American Repertory Theater Company
Cambridge, MA

DESCRIPTION

CALL TYPE
EPA

CONTRACT
LORT Non-Rep
$1100 weekly minimum (LORT B) - PASSING STRANGE
$807 weekly minimum (LORT D) (Pending Equity Approval) - NIGHT SIDE SONGS

AUDITION DATE
Thursday, October 31, 2024
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM (E)
Lunch 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM

LOCATION
Loeb Drama Center
64 Brattle St
Cambridge, MA 02138-3443
Holding roon - Ex Lobby

PERSONNEL
Expected to attend:
Emma Watt, Associate Producer

See breakdown for production specific personnel.

OTHER DATES
See breakdown for production specific dates.

OTHER
https://americanrepertorytheater.org

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.

SEEKING
Equity actors for roles in NIGHT SIDE SONGS and PASSING STRANGE (See breakdown).

PREPARATION
PASSING STRANGE - Please prepare a song in the style of the show - rock and blues songs that show range. NIGHT SIDE SONGS - Please prepare a short song in the style of ffolk/pop/or rock style. Also, please bring your headshot and resume stapled together.

BREAKDOWN

NIGHT SIDE SONGS and PASSING STRANGE

NIGHT SIDE SONGS
Words and Lyrics by the Lazours
Directed by Taibi Magar
Rehearsals: December 16 - 22, 2024 and December 30, 2024 - Jan 12, 2025
Under the Radar Tech and Performances: January 13 - 19, 2025
Philadelphia Theatre Company Tech and Performances: February 3 - March 9, 2025
American Repertory Theater Tech and Performances: March 23, 2025 - April 20, 2025

NIGHT SIDE SONGS is an ensemble pieces and relies upon five players playing many different roles. The descriptions below represent the primary role of each track.

SEEKING:
Yasmine Holly/As Cast - female, 30s or 40s, wry & optimistic, the character we entrust to takes us through Night Side Songs' contemporary illness journey

Frank/As Cast - Role already offered. male, 30s or 40s, an intellectual type with a granola heart, goofy & loveable, Yasmine's husband and caregiver.

Desiree Holly/As Cast - Role already offered. female, 60s or 70s, Yasmine's mother, broad & buoyant, while deeply empathetic.

Doctor Verlaine/As Cast - Role already offered. male, 30s or 40s, intelligent & approachable, Yasmine's doctor & friend through her illness journey.

Guitarist-Performer - flexible casting, supports the singing and storytelling throughout Night Side Songs, featured performer with solo.

PASSING STRANGE
Book and Lyrics by Stew
Created in collaboration with Annie Dorsen
Music by Stew Stewart and Heidi Rodewald
Directed by Liesl Tommy
1st Rehearsal: April 14, 2025
1st Tech: May 13, 2025
1st Preview: May 20, 2025
Opening: May 30, 2025
Closing: June 29, 2025

Performers of all gender identities are encouraged to audition. All roles require strong vocal and dance ability. We are also seeking understudies for all roles.

SEEKING:
NARRATOR: (Role Already Cast) Male, Black, 45-60yrs. Plays guitar and drums. Narrator is the teller of the Youth's story through song and speech. The narrator becomes the Obi Wan to the Youth’s Luke Skywalker – the wise wizard figure. The Youth’s present-day alter ego, who invites us to join him in recalling his greener days. He has a natural command and musical confidence to lead a band, lead the show, and embody the legend that is Stew. He expresses the story through a number of musical genres, including gospel, punk, blues, jazz, and rock.

YOUTH: Male, Black, 20s. Plays guitar. The young anonymous protagonist from 1980’s South Central Los Angeles. Youth travels on a picaresque journey to find "the real", complicated by his need to rebel against his mother and society, "passing" through place to place and from lover to lover. His experiences are shaped by his black, American, and middle-class identity. As a musician, he attempts to express his true self through a number of musical genres, including gospel, punk, blues, jazz, and rock. Youth possesses a rare chameleon quality of being able to convey the rapid evolution of a young person’s personality and worldview based on the newness of every experience. He has a wonderfully expressive face that takes us through every emotional beat with fascinating clarity; his character is callow, pretentious, dismissive, naïve and often cruel. All the while, being able to honestly convey the necessary growth that comes from essential life lessons.

MOTHER: Female, Black, 30-50yrs. Imperious, but loving. She usually stands beautifully ramrod straight. She repeatedly confronts her son with righteous indignation about his interests. Why won’t he go with her to the Lord’s house? When will he live among his own people again? In her son’s drive to establish his difference, mother is often left unheard and forgotten by her son: We all belong to someone. We may sever the ties for a while, she suggests, but family is the movie that none of us can rewrite or rewind.

MR FRANKLIN, JOOP, MR VENUS, AS CAST: Male, Black, 18–30. MR FRANKLIN: American. The church pianist, youth choir director and the queer son of Reverend Jones’. Mr Franklin is daringly hilarious, and yet tragically caught between two worlds. Franklin introduces the idea of "black folks passing for black folks" – not just passing but passing strange. JOOP: Amsterdam, Dutch. A body liberationist. A friend of Marianna's and a naturist. MR. VENUS: Berlin, German. A flamboyant but hardcore protest artist from West Berlin.

EDWINA, MARIANNA, SUDABEY, AS CAST: Female, Black, 20s. EDWINA: American. An attractive girl in the church choir; a "teenage goddess". Youth seeks sexual excitement from her. As the Youth hopes to find The Real in his sexual attraction to Edwina, she also becomes a device for exploring the Youth’s relationship to his race, something which he may or may not have dealt with intellectually before. MARIANNA: Amsterdam, Dutch. A neo-hippy from Amsterdam. Marianna falls for the Youth for similar reasons, to "fix" this damaged man with her love. SUDABEY: Berlin, German. A ferocious and hard member of Nowhaus and an avant-garde filmmaker.

SHERRY, DESI, RENATA, AS CAST: Female, Black, 20s. Plays beginner’s bass and piano. SHERRY: American, possible guitar skills. The two other members of the Youth’s punk rock trio known as the bad kids. Sherry and Terry, take some LSD after their garage band rehearsal and his consciousness-opening acid trip leads the Youth to make a decision. RENATA: Amsterdam, Dutch. Café waitress. A friend of Marianna's and an abstract artist. She has a gentle and soothing nature about her. DESI: Berlin, German. A den mother and social engineer. A Marxist revolutionary from West Berlin and leader of Nowhaus. A leader.

REV JONES, TERRY, CHRISTOPHE, HUGO, AS CAST: Male, Black, 20s. Plays beginner’s drums. TERRY: American. The two other members of the Youth's punk rock trio, known as the bad kids. Terry is outlandish and extroverted. Sherry and Terry, take some LSD after their garage band rehearsal and his consciousness-opening acid trip leads the Youth to make a decision. CHRISTOPHE: Amsterdam, Dutch. An academic who moonlights. A friend of Marianna's and a philosophy professor and sex worker. HUGO: Berlin, German. A militant music critic. A member of Nowhaus and Desi's ex- boyfriend.

SALARY

LORT Non-Rep (See Above)

UNION

AEA