Making God Laugh Auditions – Ames Community Theater

Sun., Nov. 9 at 2 p.m. and Mon., Nov. 10 at 7 p.m.
Casting 3 men and 2 women

Cast of Characters:
Ruthie:  The matriarch of the family.  She starts the play in her late 40s or early 50s and ages 30 years as does everyone.  She’s bossy, authoritative, means well, but tries to steer the world more than is humanly possible.  She needles each of her children and even her husband, Bill, to an extent, but at the bottom, way down there, truly loves them all.

Bill: The patriarch.  He loves everyone and is a go-with-the-flow sort.  Easygoing, wouldn’t hurt anyone’s feelings, desperately in love with his kids and wife.  Being the dad of these people and Ruthie’s husband is his life’s work and he’s successful at it.  He lives a little in fear of Ruthie, but the worm turns when it must.

Richard:  The eldest son.  Mid-to-late 20s as we start.  He wants to conquer the world and is always looking for ways to do that.  Not a plugger, more of an entrepreneur.   He buys the latest everything and dresses “up to the second” stylish.  He’s a good guy but has perhaps seen too many movies of how men behave rather than behaving as he would.  A one-time football hero, he misses that kind of spotlight.

Maddie:  Second Child.  Mid-20s at the top.  She’s an aspiring actress.  A strong-willed person who loves her family.  She’s closest to Thomas, and the two of them have a long-standing habit of picking on their big brother as a team.  It’s good-natured except when it’s not.  Of all the kids, she’s the only one to have moved away from her hometown.  She lives in New York and struggles with the artist’s life as well as her life-life.  She and her mother have a difficult relationship.

Thomas:  Son two.  The baby of the family and the “good” son.  A nice, even-tempered guy, in the style of his father, who thought his life was on a plan.  A devoutly religious man studying for the priesthood at the beginning, he’s nonetheless funny, warm, and not at all rigid in his approach to life. He means very well, but like everyone has his life turn out differently than he planned.