OSF 2020 Season - Ashland EPA
Oregon Shakespeare Festival
AUDITION DATE
Tue, May 21, 2019
9:30 am - 4:30 pm (PDT)
APPOINTMENTS
please email osflocalauditions@gmail.com for appointment and put LOCAL AREA EPA in subject line as well as your Equity status (AEA, EMC or non-AEA).
CONTRACT
LORT Rep Minimum - $1064/wk
SEEKING
Local Actors. See breakdown
PREPARATION
Prepare two brief contrasting monologues: one Shakespeare and one contemporary. Those who wish to sing may replace a monologue with a short song. No more than 3 minutes total. If you plan to sing and would like piano accompaniment, please schedule your appointment between 11am-1pm.
LOCATION
Oregon Shakespeare Festival
15 S. Pioneer St.
Ashland, OR 97520-0158
Black Swan Theatre Corner of Main Street and S. Pioneer Street. Rehearsal space. Street parking.
PERSONNEL
Joy Dickson--Casting Director
OTHER DATES
See breakdown.
OTHER
Performers unable to attend the Local EPA may send picture/resume to:
Joy Dickson
Oregon Shakespeare Festival
15 S Pioneer Street
Ashland, OR 97520
An Equity Monitor will not be provided. The producer will run all aspects of audition.
Equity’s contracts prohibit discrimination. Equity is committed to diversity and encourages all its employers to engage in a policy of equal employment opportunity designed to promote a positive model of inclusion. As such, Equity encourages performers of all ethnicities, gender identities, and ages, as well as performers with disabilities, to attend every audition.
Always bring your Equity Membership card to auditions.
BREAKDOWN
ANGUS BOWMER THEATRE
A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare
Directed by Joseph Haj
First rehearsal 1/14/20 Opens: 3/6/20 Closes: 11/1/20
All roles will be understudied
Doubling TBD
Any race or ethnicity
OBERON, King of Fairies
EGEUS, father of Hermia
TITANIA, Queen of Fairies
HIPPOLYTA, Queen of the Amazons, betrothed to Theseus
PUCK, a mischievous sprite with magical powers
HERMIA, daughter of Egeus, in love with Lysander
LYSANDER, loved by Hermia
HELENA, in love with Demetrius
DEMETRIUS, suitor to Hermia
THESEUS, Duke of Athens
Nick BOTTOM, a weaver
PHILOSTRATE, Master of the Revels
Peter QUINCE, a carpenter
Francis FLUTE, a bellows-mender
STARVELING, a tailor
SNOUT, a tinker
SNUG, a joiner
MUSTARDSEED, PEASEBLOSSOM, COBWEB, MOTH--Fairies
Peter and the Starcatcher by Rick Elice
Based on the novel Peter and the Starcatchers by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson
Music by Wayne Barker
Directed by Lavina Jadhwani
First rehearsal 1/14/20 Opens: 3/7/20 Closes: 11/1/20
All roles will be understudied
Doubling TBD
All roles are open on gender/race/age/ability
Boy-- An orphan, friendless and nameless. Hates, hates, hates grown ups! Believes, despite his distress and sorrow, that one day he will have a home. Has spent his whole life dreaming of freedom and looking up at the stars. Not used to people showing an interest in him – until he meets Molly.
Lady Aster--30s+. Entrusted with precious cargo belonging to Her Majesty Queen Victoria; a deeply loyal subject to the Queen; a single parent, loves her daughter Molly more than rubies. Speaks Dodo, Porpoise, and Norse Code. One of six and a half starcatchers in the world.
Molly—An orphan. “insatiably curious, insufferably bright, and pretty much friendless at school.” Loves all God's little creatures. Dreams of flying and of being a starcatcher (right now she's still an apprentice). A natural leader, eager to start pulling her weight. A world class swimmer, runs fast, knows martial arts. Strong moral compass, strong romantic stirrings beginning to emerge as well.
Mrs. Bumbrake-- 40s+. Molly's nanny, entrusted with providing her “the essentials of young womanhood,” British to the bone; very flirtatious, very seasick. Can turn a phrase and then some. Also plays Teacher, once a scotch salmon, now mermaid who gives Peter wisdom and a last name (and his first taste of starstuff).
Prentiss--An orphan; the oldest and therefore believes he should be the leader. Conforms to ancient gender norms. Pragmatic – his instinct is to always look out for himself first. Quick to fight with words, but not quick to risk his own neck.
Ted--An orphan; hungry, hungry, always hungry! Has never had a bedtime story (or a bed); eager to call Molly “Mother.” Speaks the truth; isn't afraid to contradict his friends. Writes poems about food.
Slank--30s+. captain of the Rundoon; terrible temper, terrible smell. Greedy and ambitious – but extremely short-sighted in his schemes. Was left on the steps of a tattoo parlor by his mother with the note “Oprhan Bill Slank – too wicket to end well.” Also plays Hawking Clam, son of Fighting Prawn and heir to his domain on Mollusk Island
Alf-- 20s+. Generally likable (the sweet to Slank's sour); gruff exterior but also a bit of a romantic; chivalrous streak; very sweet on Betty Bumbrake
Black Stache-- 30s+. Just his name inspires immediate terror. Big bluster, big stache. Stuck out the pirate business knowing one day his ship would come in (and this is his day!). Hates, hates, hates children! Craves a bona fide hero to help him feel whole as a villain. Suspiciously well read. Speaks with confidence, but often mixes up his words. Highly theatrical, highly corrupt.
Smee--20s+. Disguises himself as Greggors in order to entrap Aster and Scott; the brains to Black Stache's brawn; the consummate Yes Man – will literally carry his boss on his back; speaks a bit of French. This actor must play (or be willing to learn to play) the ukulele.
Captain Scott--30s+. A legendary explorer and captain of the Wasp; old school chum of Aster's; extremely patriotic.
Grempkin/Fighting Prawn/Mack/Sanchez-- 30s+. Plays both high status and low status roles, including: Grempkin, schoolmaster at St. Norbert's orphanage who sells Boy/Prentiss/Ted to Slank; Fighting Prawn, King of the Mollusks who captures the orphan boys (and was also captured from his own home by the British in the past – and holds a strong grudge against all Brits as a result); Mack and Sanchez, two sailors that work for Bill Slank and Black Stache, respectively – neither is particularly keen on their boss.
The Copper Children by Karen Zacarías
Directed by Shariffa Ali
World Premiere/American Revolutions
First rehearsal 1/14/20 Opens: 3/8/20 Closes: 10/31/20
All roles will be understudied
Inspired by true events involving an Irish “orphan train” in a mixed-race Arizona mining community in 1904, the play explores the profound impact and provocative intersections of difference across race, religion, and family.
Sister Anne—A nun who is determined that Irish orphans in New York be adopted by Catholic families so she helps organize an “orphan train” to a mining town in Arizona where the children can be adopted by local Catholic families.
Sister Irene— A nun who is determined that Irish orphans in New York be adopted by Catholic families so she helps organize an “orphan train” to a mining town in Arizona where the children can be adopted by local Catholic families.
Alwynne—A young mother who gives her child up for adoption at Sisters of Charity Children’s Foundry
In New York.
Mayor—The mayor of New York City. A blustery politician who is aggravated by the number of Irish orphans on the city streets.
Margarita Chacon: The wife of the head smelter at the Arizona mine, she runs both the Mexican school and the catechism classes in the mining camp and is a stalwart in her community. Having suffered five miscarriages, she’s desperate to have a child and believes she will get her opportunity with the arrival of the orphan train.
Cornelio Chacon—Margarita’s Mexican miner husband.
Gloria—Margarita’s sister-in-law whose husband died in the 1903 Strike.
Lottie Simpson--The entitled wife of the mine foreman who helps run the local company store and the saloon in the Arizona mining town. Will stop at nothing to get the orphan child she wants.
Robert Simpson--The manager of the King Copper Mine. An ambitious man who prides himself, for no good reason, on his reason, management, and temper.
Poor Yella Rednecks by Qui Nguyen
A sequel to Vietgone
Director TBA
First rehearsal: 5/5/20 Opens: 7/5/20 Closes: 10/31/20
All roles will be understudied
A continuation of the family story begun in Vietgone.
Tong: Asian female, 30s-70s. Playwright’s mother
Quang/Chris: Asian male, 30’s – 70’s. Playwright’s father
Huong/San/Cop: 40s-60s, Asian female. Huong is Tong’s mother
Nhan/Cowboy/Little Man/Grocery Boy: Asian male 30’s
Playwright/Immigration Officer/British Narrator/Bobby/Tommy/Grocery Boy: Asian male, 30s.
THOMAS THEATRE
Bring Down the House: An Epic Two-Part Adaptation of Shakespeare’s Henry VI Trilogy
Adapted by Rosa Joshi and Kate Wisniewski
Produced in association with upstart crow collective
Directed by Rosa Joshi
Part 1 First rehearsal 1/14/20 Opens: 3/7/20 Closes: 11/1/20
Part 2: First rehearsal 1/14/20 Opens: 3/8/20 Closes: 11/1/20
All roles will be understudied
All roles will be played by women.
Any race or ethnicity
Henry VI
Margaret
York
Humphrey/Old Clifford
Warwick
Suffolk/Richard
Somerset
Beauford/Edward
Salisbury/Father
Buckingham
George/Cade/Basset
Exeter/Lady Grey
Eleanor/Vernon/Son
Joan/ Young Clifford /Hume
Rutland
Prince Edward
Confederates by Dominique Morriseau
Directed by Nataki Garrett
World Premiere/ American Revolutions
First rehearsal: 3/4/20 Opens: 4/12/20 Closes: 10/31/20
All roles will be understudied
SANDRA – Black woman, late 30’s, early 40’s. Scholar, Professor of Political Science, practical, sturdy, compassionate with students, protected with her own emotions, and a striving spirit in the face of institutional racism.
SARA – Black woman, 20’s. Tenacious, spunky, tough and resilient. A slave woman with a fighting spirit, unwilling to be broken by her circumstances. Crafty and a sharp, witty tongue. Slowly becoming a Union Spy.
ABNER/MALIK: (Doubled Role)
ABNER – Black man, 20’s. Energetic and driven. A bit stubborn but strong-willed. A runaway slave and soldier for the Union. Brother of SARA. Loves his sister fiercely.
MALIK – (Played by the same actor as Abner) – Black man, 20’s. Studious and focused on his education. Driven and intellectually stimulating. A student of SANDRA’s who tries to carefully navigate her status over his.
MISSY SUE/CANDICE: (Doubled Role)
MISSY SUE – White woman, late 30’s, early 40’s. Spirited, driven, a strong sense of duty and mission. Somewhat oblivious. Emotionally free and open. Daughter of SARA’s Master. SARA’s former childhood friend.
CANDICE – White woman, 20’s. Loquacious, intellectually curious, and uncensored in her ideas. Can be misinterpreted as insensitive but is likely unaware. Emotionally free and open. Student and Assistant to SANDRA.
LUANNE/JADE: (Doubled Role)
LUANNE – Black woman, 20’s. Curious, eager, and inquisitive. A fellow slave with SARA who has been afforded privileges Sara has not. In an affair with the Master. Pushing for kinship with SARA.
JADE – Black woman, late 30’s, early 40’s. Straight shooter, unafraid of confrontation, down- to-earth. Fellow professor and colleague to SANDRA. Navigates institutional racism more directly than SANDRA.
Everything that Never Happened by Sarah B. Mantell
Directed by Jessica Kubzansky
First rehearsal: 6/3/20 Opens: 7/25/20 Closes: 10/31/20
All roles will be understudied
Jessica and Lorenzo are in love, but in order to be together they must plan an escape from her father's house, the Venetian ghetto, and her entire culture. Taking place in the gaps between The Merchant of Venice and the realities of Jewish history, Everything That Never Happened is a play about a father, a daughter, disguise, assimilation, pomegranates, and everything Shakespeare left out. At the heart of this play are questions about the privilege and pain of being able to pass as something you’re not. And about Jewish assimilation into whiteness. Lorenzo and Gobbo should look white and one or both of the Jewish characters are people of color who are white-passing or has a relationship with passing. These characters should thrive on the rhythmic, precise, volleying back and forth of language, of physicality, of humor and heartbreak. Think less William Shakespeare and more Aaron Sorkin meets Pig Iron.
SHYLOCK: (Jewish male, 40s-50s). Drop what you know about the way most people play Shakespeare’s Shylock from your mind. This Shylock is wry, funny, perceptive, deeply intelligent, but with his own blind spots and limitations. He is essentially lonely, but he loves and has an enormous amount of respect for his daughter. He also carries a big well of shame and internalized anti-semitism, but is striving for humility and humanity in the most difficult of circumstances. Could be played by a person of color who is white-passing or has a relationship with passing.
JESSICA (Jewish female, 20s-30s). She is in every way not an ingénue. She is a strong person with a smart business sense, despite the fact that we see her at her most careless, her most bold, and her most stricken--her most in love, and therefore her most vulnerable. She’s a person discovering a big wide world opening up with Lorenzo, and doesn’t stop to think about what she’ll have to give up to get to that other place. When she does, she finds that place shaped pretty much like the one she left. And she loves her father, and deceiving him is agony. And she loves her servant Gobbo like an ally and a sibling and is blind to what else he might be to her. Could be played by a person of color who is white-passing or has a relationship with passing.
LORENZO (White male, mid 20s-30s). Young, eager, passionate, with an innocent cockiness, his own sense of integrity, and big appetite for life. He lives in a world of privilege, so is generally unaware of others’ privations. He falls in love with Jessica because she is so strong and uncontained, he is awed by her bigness. And then the given circumstances of achieving her love require bravery and a kind of cunning that is new territory for him. He has no idea what he’s asking Jessica to give up to marry him because he hasn’t had to be in anyone else’s shoes but his own, but he has a deep emotional well and when he thinks he might lose her he is devastated. He will be generous to the woman he loves when it defies all the conventional mores of the time to allow her to defy his wishes because he loves her; this is a huge gift he will give her at great cost. Could be played by someone who is white or white-passing.
GOBBO (White male, mid 20s – 30s). Gobbo is the servant in Shylock’s house and Jessica’s avid protector. He is funny and fun, wry and dry, ultimately a truth-teller. There is a kind of wisdom that looks out his eyes because he’s seen it all, because he is extremely intelligent but has to be subservient. He is a shock absorber because he has to be. He is fast on his feet and a sharp observer of the games, baldly truthful though he is rarely believed, and not above cunning in order to take care of his beloved. He is, and has always been in love with Jessica, but they behave like siblings, with the peculiar edge of servant and mistress present if she ever chose to exercise it. He is always on her side. He loves her and so knows her better than she knows herself. He is full of longing. Could be played by someone who is white or white-passing.
ALLEN ELIZABETHAN THEATRE
The Tempest by William Shakespeare
Directed by Nicholas C. Avila
First rehearsal: 3/24/20 Opens: 6/5/20 Closes: 10/16/20
All roles will be understudied
Doubling TBD
Any race or ethnicity
Prospero
Ariel
Caliban
Antonio
Miranda
Ferdinand
Trinculo
Gonzalo
Stephano
Sebastian
Alonso
Boatswain
Francisco
Adrian
Isis
Ceres
Juno
Black Odyssey by Marcus Gardley
Directed by Monty Cole
First rehearsal: 3/24/20 Opens: 6/6/20 Closes: 10/17/20
All roles will be understudied
Ulysses Lincoln, Male, African American, mid-late 30s. A vet from the Gulf War.
Great Aunt Tina: Female, African American, late 40s-mid 50s. Goddess of war. The same actress plays Scylla, the sea creature & Calypso, Ulysses’ grandmother
Deus: Black male, Mid-50s-late 60s. God of gods, god of the sky. The same actor plays Eaton, a chef and Super Fly Tireseas, the shagadelic prophet.
Paw Sidin: Black male, mid 40s-mid 50s god of sea, king of fish. The same actor plays Naval Officer and John Suitor, Nella’s husband and Officer 1.
ella Pell, Black female, early to mid 30s. Paw Sidin’s wife.
Malachi, their son. The same actor plays Poly’famous
Artez Sabine--Black male, mid 40s – mid 50s. Grand Marshall of a Second Line in New Orleans. The same actor plays Alabama Slim, The Soul Siren, The Alter Ego, and Officer 2.
Alsendra Sabine—Black female, mid-30s-mid-40s. His wife. The same actress plays Circe, the conductor; Carib’diss, sea creature.
Benevolence Nausicca Sabine, their daughter. The same actor plays African Ancestor.
Bernhardt/Hamlet by Theresa Rebeck
Directed by Dawn Monique Williams
First rehearsal: 3/24/20 Opens: 6/7/20 Closes: 10/18/20
All roles will be understudied
Any race or ethnicity
Sarah Bernhardt/Hamlet: CAST
Edmond Rostrand: Male, 30s-40. A playwright completely transfixed by Sarah.
Constant Coquelin: Late 50s. The leading man in Sarah's troupe, he has played every role in the canon. He’s a confidant to Sarah and a witty, open-hearted, consummate actor.
Alphonse Mucha: Late 30s-early 40s.A famous artist who creates all of Sarah’s show posters. A perfectionist with a dry sense of humor.
Louis: Mid 40s. The leading theatre critic of Paris. Biting humor.
Lysette: 20s-e 30s. The ingénue of Sarah’s troupe. Plays Ophelia to Bernhardt’s Hamlet.
Raoul: 30s or 40s. An actor in Sarah’s troupe. Serious about his craft
Francois: 30s or 40s. An actor in Sarah’s troupe. Serious about his craft
Maurice: Sarah’s son. Mid-30s. Shares a deep bond with his mother and manages to be good natured his place in her world though he worries about her excesses.
Rosamond: Early 30s. Rostand’s neglected wife. A poet and playwright. Has quiet dignity and strength. Self-possessed.
Equity’s contracts prohibit discrimination. Equity is committed to diversity and encourages all its employers to engage in a policy of equal employment opportunity designed to promote a positive model of inclusion. As such, Equity encourages performers of all ethnicities, gender identities, and ages, as well as performers with disabilities, to audition.
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