Auditions | The God Committee
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The God Committee
Written by Mark St. Germain
Directed by Nino Casisi
Auditions
Deadline to submit: February 1, 2022.
If I did everything I could she’d still be here! Do you know what we’d fight over? She wouldn’t turn off CNN. I’d come home and she’d run through the day’s horror stories. The war casualties, which tornado’s coming; how many churches were bombed and civilians shot.
I told her when I was her age, sometimes I felt just as frightened. We were in a war, too, that tore our country apart, we had liars in the White House. But even as I was saying it I realized, no, it’s not the same.
This is a different world than the one we knew. The world won’t ever change slowly again. We’re not even on fast-forward, it’s like we jump-cut from atrocity to atrocity.
She needed me to promise things couldn’t get worse, and when I’d lie and say, Honey, it won’t, she’d turn on the TV and watch a reporter beheaded.
… It wasn’t an accident.
PRODUCTION DATES
Performances run March 18, 19, 20, 25, 26, 27 and April 1,2,3, 2022
Fri/Sat at 8:00pm | Sun at 2:00 pm
SYNOPSIS
Medicine, Money, and Morality clash when the Heart Transplant Selection Committee of St. Patrick’s Hospital has only minutes to decide which of the handful of patients will receive a heart that has suddenly become available. Each of the members of the God Committee is a qualified professional. Each is driven to achieve the best outcome possible for their patients in their care. But it’s revealed that those who “play God” are also complex individuals driven by ego, delusions of grandeur, ticking clocks…and the knowledge that their decisions are irrevocable. A cross between Twelve Angry Men and ER, The God Committee takes us into the inner workings of a transplant program and a decision, for both their candidates and their program that is a matter of life and death.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
3 Females, 4 Males, PLUS there is one male, any age, that has a voice over and will be recorded for nightly playback over the P.A. system
Dr. Kierra Banks (Female, Late 20’s) – Surgical Fellow under Surgical Head Dr. Peter Felker, who is rushing to the hospital with the fresh transplant. She’s the innocent one, torn over the ultimate decisions she’s asked to make.
Nella Larkin, R.N. (Female, 30’s to 50’s) – the down-to-earth Registered Nurse who is the Cardiac Transplant Coordinator, who juggles the phones, a wayward intercom and a noisy St. Patrick’s Day Parade outside.
Dr. Alex Gorman (Male, 30’s – 50’s) – a surly and opinionated cardiac surgeon. He aspires to be next head of the Transplant Unit, but is a young, hotshot doctor who is tart and arrogant without an ounce of bedside manner.
Dr. Jack Klee (Male, 40-60’s) – Older cardiologist; has been at St. Patrick’s Hospital for 19 years, though it feels twice that. Director of the Transplant Unit until a bout with cancer; has not resumed his post.
Dr. Ann Ross (Female, 40’s) Psychiatrist working hard to hide the stress she is under; conflicted over the suicide of her daughter and is blaming herself.
Father Charles Dunbar (Male, 50-60’s) – A widower who came late to the Catholic priesthood, and is also a corporate lawyer, who sits in to see that everything is legit to forestall lawsuits.
Domenick Piero (Male, 20-40’s) – Head of Social Services. Unable to walk due to a spinal injury; he pilots a mechanized scooter. He is the humane social worker who dispenses jokes and tries to calm everyone.
CREATIVE TEAM
Director – Nino Casisi
Asst. Director – Charlotte Gilman
Stage Manager: Andrew Draker
Costumes Designer – Renee Purtee
Lighting Designer – Chuck Cline
Sound Designer – Nino Casisi
Technical Director/Set Designer: Mike Hadley
*OCTA celebrates our cultural and intellectual richness and is committed to promoting diversity in all aspects of our organization. Non-traditional and equal-opportunity casting is encouraged.
ABOUT US
OCTA is an all-volunteer 501(c)(3) organization producing theatre in Olathe since 1974. Performing in the Buddy Rogers Family Playhouse, OCTA produces five high-quality, engaging, and thought-provoking theatre productions a year. Through the generosity of volunteers, season ticket holders, donors, the city, and the community, in addition to a dedicated board of directors, OCTA has grown into one of the most progressive community theaters in the entire Kansas City metropolitan area.