LAVENDER MEN - Chicago EPA About Face Theatre Collective | Chicago, IL
Notice: Audition Call Type: EPA
Sunday, October 22, 2023
11:00 AM - 7:00 PM (C)
BREAK: 3:00PM - 4:00PM
CAT
$343 weekly minimum (Tier 2)
Equity actors for roles in the Midwest premier of LAVENDAR MEN (see breakdown).
Auditions will consist of sides from the script. Sides can be found at this link:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1bimmxJw1Wx6QQ_k36Fc8Jr0aI0tiDEEz?usp=sharing
Please bring your headshot and resume stapled together.
Den Theatre, The
1333 N Milwaukee Ave, Second Fl
Chicago, IL 60622
Playwright: Roger Q. Mason (they/them) Director: Lucky Stiff (they/he)
Artistic Director: Megan Carney (she/her) Managing Director: Logan Jones (he/they) Casting Director: Catherine Miller (they/them) Intimacy Director: Courtney Abbott (they/she)
Callbacks: TBD
First rehearsal - week of 4/8/24
Tech begins 5/3/24
Previews begin 5/9/24
Opening 5/17/24
Closing 6/8/24
The anticipated rehearsal schedule is a 5-day work week with evening rehearsals during the week, and daytime or evening rehearsals on Saturdays and Sundays.
OTHER
Questions: email Casting Director Catherine Miller (they/them) at catmillercasting@gmail.com
EPA Procedures are in effect for this audition. An Equity Monitor will be provided.
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.
LAVENDAR MEN
NOTE: In reference to the character descriptions below-most characters we encounter currently are in the binary and are written with he/him or she/her pronouns. But however limiting the descriptions are, our casting seeks to be as inclusive as possible and we invite gender non-conforming, genderqueer, transgender and non-binary actors to submit for the roles they most identify with. We will also list race/ethnicity when specific to the character but are otherwise seeking all races and ethnicities. In addition, we will list disabilities when specific to a character, but are otherwise seeking actors with disabilities as well as non-disabled actors for all roles. (Source: Emily Tarquin, Kevin Kantor and Marilee Talkington)
ABE LINCOLN (30s-50s, white male, preferably over 5'10”) The 16th President, Honest Abe as we all know him crossed with a Tom of Finland calendar; you might call him America's daddy. Abe is constantly torn between what he owes history and what he owes himself, caught between his duties to his frustrated wife, Mary, and his doting affections for his young assistant, Elmer. As he and our contemporary narrator Taffeta collide over how to craft the play's narrative, we learn that the most powerful man in the play is also the loneliest.
ELMER ELLSWORTH (20s-early 30s, white male, preferably under 5'9”) A true-life figure largely lost to history, Elmer is a robust young army drill sergeant; if he were strolling in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen or LA’s West Hollywood, you’d call him a cub or muscle twink. After being told that he will never advance in the military because of his short physical stature, he is handpicked by Abraham Lincoln to serve as his legal assistant. The sincere and passionate Elmer soon inspires Abe to consider new ways of looking at the world, both publicly and privately. In order to become the great man he so wants to be, Elmer must accept not only the truths about himself but the sacrifices that only he can make.
TAFFETA (30s, bi-racial, amab gender non-conforming) Self-described as a fabulous queer creation of color (with preferred pronouns she/her/hers), Taffeta is the lens through which the story churns. Endowed with a fiercely beating heart and a wicked sense of humor, Taffeta drives the play's historical fantasia as grand marshal, chiming in not just as her contemporary 21st Century self but stepping into myriad roles that include First Lady Mary Todd Lincoln, a struggling army cadet, and even a shimmering chandelier. As she cycles her way through a cavalcade of identities to confront one of the most iconic figures in American history, she must finally wrestle with the fact that the identity that haunts her the most is her own.
Videos
