Actors' Shakespeare Project
Watertown, MA

DESCRIPTION

Notice: Audition Call Type: EPA

AUDITION DATE

Tuesday, March 31, 2026

10:00 AM - 6:00 PM (E)

AND

Tuesday, April 7, 2026

10:00 AM - 6:00 PM (E)

Lunch 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM

APPOINTMENTS

To schedule an audition appointment, please go to: www.actorsshakespeareproject.org/work-with-us/auditions . If you cannot attend these audition dates, you can inquire about sending a self-tape at [email protected].

CONTRACT

NEAT

$561 weekly minimum (Cat. 5)

SEEKING

Equity actors for roles in Actors' Shakespeare Project's 2026-27 Season (See breakdown).

No roles will be understudied.

All roles are available to any actor regardless of race, heritage, or gender identification unless otherwise indicated by the playwright.

We seek actors who can and will enjoy playing multiple roles in a production, who are physically engaged in the work, and who are eager to collaborate with ensemble members.

PREPARATION

Please prepare material of your choice; if you wish, this may be selections from the season. For those who wish to perform a scene from the season, a reader will be available (please be prepared to supply sides for the reader, which include indication of your starting & stopping places). Audition appointments are scheduled in seven (7) minute intervals; each Equity Member has a maximum of five (5) minutes to audition. Please bring your Equity membership card.

LOCATION

Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Center for the Arts

321 Arsenal St

Watertown, MA 02472-5710

Red Studio.

PERSONNEL

Expected to attend:

Christopher V. Edwards: Artistic Director

Regine Vital: Manager of Artistic & Community Programs

See breakdown for production-specific personnel.

OTHER DATES

See breakdown for production-specific dates.

Typical Rehearsal Schedule: Weekday Evenings: Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings - Weekend Days / early Evenings: Saturday and Sunday

Each production schedule will include at least 2 weekday morning student matinees, for which actors must be available.

OTHER

If you have any questions, please email [email protected].

An Equity Monitor will not be provided. The producer will run all aspects of this 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

Actors' Shakespeare Project 2026-27 Season

ASP’s Anti-Racism Statement: Actors’ Shakespeare Project (ASP) is committed to actively examining and combating the multifaceted nature of racism in our company, our community, the theater industry, and the United States. Racism dehumanizes everyone it touches and creates an environment not conducive to creative expression. Actors’ Shakespeare Project seeks to dismantle organizational systems, processes, structures, and cultures that discourage any person from engaging with us. We pledge to foster diversity, inclusivity, and equity across our board, staff, artists, productions, educational programming, and business operations. The stories of all people will be reflected in all the work that we do.

Please note: All Rehearsal and Performance Dates below are TENTATIVE.

DRACULA: A COMEDY OF TERRORS

Written by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen

Directed by Christopher V. Edwards

First Rehearsal: Wednesday, September 9th, 2026

Opening: Thursday, October 8th, 2026

Closing: Sunday, November 1st, 2026

SYNOPSIS: Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors is a 90-minute, small-cast, gender-bending parody of Bram Stoker’s novel, in which meek estate agent Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania, unleashing a narcissistic Count Dracula on modern-minded Lucy Westfeldt, her sister Mina, insect-obsessed Renfield, and vampire hunter Jean Van Helsing in a whirlwind of quick changes and broad physical comedy. The piece satirizes Gothic horror while centering capable female protagonists and queer-coded humor, ending with Lucy and Van Helsing driving the story’s moral and emotional resolution.

Content Advisory: ASP will hire an Intimacy Director for all instances of sexually/emotionally charged intimacy.

Playwright’s note: all characters can be played by actors of any gender, ethnicity, age or type.

TRACK 1: HARKER / CAVENDISH / WORTHINGTON / HAVEMERCY / BOSUN / GRAVEDIGGER:

Jonathan Harker - Prim and proper and obsessive-compulsive real estate agent, frightened of his own shadow. Once bitten he loosens up...a lot... and becomes a Tom Jones-style rock star in leather pants. RP British dialect. Lord Cavendish - Lucy's suitor; a Scottish dolt. Lord Worthington - Lucy's suitor; posh, British and petulant. Lord Havemercy - Lucy's arrogant suitor from Memphis. Texas Accent. Bosun - A scurvy seaman who goes down with the ship in a storm. Irish dialect. Gravedigger - A drunk gravedigger with a secret.

TRACK 2: DR. WESTFELDT / RENFELD / CAPTAIN / MAN-EATING WOLF: Dr. Wallace Westfeldt - Lucy and Mina's father, a blowhard; self-important misogynist given to proclamations and posturing with his pipe. RP British dialect. Renfeld - Insane patient of Dr. Westfeldt who lives to serve and loves to eat bugs. In a word, the dude is nuts. Cockney dialect and salivary issues. Captain - The salty captain of a doomed ship caught in a raging storm.

TRACK 3: LUCY / KITTY / DRIVER / MAN-EATING WOLF: Lucy Westfeldt - Brilliant, plucky earth scientist daughter of Dr. Westfeldt, she is full of energy and the spirit of adventure and often underestimated because of her beauty. RP British dialect. Kitty Rutherford - A dotty kleptomaniac patient of Dr. Westfeldt, she serves as a maid in his house. Cockney dialect. Driver - Transylvanian driver of the carriage carrying Jonathan to Dracula's castle. Eastern European or Russian dialect.

TRACK 4: MINA / VAN HELSING / MAN EATING WOLF: Mina Westfeldt - The less attractive, less intelligent Westfeldt daughter, she lives in her sister Lucy's shadow and is desperate for attention. RP British dialect. Dr. Van Helsing - Brilliant and sturdy German vampire-hunting doctor from the University of Schmutz. Strong, shmart, unt bold, she is a woman of action. German dialect a la Mel Brooks.

TRACK 5: DRACULA: Count Dracula - Hugely sexy, magnetically handsome, rock star presence with a killer body, he is a narcissist whose greatest love is himself - and his leather pants. Commanding European dialect.

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF JANE AUSTEN, ABRIDGED

Written by Jessica Bedford, Kathryn MacMillan, Charlotte Northeast, and Meghan Winch

Directed by Regine Vital

First Rehearsal: Wednesday, November 11th, 2026

Opening: Thursday, December 3rd, 2026

Closing: Sunday, Sunday December 27th, 2026

SYNOPSIS: The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged is an 80–90 minute, three-actor “romp” in which two die-hard Janeites and a bewildered understudy crash through all six major Austen novels, switching roles at high speed while sending up Regency romance, class satire, and fan culture itself. The show blends affectionate parody, direct address, and sketch-like sequences to compress the Austen canon into a single, big-hearted evening that welcomes both devotees and newcomers.

SEEKING:

If the three characters were a symphony…

Track 1: is the lilting high notes

Track 2: is the steady, driving alto

Track 3: is the dependable baritone - except when the excitable tenor

HAMLET

Written by William Shakespeare

Directed by David R. Gammons

First Rehearsal: Wednesday, January 6th, 2027

Opening: Thursday, January 28th, 2027

Closing: Sunday, February 21st, 2026

SYNOPSIS: Hamlet follows Prince Hamlet of Denmark as he confronts the ghostly revelation that his uncle Claudius has murdered his father, forcing him into a spiral of grief, moral doubt, feigned (or real) madness, and political paralysis that ultimately destroys the royal family and state. The play interrogates corruption in power, surveillance, mental health, and the difficulty of acting ethically within a broken system, themes that remain powerfully resonant in 2026.

Content Advisory: This production will feature scenes with nudity. ASP will hire an Intimacy Director for all instances of nudity, simulated sexual interaction, and sexually/emotionally charged instances of intimacy as well as all states of partial undress. This production will feature scenes of violence. ASP will hire a Fight Director for all instances of physical violence.

SEEKING:

Track 1: Hamlet, and ensemble – Prince of Denmark, son to Gertrude and Hamlet, nephew to Claudius (role will feature nudity)

Track 2: Gertrude, and ensemble – Queen of Denmark, wife to King Claudius, widow to King Hamlet

Track 3: Claudius, and ensemble – King of Denmark, husband to Gertrude, brother to King Hamlet

Track 4: Ophelia, and ensemble – daughter to Polonius, sister to Laertes, possible lover to Hamlet

Track 5: Laertes, and ensemble – son to Polonius, brother to Ophelia, peer to Hamlet

Track 6: Polonius, and ensemble – counselor to Claudius, father to Laertes and Ophelia

Track 7: Horatio, and ensemble – friend and confidant to Hamlet

Track 8: Ghost / Gravedigger / Player, and ensemble – ghost of King Hamlet / digger of graves

JITNEY

Written by August Wilson

Directed by Christopher V. Edwards

First Rehearsal: Wednesday, March 10th, 2027

Opening: Thursday, April 8th, 2027

Closing: Sunday, May 9th, 2027

SYNOPSIS: August Wilson’s Jitney, set in a worn-down 1970s jitney cab station in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, chronicles a group of unlicensed cab drivers, their dispatcher Becker, and his estranged son Booster as they confront imminent building demolition, generational conflict, racism, economic precarity, and the possibility of community self-determination. Over a few weeks, the men’s intersecting struggles—Youngblood’s attempt to buy a house for his family, Turnbo’s gossip-driven conflicts, Becker and Booster’s tragic rift—build toward both personal loss and a collective decision to fight for their space.

Content Advisory: ASP will hire an Intimacy Director for all instances of sexually/emotionally charged intimacy.

Note: All roles are of African descent

SEEKING:

BECKER - well-respected, runs jitney station (60s)

BOOSTER - Becker's son, recently released from prison (early 40s)

TURNBO - jitney driver, always interested in the business of others

YOUNGBLOOD - jitney driver and Vietnam War veteran (mid-to-late 20s)

RENA - Youngblood's girlfriend and mother of their young son

FIELDING - jitney driver and former tailor, has a dependency on alcohol

DOUB - longtime jitney driver and Korean War veteran

SHEALY - numbers taker who often uses the jitney station as his base

PHILMORE - local hotel doorman, a reoccurring jitney passenger

SALARY

NEAT $561 weekly minimum (Cat. 5)

UNION

AEA