Kellogg Community College will hold open theatre auditions early next month for roles in the world premiere of KCC Theatre professor and Theatre Program Coordinator Brad Poer’s original play “Pando.”
Auditions, which are free and open to the public as well as KCC students, will be held from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Thursday and Friday, Feb. 1 and 2, in the Binda Performing Arts Center, on campus at 450 North Ave. in Battle Creek. Participants should pick just one audition date and plan on attending the entire session.
Individuals auditioning for the play must be 15 years old or older, but no acting or theatre experience is required. Those auditioning should come prepared with a 30-second to one-minute comedic monologue or speech from any play, film, TV show or other media to deliver during the audition.
Written so that nearly anyone can play any role, and with allowances made in the script for the actors to alter dialogue to fit their own preferences, Poer describes “Pando” – his first original work since his 2017 adaptation “Antigone: Closure” (also produced at KCC) – as “a different kind of play.”
Poer calls “Pando” a “philosophical comedy.”
“It’s a bit like if the movies ‘Tron,’ ‘Groundhog Day’ and ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse’ had a baby,” Poer said. “There’s funny, there’s serious … there’s a little bit of everything in there.”
KCC’s production of “Pando” is intended for all audiences, and while not exclusively for children, all but the smallest children will find something to enjoy in the show, Poer said.
KCC will be selecting 10 to 13 cast members for the play, and the cast list will be posted by noon Tuesday, Feb. 6, online and in the Davidson Visual and Performing Arts Center on campus. The first rehearsal will run from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. that night.
Cast members must be available to rehearse at least three to four nights per week during rehearsals, which will run from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays starting Feb. 6, as well as final tech and dress rehearsals starting the second weekend in March.
The cast will also be required to participate in all six weekend performances March 15 through 17 and 22 through 24. Friday and Saturday performances will begin at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday shows will begin at 3 p.m.
While not required, cast members and other members of KCC and the community have the opportunity to sign up for the College’s August 2025 KCC Theatre trip to the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in Scotland, where a shortened version of “Pando” will be performed for international audiences.
For more information about “Pando” auditions or next summer’s trip to Scotland, contact Poer at poerb@kellogg.edu or visit the KCC Theatre Facebook page at facebook.com/KCCTheatre.
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