Show: JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG
Theater: The Barn Theatre
Theater Website: https://barntheatre.org/auditions/
Theater Phone: (973) 334-9320
Start date of auditions: 10/03/2026
LOCATION:
32 Skyline Dr
Montville, NJ 07045
JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG
Written By: Abby Mann
Director: Keith A Hoovler
Audition Dates:
October 3rd at 10am
October 5th at 7pm
October 7th at 7pm Callbacks with an invitation
Performance Dates
Jan 15th – 8pm
Jan 16th – 2pm
Jan 17th – 2pm
Jan 22nd – 8pm
Jan 23rd – 8pm
Jan 24th – 2pm
Jan 29th – 8pm
Jan 30th – 8pm
Jan 31st – 2pm
SYNOPSIS
JUDGMENT AT NUREMBERG is the fictional account of the 1947 trial of the former judges of Nazi Germany; the third of the twelve trials overseen by Chief Justice Haywood of the American occupying forces. During the proceedings, Justice Haywood faces difficult moral questions as he listens to a widow’s deeply moving account of loss, an idealistic American captain’s unwavering belief in justice, and hesitant witnesses revealing the truth about the legal system’s role in the atrocities.
REHEARSAL INFORMATION
Rehearsals will begin sometime in Oct. The reason for the earlier start is to allow for the Thanksgiving and December Holidays. Rehearsals will typically be held 3-4 times a week, including one weekend day. You will be asked to list all conflict dates on your audition form. The rehearsal schedule will be created based on the conflicts submitted by those cast. Not everyone will be called to every rehearsal.
What to prepare: If you are auditioning for a German role please read with a German accent.
Character breakdown
COLONEL TAD PARKER: Head American Prosecutor. He is spoken of as a man with a political future. He has a full command of legal procedure with a hard hitting, precise sense of delivery. Beneath his handsome presentation is a weariness endured from a confrontation with evil that has robbed him of a basic buoyance and optimism. (age range – 40 to 50)
GENERAL MERRIN: American Head of the tribunal. Personable, intelligent who has a commanding presence. He sees his job through one lens: is it good for his country (age range 50-55)
JUDGE DAN HAYWOOD – American Chief Judge. He is the “vanishing American”. The body of a battered buffalo with masked sensitivity underneath. He is the humble origins whose father participated in the railroad strikes of the early twenties. He has far greater capacity than he realizes (age range 55 to 60)
CAPTAIN BEYERS – American Court Bailiff. Being a young black soldier who graduated from West Point he lends the perspective that sharpens this plays objective (age range 25-35)
JUDGE CURTIS IVES – American Associate Judge. He has been with these trials from the beginning. His conservative slant, finds him at times identifying with some of the defendants (age range 60-70)
JUDGE KEN NORRIS – American Associate Judge – A soft spoken man from New England whose main experience has been as a law professor in Maine. Like Haywood he is awed by the position of responsibility he has assumed.
EMIL HAHN – German Defendant – An erect, stiff and balding man who behaves if he were sitting in judgement of all in the courtroom (age range 50-60)
FREDERICK HOFFSTETTER – German Defendant – He wears a prince-nez. His clothing is correct and neat, which makes him look nothing so much as a middle-class businessman who has fallen on hard times. (age range 45-55)
WERNER LAMMPE – German Defendant. A lost aging man, who stares ahead looking dully at his surroundings as if he were in a nightmare. He is mystified why he has come to this (age range 75-85)
ERNEST JANNING – German defendant – Known as a great figure in the history of the German judiciary of the pre Nazi era, know to all German people. His stoop is accentuated by his height. He carries deep understanding of the German mindset (age range 70-80)
OSCAR ROLFE – German Defense Attorney – Trained at the University of Berlin and was never able to begin his practice due to the war. Five years lost, now puts him in a place to make up for it. He is determined to take on the Americans and their concept of Justice according to their won roles. (age range 30-35)
DR. KARL WICKERT – German Witness – He walks with the aid of a cane. He was the Minister of Justice prior to Janning. His conflicts with Hitler are well known which makes hi living proof one can stand up to him and still live. (age range 65-75)
MRS. HALBESTADT – German- She was a servant to General and Mrs. Bertholt for years. She reflects the willing obliviousness of most Germans (age range 45-55)
FRAU MARGARETE BERTHOLT – German- Tall, attractive in a rather athletic way. In spite of this, there is a fragility that comes from what she’s been through. Yet, she conducts herself as upholding historic German tradition. (age range 45-55)
RUDOLPH PETERSON – German Witness – A working class man who seems to conduct himself with great difficulty in his interactions. He has obviously experienced some kind of emotional trauma (age range 25-35)
DR. GUETER – German Witness – A soft spoken acadmic. (age range 50-60)
MARIA WALLNER – German Witness – Once an attractive young woman, left in the shadow of a trauma that has marked her deeply (age range 25-35)
ELSA LINDNOW – German Witness – A cleaning woman, worn by the war and her trade. (age range 35-45)
