Horn in the West Auditions Saturday
Outdoor Drama looking for singers, dancers and actors for 2009 season

By Jeff Eason

The pleasant temperatures of this past week got people in the High Country thinking about the outdoors…and about outdoor dramas.

Boone’s outdoor drama Horn in the West will hold auditions this Saturday, February 14 at Watauga High School. The production is looking for actors, singers, dancers, as well as people with technical skills to help run the show this summer.

“We’re looking for people with large voices and people with dance skills from ballet to clogging to folk dancing,” said Julie Richardson, artistic director of Horn in the West. “We need singers with very strong voices that can last outside all summer long. And we need actors with good projection and good stage presence.”

The auditions this Saturday will begin with a 9 a.m. registration. Children ages five through 15 will audition from 9:45 to 10:15 a.m. Dancers will audition at 10:30 a.m. and singers and actors will have auditions a little after 11 a.m.

Separate interviews for technical workers (sets, lights, sound, etc.) will take place at 10 a.m.

All children five through 15 are required to have a parent or guardian present to sign a release form.

Richardson stated that most of the actors portraying the outdoor drama’s major roles are returning to the show this year, with the exception of the roles of Mary Stuart and Nancy Ward.

Richardson, now in her second year as artistic director of the show, has spent much of the off-season tinkering with the script with actor and writer Ed Pilkington. The two are shortening some scenes, adding some more fight scenes, and looking to have John Sevier’s character return after an absence of several seasons.

“We’re trying to be as accurate as we can but there are some dramatic license that you have to take to keep up with the spectacle and the drama,” said Richardson.

Now in its 57th season, Horn in the West is an outdoor drama by playwright Kermit Hunter that tells of the life and times of the early settlers of the mountains of western North Carolina and eastern Tennessee. It covers a time period during the American Revolution, between the Battle of Alamance in 1771 and the Battle of King’s Mountain in 1780.

This year’s drama will be staged at Horn in the West Amphitheater from June 19 through August 4. Rehearsals for actors will begin on June 4.

For more information, call Horn in the West at (828) 264-2120.