Auditions

2025-26 Season Casting Breakdown

WE ARE SEEKING THE FOLLOWING ROLES IN OUR 25-26 SEASON

The Public Theatre is open to non-traditional casting and encourages participation by performers of all races and ethnicities.

MISERY by William Goldman based on the novel by Stephen King

Director: TBA

Contract Dates: October 6  – November 9, 2025

Truth is stranger than fiction when a famous romance novelist veers off the road in a winter storm and wakes up incapacitated in the home of his “number-one fan”.  Unexpected events turn his number-one fan into his number-one enemy and a heart-pounding life or death game of cat and mouse ensues.

PAUL SHELDON (Male, 40s-60s, any ethnicity): A famous novelist, Paul is charismatic, intelligent, charming, a touch arrogant, and extremely crafty. He writes successful romance novels yet is growing tired of the books that have brought him fame. He starts the play with severe physical injuries from a near fatal car crash and uses great cunning and determination to survive being held as a prisoner in the home of his number one fan. This is a physically demanding role requiring strength and stamina including a “fight to the death” stage combat scene.

ANNIE WILKES (Female, 40s-60’s, any ethnicity): Annie is Paul Sheldon’s self-proclaimed number-one fan. A former nurse who saves Paul’s life after his car crash, at first she seems awkwardly starstruck and eager to help him. Eventually Annie reveals herself to be emotionally unstable and sometimes extremely cruel, hiding a deep and terrifying malice behind her cheery simple façade. This is a physically demanding role requiring strength and stamina including a “fight to the death” stage combat scene.

(NON-EQUITY) Buster: (30’s 50’s — male or female, any ethnicity) Buster is a small town local sheriff investigating a report that the famous novelist Paul Sheldon may be missing somewhere in the community. Having been raised in a small town, the sheriff is very friendly, helpful and somewhat trusting. There are some physical demands (choreographed falling and being dragged) in this role.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL adapted by Christopher Schario

Director: Christopher Schario

Contract Dates: December 1-14, 2025

This adaptation features a small cast playing multiple roles. All actors perform narration of Dickens’ text, as well as scene work in both British dialect and Standard American. Requires versatile playful actors, skilled with language. This contract is one week of rehearsal and one week of performance. The show is approximately one hour long.

(Non Equity) FRED/CHRISTMAS PRESENT: Male, 30’s, any ethnicity. Scrooge’s indomitably cheery nephew brimming with goodwill. He also plays the ghost of Christmas Present filled to the brim with this same joyful spirit.

All other roles in A Christmas Carol are currently CAST.

STILL by Lia Romeo

Director: TBA

Contract Dates: January 12 – February 8, 2026

Lost love is rekindled in this funny, heartbreaking, sexy and smart story when a couple who broke up in their 30’s reunite in their 60’s. But what happens if you love someone but hate the things they believe? Second chances are given, secrets exposed, and an avocado goes flying in the Maine premiere of this recent Off-Broadway hit.

HELEN (mid 60’s, any ethnicity) A successful novelist.  Intelligent, articulate and attractive she is navigating her life as an independent single older woman living alone in NYC. Surviving a recent resurgence of breast cancer, she is uncertain about her prognosis and reluctant to get too attached or hopeful about creating a future that involves anyone else.  Mark was the love of her life 30 years ago and seeing him stirs everything up from their past and reveals how much they have both changed. She is politically liberal.

MARK (mid 60’s, any ethnicity) Charming, successful, attractive and intelligent, Mark finds himself divorced after 27 years of marriage and parenthood and is in the process of reinventing his life. He is currently contemplating running for office and becoming a national politician. Helen was the love of his life 30 years ago and he is hoping to rekindle their spark and pick up where they left off. Seeing her stirs everything up from their past and reveals how much they have both changed.  Politically he is a moderate conservative.

WHIT’S END by Norm Foster

Director: TBA

Contract Dates: March 1 – 29, 2026

The US premiere of a hilarious new comedy about love, family and significant others. When a widowed father summons his grown children home to share some “big news”, they arrive in tears convinced he must be dying (why else would he pay for their plane tickets?) But dad’s news is good -he’s fallen in love and wants them to meet her!  Whether you’re a parent or a child, this laugh- out-loud comedy about the quirkiness of families and the brave souls who marry into them is for you.

WHIT: Male, early 60’s. Any ethnicity. Recently widowed, he is a retiring postal worker on the verge of selling his home and starting a new life with a woman he has fallen in love with. He has an intelligent and dry sense of humor similar to Bob Newhart. He is somewhat emotionally reserved and undemonstrative towards his children and he tries his best to avoid awkward touchy-feely situations.

NIKKI: Female early 60’s. Any ethnicity. Smart, attractive, loving and maybe a touch neurotic. Previously divorced, she now finds herself happily involved in a committed relationship in her 60’s.  Feeling the pressure of meeting Whit’s family, she may try a little too hard, but she just wants everyone to like her because she really wants this relationship to work out. 

ERICA: Female early 30’s. Any ethnicity. She tends to be a bit comically “high strung” as she often emotionally overreacts to things – especially if she feels overlooked or unseen. She never seems to shine as brightly as her brother in her father’s eyes. Historically she has had terrible taste in boyfriends.

STEVEN: Male mid 30’s. Any ethnicity. Whit’s successful first born son, he has inherited his father’s laid back response to life. He has a sarcastic, dry sense of humor but nevertheless, always means well. In fact, having no response to something is interpreted that he approves. Historically he has had dated spectacularly successful, beautiful woman, but his new girlfriend who teaches people how to make balloon animals is a bit of an outlier. 

GRANDMA GATEWOOD TOOK A WALK by Catherine Bush

Director: TBA

Contract Dates: April 13 – May 17, 2026

In 1955 at the age of 67, Emma “Grandma” Gatewood told her children she was “going for a walk.” and set out with her duffel bag and a pair of Keds sneakers to walk the Appalachian Trail. Two thousand miles later, she became the first woman to solo hike 14 states from Georgia to the top of Mt Katahdin in Maine. This is a true and inspiring adventure celebrating the resiliency of the human spirit and the courage required to walk into the unknown.

GRANDMA: Female mid-60’s. An Appalachian farm woman who has seen and endured much. There is no pretense about this woman– she is who she tells you she is. Practical, determined, feisty and forthright, she is a force to be reckoned with as she narrates her journey, which includes flashback scenes from her past. Born into a large family and married at a young age to a husband who beat and abused her, she had 11 children and raised each of them with love and without complaint. Her decision to hike came from her love and passion for the beauty of the trail, and perhaps subconsciously her need to reconnect with her own identity and power after years of being in an abusive relationship.

MAN: Male, 50’s. This role plays a wide range of 13 different people, including her abusive husband and her drunken father as well as people she meets on the trail.