Auditions

2023-24 Season Breakdown

PAINT NIGHT by Carey Crim (a World Premiere)

Director: Janet Mitchko

Contract Dates: October 2 – 29, 2023.

Imagine Steel Magnolias with modern day issues, as six women get together for a much-needed girls’ night out. The plan is to eat, drink and create works of art at a local Paint and Sip night while celebrating a bride to be. But as the alcohol flows, so do their thoughts about motherhood and womanhood and their carefully curated lives get hilariously and heartbreakingly real. Paint Night is about the powerful way women support each other in an unpredictable world and what happens when we put down our cellphones, truly connect, and paint outside the lines of our comfort zone.

MIRIAM: Late fifties to early sixties. Any ethnicity. A smart, likable, (usually centered) humanities professor with a grown son and daughter. Her desire to see the bright side of life is being greatly tested by her son with serious mental health issues and her unfocused and seemingly flakey daughter who is now pregnant and unmarried.

BREE: mid/late thirties to early forties. Caucasian. Fern’s daughter. A working mom with a stay-at-home husband and a six year old son. She leads an overly scheduled life which she is trying to control and perfectly execute, stretching herself too thin in the process.

GWEN: Forties. African American. She was a very successful, intelligent, business wunderkind who, after taking time off to raise her three kids, is finding it difficult to reenter a workforce that no longer values her. Being a highly successful mom is not fulfilling enough.

FERN: Late fifties to early sixties. Caucasian. Bree’s mother. She puts everything into her family, even when they don’t want her to. A good Christian woman trying to do the right thing, the world is changing too fast for her. Her judgments come from a place of idealism and her desire to have things the way she thinks things should be rather than a place of moral superiority.

LOLLY: (possibly non-Equity) late 20’s to thirties. Miriam’s daughter. Any ethnicity. A bit of a flakey Peter Pan lost soul. Five careers in as many years. She grew up with a schizophrenic older brother who tended to suck all the air out of a room and left none for her. She has recently returned from a trip to an ashram where she met a man on a retreat she will soon marry as she has recently discovered she is pregnant by him.

VERA: (possibly non-Equity) Sixties to seventies. Any ethnicity. The paint night leader. A straight-shooting free spirit. She’s been around the block and now has much wisdom to share. Her relationship with her daughter is difficult and she hasn’t been able to see her grandson in way too long.

A CHRISTMAS CAROL adapted by Christopher Schario

Director: Christopher Schario

Contract Dates: November 27 – December 10, 2023

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, good with language.

CHILD/TINY TIM: (Non-Equity) a young boy or girl any ethnicity who appears no older than 13 and preferably not much taller than 5 ft tall. We’re looking for a young actor with a childlike sense of innocence and excitement capable of memorizing some of Dickens’ language.

BELLE/FAN: (Non-Equity)  20’s/early 30’s, any ethnicity. She has exuberance as Fan and idealism and warmth as Belle. Must be good with language, narration and dialects.

INCIDENT AT OUR LADY OF PERPETUAL HELP​ by Katie Forgette

Director: Janet Mitchko

Contract Dates: January 8 – February 4, 2024

Whether you grew up Catholic, lived through the 1970s, or your family resembles the “fun” in dysfunctional -– this nostalgic and heartfelt new comedy is for you! Travel back in time to a world before cellphones and social media when public ridicule in a hermetically sealed Catholic parish was the ultimate nightmare. It’s 1973 and the O’Shea family faces a comic crisis of biblical proportions when their 19-year-old daughter tells her younger sister about “the birds and the bees” and their bawdy conversation is overheard by the parish priest. Holy hell and hilarity break loose as the O’Sheas band together to preserve their good name and prove that nothing is more sacred than family. Get ready for heartwarming laughter and all the polyester you can handle!

LINDA O’SHEA: early 20’s, this is her memory play and much like Eugene in Brighton Beach Memoirs, she provides an engaging connection with the audience as she narrates a story about her family and her 19-year-old self.  Likable, full of charm and wit, she is an aspiring writer and feminist, highly intelligent and curious. She alternates between thinking she knows everything and thinking she knows nothing.

BECKY: (Non-Equity) plays 13. An unusual child. Bright and verbal. Full of energy and a crazy-huge imagination, she is a precocious fan of classic movies and imagines herself to be a junior version of a private eye.  She likes to dress up like Philip Marlowe in a film noir who cracked cases in films in the 1930s and ’40s.

JOSEPHINE O’SHEA: 40’s. An exhausted but nurturing and relatable mother, she juggles more plates than Cirque de Soleil.  She loves her children and honors her subservient role as “mom” in the family. A tireless homemaker and church stalwart, at the moment she’s unusually emotional because she’s unknowingly pregnant.

THERESA “TERRI” CARMICHAEL: 50’s. Jo’s sister. Wisecracking, sassy, bold, and often blunt. The outspoken and crazy aunt we all know and love. She’s going through a rough patch in her marriage, but her caustic wit will get her through it.

MIKE O’SHEA/FATHER LOVETT/BETTY HECKENBACH. 50’s. As the male patriarch of the O’Shea family, Mike also knowingly portrays the stern, egotistical and self-righteous Father Lovett and the gossipy, morally superior, nosy neighbor Betty.  Mike is loud, loyal and single-task oriented. He is a lousy listener and his definition of a father is “breadwinner” and “disciplinarian”. As the overworked, gruff, stressed out working-class father of the family, he could have been Archie Bunker’s best buddy.

SECRET HOUR by Jenny Stafford

Director: TBA

Contract Dates: February 26 – March 24, 2024

Is it possible to be your authentic self in a relationship if sharing your life with another person means having to compromise what you want? Like most married couples, Kate and Ben hold back being completely honest with each other to avoid conflict and feel loved. For fun, they invent a game called “terrible secret hour” where they each confess an unflattering truth and promise to love one another regardless.  But is being truthful the same thing as being true to oneself? Thankfully, their wise and hilarious handyman has a life coach certificate and is happy to help them navigate life’s tough spots. Entertaining, humorous, poignant, and thoughtful, you’ll be talking about this provocative new play all the way home.

KATE: late 30’s to early 40’s. Any ethnicity. An intelligent, witty, likable, and successful Ethics professor at a university, Kate is on a career path she is very excited about and uncertain if she wants to have a baby. She feels ethically conflicted about her inability to be fully truthful with her husband about not wanting a child.

BEN: late 30’s to 40’s. Any ethnicity. Kate’s husband. Likable, funny. He wants to become a dad. He lost the lucrative and successful career he had through a moment of bad personal judgment and is currently unfilled and working at Best Buy. He is hungry for a life-course correction in the form of a baby or a new job.

LEAF: male, 40’s. Any ethnicity. He is a handyman with a funny, stoner/surfer vibe who comes to fix Kate and Ben’s bathroom and stays for several months. Very “go-with-the-flow”, he lives in a treehouse and has recently completed a life-coach certification. He is deceptively wise.

LUNENBURG by Norm Foster

Director: TBA

Contract Dates: April 15 – May 12, 2024

It’s the perfect combination of mystery, comedy, and romance. When Iris’s husband is unexpectedly killed in a plane crash, her lawyer reveals she has inherited a beautiful home in Lunenburg, Nova Scotia – that she never knew existed! Setting out from her home in Brunswick, Maine with her best friend in tow, she begins a laugh-filled, poignant road trip North to unravel the mystery of her husband’s secret life. What follows is a series of gasp-worthy surprises, powerful personal transformations, and lots of funny flirting between her best friend and new neighbor. Don’t miss this intelligent comedy about how we embrace change and learn to move forward.

IRIS: 50’s. Any ethnicity. A grieving yet puzzled recent widow. Intelligent, strong, and loving, her life and future are transformed over the course of the play as she discovers her husband’s secret life with a second wife. She gracefully and humorously learns to make peace with the uncertainty of her future.

NATALIE: 50’s. Any ethnicity. Estranged and going through a rough patch with her beloved daughter due to initiating a divorce from her now ex-husband, she is in the process of reinventing her life hoping to become the confident, creative, and carefree woman she has always wanted to be.  She is humorously torn between being a good friend and consoling Iris and her attraction to Charlie.

CHARLIE: 50’s. Any ethnicity. A charming rogue, he has a wealth of real feeling and appreciation for life hidden beneath his veneer of nonchalance. Divorced and somewhat estranged from his grown son, he is an intelligent man who has chosen to ignore any sadness in his life and to focus instead on the quiet joys of living exactly where and how he wants to. He is attracted to and intrigued by Natalie.