Performing in Gaslight Theater’s production of “Midsummer Night’s Dream” in 2019, from left, are Emily Fornier, Ray Fletcher and Gregor Smith. Gaslight Theater photo

HALLOWELL — Gaslight Theater plans this month to hold auditions for its upcoming show, Peter Shaffer’s “Black Comedy,” directed by Lucille Rioux.

Auditions will be held at 6:30 p.m. Sunday, March 12, and Tuesday, March 14, in Hallowell City Hall at 1 Winthrop St.

“Black Comedy” is a one-act farce that Shaffer first performed in 1965. The premise of the piece is that light and dark are transposed, so that when the stage is lit the cast are supposed to be in darkness. Only when the stage is dark are they supposed to be able to see each other and their surroundings.

A young sculptor and his fiancée have borrowed some expensive antique furniture from a neighbor’s flat without his permission to impress an elderly millionaire art collector. When the power fails, the neighbor returns early and other people also arrive, according to a news release from Deb Fahy, Gaslight board member.

Preparing to audition for Gaslight Theater’s production of “Midsummer Night’s Dream” at Hallowell City Hall auditorium in 2019, from left, are Gregor Smith, Rebecca Singer, Emily Lagace, Cody Curtis and Kathleen Leopold. Gaslight Theater photo

Show dates are 7:30 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays, and 2 p.m. Sundays the weekends of April 28, 29, 30 and May 5, 6, 7. All shows take place at Hallowell City Hall auditorium, 1 Winthrop St.

Those who audition are asked to bring proof of COVID-19 vaccination to auditions. This is a one-act play with parts for three women and five men. Auditions are cold readings.

Details on the parts:

• Brindsley Miller — a young sculptor, mid-20s, intelligent and attractive, but nervous and uncertain of himself.

• Carol Melkett — Brindsley’s fiancee. A young debutante; very pretty, very spoiled, very silly.

• Miss Furnival — a middle-aged lady. Prissy and refined. Clad in the blouse and sack skirt of her gentility, her hair in a bun, she reveals only the repressed gestures of the middle-class spinster — until alcohol undoes her.

• Colonel Melkett — Carol’s commanding father. Brisk, barky, yet given to sudden vocal calms which suggest a deep alarming instability. It is not only the constant darkness which gives him his look of wide-eyed suspicion.

• Harold Gorringe — the bachelor owner of an antique-china shop, and Brindsley’s neighbor, Harold comes from the North of England. His friendship is highly conditional and possessive: sooner or later, payment for it will be asked. A specialist in emotional blackmail, he can become hysterical when slighted, or (as inevitably happens) rejected. He is older than Brindsley by several years.

• Schuppanzigh — a German refugee, chubby, cultivated, and effervescent. He is an entirely happy man, delighted to be in England, even if it means being employed full time by the London Electricity Board.

• Clea — Brindsley’s ex-mistress. Mid-20s; dazzling, emotional, bright and mischievous. The challenge to her is to create a dramatic situation out of the darkness is ultimately irresistible.

• Georg Samberger — an elderly millionaire art collector, easily identifiable as such. Like Schuppanzigh, he is German.

For more information, visit gaslighttheater.org or call 207-626-3698.

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