USC Upstate holds auditions for 'The Children's Hour'

The University of South Carolina Upstate’s Shoestring Players are holding auditions for the play “The Children’s Hour” in the Performing Arts Center Theatre.

“The Children’s Hour” was the first play written by Lillian Hellman, the famous and often divisive American writer who was blacklisted during the anti-communist oppression of the McCarthy era. The play made a splash on Broadway when it premiered in 1934, and has inspired films and revivals ever since.

The play focuses on two owners of an all-girls boarding school. An angry student accuses them of having a lesbian affair, which ruins their lives and results in the closure of the school.

Jimm Cox -- the renowned 40-year veteran theater professor at USC Upstate in Spartanburg -- is directing the production. Cox has nurtured USC Upstate’s theater program through his career, building the university’s reputation as a center for performing arts.

Cox’ efforts have won the school accolades from national competitions. He has also nurtured a relationship with The Rose Theatre in London, England, where he’s developed a five-week foreign summer study program.

The audition at 7 p.m. Wednesday is open to all female performers. Interested performers will be asked for a cold reading from the script.

The Shoestring Players’ production of “The Children’s Hour” hits the stage Feb. 25-28.