George is a linguist consumed by the loss of dying languages, yet he ironically struggles to communicate with the people closest to him. When George meets an elderly couple—the last speakers of a vanishing tongue—he is confronted with what it truly means to understand and be understood. Lyrical and delightfully witty, Julia Cho’s The Language Archive is a tender drama exploring the yearning for connection and the struggle for communication that often gets in the way.

CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS

George (m, 30s-40s) is a linguist on a mission to record the dying languages of the world before they are lost forever. He's a man of many languages, and yet he can't find the words connect with his wife on a deeper level. What is love to a linguist? What is most important in this life?

Mary (f, 30s-40s) is George's wife, but she leaves him when she realizes she is simply "too sad" in their marriage. Her attempt to communicate with George via cryptic notes hidden throughout their home fails. Their door may have closed, but another lovely and unexpected door is about to open for her.

Emma (f, 20s-30s) is George's lab assistant. She is in love with him and goes as far as learning his favorite language to connect with him, but she just can't seem to speak to him from her heart. Will she ever find the words?

Alta (f, 40s-70s)* is an old woman married to Resten. She and her husband are some of the last speakers of Elloway, a language to be recorded in George's lab. Allegedly a great cook despite what Resten may have to say about it. She has the first and last word in an argument, but she speaks from the heart.

Resten (m, 40s-70s)* is an old man, Alta’s husband. He’s stubborn and holds up his end of a bickering match, but traveling to the States has taken an unfortunate toll beyond petty arguments. Will his relationship survive the turbulence? Only time and some home cooking will tell.

*The actors playing Alta and Resten could also play the following:

the driver (a man of any age)

old man/baker (an old man)

language instructor (a woman of any age)

2 passersby (a man and woman of any age)

conductor (a man or woman of any age)

old man/Zamenhof (an old man)

Note on accents: Alta and Resten speak in accented English because Elloway is their first language. Because Elloway is a fictitious language, the exact presentation of the accent is left to interpretation. Anyone auditioning for Alta and Resten will be asked to perform their version of the Elloway accent. Be brave! Use your imagination. Finetuning the accent will be saved for the rehearsal run.

Note on languages: All characters are scripted to speak in a foreign language or two, some more than others. All auditioners will be asked to read non-English scenes at auditions, but you will be given a few minutes to prepare for those. Be brave! The goal is to embrace the challenge even if pronunciations aren’t perfect. There will be time to work on languages during the rehearsal run.

AUDITION INFO

Auditions will be at our theater at 513 7th Street in downtown Rapid City. Our auditions are a friendly, low-stress environment; we start with warmups and then do cold readings from the script.