Spring play auditions this week

Auditions for MHCC’s student-directed spring production, “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” will be help at 4 p.m. on March 12 and 13 in the studio theater.

Those interested in auditioning can attend either the Tuesday or Wednesday session. Callbacks will be on Thursday the 14.

Those auditioning will not be asked to prepare a monologue, but will be asked to read from the play, participate in team building exercises and perhaps demonstrate improv skills, said student director Caitlynn Didlick.

Didlick seeks to match roles to actors able “to make the character their own.”

Her advice to hopefuls would be to wear comfortable clothing and to “read the play, know the characters and be comfortable with the play,” and to “connect with their fellow actors,” she said.

“Don’t just read the lines off the page,” she said. She wants actors to flesh out each character. “I want people to be able to connect to the characters. I want to see women take on the role of Ms. Ratched and maybe find a deeper meaning for why she’s like that.”

This will be Didlick’s first time directing a play. Alex Giorgi will be her assistant director for the show.

Didlick directed a re-enactment of the “Ed Sullivan Show” during high school, and said it was good preparation.

She decided to apply for the director job because, “I just really wanted to be a part of the play,” she said. “I just thought I’d take the directing class and see how that went.”

During MHCC’s winter production of “RENT,” she was an ensemble member in what was her first musical production. This is her first year at MHCC to pursue a theater major after attending both Oregon State and the University of Oregon previously.

“I am more actress than director, but I’m trying out the director (role),” Didlick said. “I like trying out new things and being on the move, so it’s been good for me.”

Didlick has not seen the “Cuckoo” play, and so will not be influenced by other directors’ decisions she said.

The spring production will run at 7:30 p.m. on May 9-11 and May 16-18 in the MHCC studio theater.