Auditions for the 13th annual Spirit Walk will be held 9-10 September at the Albemarle Charlottesville Historical Society in the McIntire Building downtown, from 6-8pm. Roughly 50 people are needed to act as “Spirits,” tour guides, singers and musicians in the popular late-October fundraiser for the Historical Society.
The Spirit Walk is a guided moonlight tour of Historic Charlottesville, in which the participants encounter the apparitions of the town’s previous inhabitants.
There are no vampires, werewolves, monsters, or goblins on the Spirit Walk. The Spirit “enactments” are well-researched, respectful (if funny or sad, heroic or bizarre), dramatic portrayals of real people. The Spirits are men, women and children of all colors, ages, and “stations in life,” who walked the streets of Charlottesville and the lanes of Albemarle County sometime from the 18th through the 20th Century. Some Spirits are famous (Edgar Allen Poe, Jack Jouett), some notorious (bawdy house operator Marguerite Crescioli), others simply “regular folks” who happen to have lived, worked, played or died here.
The Spirit Walk is a 90-minute tour of “haunts” such as the Old City Jail, the County Courthouse, and Maplewood Cemetery. It is rain-or-shine, and the weather varies dramatically from year to year. Hot cider and cookies—and a visit to the Historical Society’s current exhibit “TIMBER! The Story of Albemarle’s Trees and Timber Industries“—follow the Spirit Walk.
Tickets are $12 ($5 for children up until 8 p.m.) and go on sale 24 September. Past acting experience is helpful, but not absolutely necessary. Willingness to brave the weather for the Friday, Saturday and Sunday before Halloween (October 26th, 27th and 28th), a loud speaking voice, and the ability to inhabit a character are required.
For information contact the Spirit Walk director, Mendy St. Ours at cvillespiritwalk “AT” gmail.com, the Historical Society at info “AT” albemarlehistory.org, or call the Society during regular hours at 434-296-1492.
Posted by river queen in Albemarle, News
