AUDITIONS: Bright Star
Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre
117 North Park Square | Marietta, GA 30060

Production: Bright Star
Theatre/Producer: Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre
Director: Dawn Parker
Show Dates: September 5 – 21, 2025
Rehearsal Start Date: July 20, 2025
Tech Week Start Date: August 31, 2025
Location: Marietta, GA
Compensation: Yes

The Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre is excited to announce open auditions for our September 2025 season production of Bright Star! We are seeking a talented and diverse cast to bring this story to the stage.

About the Show:
Journey to the Blue Ridge Mountains for an unforgettable story of love, loss, and redemption in Bright Star, the award-winning musical inspired by true events. Featuring a moving score by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, this heartfelt production brings 1920s and 1940s Appalachia to life with soaring melodies, powerful storytelling, and breathtaking performances.

Follow the journey of Alice Murphy, a literary editor with a mysterious past, as her story unfolds across two decades in this poignant tale of hope and second chances. With songs like “If You Knew My Story” and “Asheville,” Bright Star is a musical celebration of the human spirit that will leave you inspired and uplifted.

Seeking:

ALICE MURPHY – Plays both 16-17 and 36-37. Alice at age 36-37 is an editor of a southern literary magazine; intelligent, attractive, professional – but with an air of melancholy. Young Alice at age 16-17 is rebellious, high-spirited, adventurous – looking to break out of small-town life and experience the world. She must be very strong singer and comfortable in folk and bluegrass styles.

BILLY CANE – A young soldier returning home from WWII; an aspiring young writer; fresh, open, optimistic, charming, and a little naïve.

DADDY CANE – Billy’s father. A widower. Spry, good looking. Kind hearted, if a bit lonely.

MARGO CRAWFORD – A small-town bookstore owner; a childhood friend of Billy’s who now harbors romantic feelings towards him; a natural beauty with a keen intellect.

MAX – A customer at Margo’s bookstore, at first, he has a crush on Margo, but later becomes Edna’s beau.

FLORENCE – An employee at Margo’s bookstore and a childhood friend of both Billy and Margo.

EDNA – An employee at Margo’s bookstore.

DARYL AMES – An assistant at a literary magazine. Funny, with a dry and officious sense of humor. Insecure, and perhaps a bit socially awkward, but endearing and innately likeable.

LUCY GRANT – A junior editor at a literary magazine. An ambitious, professional young “modern” career woman of the 1940’s. Strong, forthright and provocative with a sharp sense of humor.

MAMA MURPHY – Alice’s mother. A caretaker to her family and her rural community. A warm, loving, sensible woman. Hardworking, with great inner strength and compassion.

DADDY MURPHY – Alice’s father; an authoritative and a stern disciplinarian; devoutly religious, hard-working, a poor but proud farmer.

MAYOR JOSIAH DOBBS – The Mayor of Zebulon; a political and financial powerbroker – distinguished, an imposing and controlling presence; has a genuine interest in protecting his son’s future and his family name, but in doing so, is ultimately pushed to a point of extreme and irrevocable cruelty.

JIMMY RAY DOBBS – plays both age 18-20 and 38-40. Jimmy Ray in his early 20s in flashbacks is Mayor Dobbs’ son and young Alice’s beau; handsome, boyishly charming, well-built and intelligent; from a family of wealth and power and is being groomed by his father for a similar future in the family business; an independent thinker who is not afraid to stand up to his father for what he believes in; he has a sense of personal responsibility and morality as well as a deep reserve of passion and emotion. The same actor will also play an adult Jimmy Ray at age 38-40.

STANFORD – Loyal assistant to Mayor Josiah Dobbs

DR. NORQUIST – The local family doctor in Zebulon

GOVERNMENT CLERK – A clerk at the Office of Records in Raleigh

WELL-DRESSED WOMAN – A woman (38-40) living in Raleigh.

Audition Details:
Date: Monday and Tuesday, May 5-6, 2025 (Attendance is only required one night)
Time: 6:00pm
Location: Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre, 117 N Park Square, Marietta, GA

What to Prepare:

• Prepare a short song with piano accompaniment or instrumental track (16-32 bars) in the style of the show. (Think folk, bluegrass, Broadway ballads and jazz). Piano accompaniment will be provided, if needed.
• Be ready to learn a short dance combination.
• Be prepared to read scenes from the script.

Production Information:
Rehearsals will begin Monday, July 21, 2025 and will generally be Monday-Thursday evenings 6-10PM and Saturdays 10AM-6PM. Performances will be held September 5th – 21st at the Earl and Rachel Smith Strand Theatre.

Contact Information:
Auditions@strandmarietta.org