Auditions: Monday, March 4, 6:30pm and Tuesday, March 5, 6:30pm

Location: PACA Theatre, 1505 State St, Erie PA, 2nd floor

Show Dates: May 31 - June 15, 2024

Directed by: Betsy Butoryak

Actors are asked to arrive and to sign in within the first hour of the audition start time. All roles are available. PACA practices Color Conscious casting. All ethnicities and newcomers are especially welcomed. Crew and other volunteers are also needed for this event.
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Released from prison Arlene returns to a run-down apartment in Louisville, intent on starting her life over. Rebellious and disruptive as a young girl, she has found strength in religion and want to put her youth (as Arlie) behind her. But her struggles to find her way in the present (as Arlene) is counterpointed by flashbacks of her past (as Arlie), her two personalities being represented by tow performers, who sometimes appear onstage simultaneously. We meet the guards and prison officials with whom Arlie waged a running battle; and the unfeeling, slatternly mother, the lecherous former prison guard, the pimp ex-boyfriend, and the touching friendly neighbor with whom Arlene is confronted in the present. Ultimately, the play, like life, offers no simple answers---but it conveys, with heart-rendering honesty and compassion, the struggle of someone fighting for her life again incredible odds.

Characters:

Arlene: a thin, drawn woman in her late 20s, who has just serves an 8-year prison term for murder

Arlie: Arlene at various times in her life

Bennie: an Alabama prison guard in his 50s

Evans: a prison guard

Doctor: a psychiatrist in a juvenile institution

Caldwell: another prison guard

Mother: Arlene's mother

School Principal

Ronnie: a teenager in a juvenile institution

Carl: Arlene's former pimp and partner in various crimes; in his late 20s

Warden: Superintendent of Pine Ridge Correctional Institute for Women

Ruby: Arlene's upstairs neighbor; a cook in a local diner; also an ex-con, in her late 30s