crossing, 28. Likes to think of himself as a liberal, believe he is doing an important job running the crossing.
- NAI'MA, Salim's Wife, originally from Gaza, now lives in the West Bank, 30. A smart, strong woman who raises her three children by herself.
- THE SOLDIER, a young woman, serving at the Erez crossing, 20. Cheerful and friendly, she hates her job at the crossing point.
- WA'EL, lives in Gaza, 28. Fadel's close friend, has known Fadel and Salim since childhood.
- FADEL, Salim's brother, lives in Gaza, 30. A sensitive man who fights for his people's liberation.
- 3 Israeli Border Guards, These roles are critical for play’s immersive element
About Cultural Stages and the Woodward International Playwriting Prize: Salim Salim was the winning play from over 400 submissions from around the world. The play was performed in Israel in Hebrew and Arabic. This will be the official English language premiere.
Cultural Stages: The Woodward International Drama and Dance Initiative was designed to promote a greater understanding of world cultures through drama and dance. The project and the playwriting competition has been funded by Ellis Woodward, UNH Class of '74.
All plays considered for the Woodward prize were required to focus on cultures outside the US.
The Playwright: STAV PALTI NEGEV (She/ her/ hers) is an Israeli writer and playwright. Her play, Salim Salim, received the Best Play award at the 2014 Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre and ran for two years at Tmuna Theater in Tel-Aviv, 2015 – 2017. In 2021, the play won The Woodward International Playwriting Prize and it will receive its English language premiere as part of the UNH Theatre and Dance’s 2021/22 season. Her play “Elsewhere: a play for an audience of one” premiered at the Acco Festival in October 2016. In 2018, Stav developed a virtual reality (VR) adaption of the play in collaboration with The Public Theater, and in 2019 it received a second adaption as an audio play. Stav’s work has been developed in the United States through The Public Theater, Atlantic Theater Company, MacDowell, The Lark, The Flea Theater, New York Live Arts, New York Foundation for the Arts, The Orchard Project, and The 14th Street Y, among others. Her plays have received productions with the Acco Festival of Alternative Israeli Theatre, Tmuna Theater (Tel-Aviv), and Nazareth Theater. Stav is a 2017 alumna of The Public Theater’s Emerging Writers Group, a 2015/2017/2021 HaPais Council for the Arts Artist award recipient, a 2016/2019 Asylum Arts development award recipient, and a member of the Middle Eastern American Writers Lab at The Lark in New York City. She is currently working on a script for a new Polish-Israeli film co-production and on a new play about her personal immigration story. Stav holds an M.A. in Performance Studies from NYU Tisch School of the Arts and a B.A. in Theater Studies from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Stav will be coming from Israel during the run of the play, and will hold a talk-back after one of the performances.
The Production Team:
- Director: David Kaye
- Dramaturge: David Richman
- Stage Manager: Sydni Furtado
- Set Designer: Serenity Morris
- Light Designer: Bryson Badeau
- Costume Designer: Victoria Carot