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Cornelius News

Try-outs for hilarious play

Warehouse logoAre you ready to be an actor? The Warehouse Performing Arts Center on Westmoreland is having auditions Sept. 13 and 14 for roles in “An Empty Plate at the Cafe du Grand Boeuf.” The fun play is directed by Jim Esposito. Roles include Victor, who’s in his 50s; Claude, the head waiter in his late 30s; Mimi, Claude’s wife in her 30s; and Antoine, a young waiter in training.The Sept 13 audition is at 2; the next night it’s at 7. Auditions will consist of a cold reading from the script. Bring a head-shot and a theatrical resume.

About the play: No menu necessary at the world’s greatest restaurant, the Café du Grand Boeuf in Paris. Why? “Because we have everything,” headwaiter Claude admonishes waiter-in-training Antoine. On this hot July night in 1961, the two join waitress Mimi and chef Gaston in awaiting the imminent arrival of Victor, the Café’s owner and sole patron. But when “Monsieur” returns from the bullfights in Madrid, disheveled and morose, his wish is simple: to die of starvation at his own table. The frantic staff, whose very lives depend on Victor’s appetite, try all means to change his mind, but to no avail. Finally, they make a last-ditch plea: Out of respect for their life’s work, will he let them prepare one final meal—provided they leave it in the kitchen? Instead they will describe it, course by course, over a series of empty platters. Victor reluctantly consents, and the “feast of adjectives and adverbs” begins…A “comic tragedy in seven courses” celebrating the joys of cooking, sex, bullfighting and the collected works of Ernest Hemingway.