Keene State’s Theater and Dance (TAD) department held auditions for its spring musical, “Fun Home,” on Thursday, Dec. 1, with callbacks the following day.
“Fun Home” is based on the graphic novel “Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic” written by Alison Bechdel. It follows Bechdel’s complicated relationship with her father as they both navigate their sexualities, told through three key evolutions of her life in the characters of Small, Medium, and adult Alison. The musical also won the 2015 Tony Award for best musical.
TAD department chair and Director Kirstin O’Brien said that this musical has been a long time coming for the department.
“I have been waiting to honestly do this show for a very long time… We have a very full audition group and I’m excited too because I’m seeing names that I don’t recognize,” O’Brien said.
For auditions, O’Brien said that she looked outside KSC to cast the children in the show.
“There are some scenes with [Alison’s] brothers and I did not want those characters with a college student,” O’Brien said. “We have three kids auditioning and submitting their videos… So when looking at the students and out of community members that are auditioning for our show, I already have a visual of what their smaller counterparts look like.”
Additionally, O’Brien mentioned that she is excited to revert to performing the musical in the spring semester rather than the fall semester.
“I’ve done a musical in this slot before and I actually forget what a rush it is because it is a shorter amount of time, but it’s such an exciting process already getting to know some possible auditionees throughout the fall semester to get an idea of that,” O’Brien said.
Junior Hannah Showalter auditioned for the musical and said that auditions also looked different in terms of what was being presented to O’Brien and the other members of the panel.
“This audition was very different from the ones we’ve done here in the past,” Showalter said. “Originally it was, ‘Find a piece in the style of the show,’ and then it changed to, ‘Why don’t you sing something from the show?’”
Showalter mentioned that she felt supported by O’Brien during the audition process.
“She does make, no matter who you are, very comfortable and makes the [audition] room not a very scary place, which is very helpful,” Showalter said. “She just makes you feel very comfortable and loved even if you don’t do really good, she still prides you on just showing up.”
Showalter said that since she’s a theater major, she tries to get involved with as many productions on campus as possible.
“With the craft, I enjoy doing whatever and it’s just a learning experience for me doing different auditions,” Showalter said. “I just wanted more experience here at Keene State.”
O’Brien mentioned that “Fun Home” seemed like a perfect fit due to its powerful message of what family dynamics can be.
“It is [Alison’s] coming out story, but it is so much bigger than that, so I just want everyone to also know that we’re giving a true overall well-rounded story of a family,” O’Brien said. “It’s also relevant to the fact that it’s a story of, what is a normal family, right? That’s always shifting our gears of what that means and I just think this gives another example of, what is normal? Who cares anymore?”
Nicole Dumont can be contacted at
ndumont@kscequinox.com
