Category Archives: Auditions

Online Zoom Auditions (by appointment only). Auditions will consist of cold read sides from the scripts.

Sunday, May 16, 2021

Appointments for Zoom auditions will be made directly with the Director(s) of the show(s) for which you wish to audition. All auditions for TALK OF THE TOWN, and TRUTH BE TOLD will be via Zoom. Zoom auditions for other shows may be arranged by appointment with the director.

ALL THE OXYTOCIN IN YOUR FINGERTIPS will be directly cast by the Director, Fran Pesch. Contact Fran at fpesch3@hotmail.com if interested and for more information.

In-Person, Socially Distanced Auditions. Auditions will consist of cold read sides from the scripts.
Monday, May 17 and Tuesday, May 18, starting at 7:00 PM each evening. Three scripts: OTIS, SHYLOCK THE FIRST, and TALL WOMAN WITH RED FAN will be auditioned over these two nights.

Auditioners will sign up for audition time slots to minimize the numbers of people in the theater at any one time. Links for audition signups will be posted soon; Auditioners may sign up for both evenings. ALL persons in the theater building will be required to wear a facial covering (Covid-19 mask) at all times – including during their audition.

Auditioners are encouraged to arrive 15 minutes prior to your timeslot to complete an audition form. Be prepared to note all scheduling conflicts between May 19 and July 18.

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CASTING REQUIREMENTS

• FILMED STAGINGS – to be filmed on the Dayton Playhouse stage
• ZOOMED READINGS – recorded over Zoom

PROCEDURES FOR AUDITIONING  

• Staged productions – SIGN UP ON SIGNUPGENIUS (Link to come).
• Readings – Email the Director to schedule appointment time

ALL THE OXYTOCIN IN YOUR FINGERTIPS*   3 m, 3 f, several gender neutral  (plus TUT team) 

ZOOMED READING Directed by Fran Pesch

Synopsis:  ASL. ASMR. TUT. A Deaf of Hearing individual, raised in a caustic 1990s household where sign language is forbidden, secretly navigates three different communities that are united by a passionate belief that communication (and love) can ignite from all the sparks alive in your fingertips. This coming-of-age story poses the question: “Would you rather be a ‘different’ person in a ‘normal’ world… or a ‘normal’ person in a different world?”

• CAL. 20s.  Deaf of Hearing, following a childhood bout of Meningitis. Tentative signer at first, but gradually reveals hands that hunger for knowledge, fingertips seemingly bursting forth with electricity and Oxytocin.
• CAL’S TRANSLATOR.  Gender Neutral. An actor who speaks Cal’s signed lines to the Hearing audience.
• MOTHER. 40s.+.  Hearing. An advocate of oralism.
• FATHER. 40s+.  Hearing. An advocate of ASL.
• LYDIA SCOPES.  Female, late teens-20s.  “The ASMRtist / Queen Tut.” Deaf of Deaf. Fluent in ASL.
• MARGO WICKHAM.   Female, 20s.  Captain of “Great Big Tuts!” Deaf of Deaf. Fluent in ASL. Engineering Student.
• LYDIA’S/MARGO’S TRANSLATOR.  Gender Neutral. An actor who speaks Lydia’s/Margo’s signed lines to the Hearing audience. This can be a single performer or one translator for each character.
• A PEDIATRICIAN, A HEARING PERSON, A DEAF ROOMMATE, REMY.  Gender Neutral.
• A DEAF TUT TEAM

*Those individuals interested in auditioning for OXYTOCIN or working on the production, please email Fran Pesch (fpesch3@hotmail.com).

OTIS   3 m, 2 f

FILMED STAGING Directed by Dawn Roth Smith

Synopsis:  Five characters inhabit a beautiful urban oasis at 43rd Street and First Avenue, and though they have shared a building, a doorman and common spaces (and some for a very long time), they have lived in their own separate domains as well, unaware of the true depths of each other’s joys and sorrows…Questions arise about whether the elevator has something to do with why, when and how people cross paths and are forced to deal with one another in an enclosed space.

• NICHOLAS. 30’s. Caucasian. Sensitive. Struggling to find a way to come out of his grief.
• BERENICE. 70’s. Elegant, chic, worldly Jewish older woman with a mash of an accent that is part Jewish, part upper crust New York. She is direct, confrontational and imperious. She knows better than anyone. Funny without realizing it.
• STARLA. 30’s. African-American. A free-spirited, voluptuous, plus size woman who is very comfortable with her body. She has grown up on the streets of New York and has managed through sheer will to become a very successful fashion maven. Funny and vulnerable. A big generous spirit.
• ALFRED. 70’s. A rascal. Been there done that. Quick witted. Salt of the earth.
• BODHI. 20’s. Indian or Middle Eastern. Gay, with a secret desire to be a dance club DJ. A little overly dramatic and self-centered but also very empathetic.

SHYLOCK THE FIRST  6 m, 5 f  (with doubling: cast – 8)

FILMED STAGING Directed by David Shough

Synopsis: Will the real Shylock please stand up? Who played him? Why did Shakespeare invent him? History doesn’t say.  So . . . London, 1598. Twenty-one-year-old Will Hatcher, Shakespeare’s beloved protege, has been cast to play a Jew called Shylock. With two days till the play opens, Will struggles over this character who seems more monster than man. He pleads with Shakespeare to revise Shylock. Why? He is in love with Sosannah Lopez, a converso whose family remains proud of its Jewish ancestry. Complications abound, as comedy and drama propel us through a story of forbidden love.

• WILL HATCHER. 21.  Shakespeare’s protege, an actor in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men; charismatic and idealistic, demanding and a bit bratty with his mentor
• WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE. 34.   A bit high-handed with WILL, but also sensitively engaged
• SOSANNAH LOPEZ.  20.   A daughter in an affluent family of converted Jews; sincere and intelligent
• ROB HEDGES. 24.   Old friend of Will Hatcher; a shallow opportunistic aristocratic
• ELIZABETH WITTLESLY. 21.   Cousin of Sosannah Lopez; a shallow aristocrat
• SARAH LOPEZ.  15.  Younger sister of Sosannah, ardent, romantic
• RICH. 25-35.   An actor in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, self-involved
• RODGE. 25-35.   An actor in the Lord Chamberlain’s Men, short and hefty, sympathetic
• DARK LADY.  late 20s-early 30s.   Mistress of Will Hatcher, enthraller of Shakespeare erotically alluring, assertive but kind
• SIR LOPEZ.  late 40s-50s.   Father of Sosannah; a stern but not unkind authority figure
• MADAM LOPEZ.  late 40s-50s.    Mother of Sosannah; a sympathetic but old-fashioned parent

TALK OF THE TOWN   6m, 4f  (with doubling: cast – 6)

ZOOMED READING Directed by Annie Pesch

Synopsis:  TALK OF THE TOWN is a full-length comedy adapted from James Thurber’s classic novel ‘The Years With Ross.’ It tells the story of the birth of The New Yorker magazine in the 1920’s and paints a portrait of its eccentric creator and editor, Harold Ross. It also chronicles the rise of James Thurber from the small time Ohio newspaper man he was to the world famous humorist and cartoonist he became. Most of all ‘TALK’ is a loving tribute to the importance of laughter, especially during dark and troubling times.

• JAMES THURBER (32), a visually challenged, iconic writer and illustrator
• HAROLD ROSS (34), an exasperating and eccentric editor-in-chief
• E.B. WHITE (28), a dapper writer, editor and confirmed bachelor
• KATHERINE ANGELL (31), a literate, New England force of nature
• WOLCOTT GIBBS (29), a highly competent, high-strung jack of all trades
• ELSIE DICK (27), Ross’ unflappable, flapper of a secretary
• EUGENE SAXTON (40), a fussy editor at Harper Collins publishing
• HELEN WISMER (27), a woman of letters and great humor
• BARTENDER (30), a cocktail shaker in a speakeasy
• PHOEBE (27), a good time girl in the roaring 20’s

TALL WOMAN WITH RED FAN   1 m, 2 f

FILMED STAGING Directed by Tim Rezash

Synopsis:  DAKIN KNOX, the great-great grandson of a revered American artist, discovers a heretofore hidden work by his ancestor and wants to put it up for auction. The auction house sends AURORA TALMADGE to examine the painting, the prickly world-renown art expert who literally wrote the books (six volumes!) on the artist…and who’s been holding onto a dark secret she’ll be forced to confront. Along with her live-wire assistant MINNIE, the three of them wind up in a pitched battle of wills to figure out not only whether the painting is real or a forgery, but the very nature of what’s art, what’s not…and why we need it.

• DAKIN KNOX. 50s to 70s. Insurance salesman. Lifelong Cape Cod resident.
• MINERVA “MINNIE” HATTON. early 20s. Aurora’s assistant. Midwest transplant, now living in Los Angeles.
• AURORA TALMADGE: 50s to 70s. Author, art historian and researcher. British expat, 27 year resident of Los Angeles.

TRUTH BE TOLD     2 f

ZOOMED READING Directed by Craig Smith

Synopsis:  Kathleen Abedon is the mother of Julian Abedon who, one year earlier, allegedly carried out a mass shooting at a food warehouse before taking his own life. When true-crime writer Jo Hunter comes to town to interview Kathleen for a book on the crime, Kathleen seeks to convince the skeptical journalist that her son was framed for the shooting.

At a time in our history when the truth is under daily attack, Truth Be Told explores the nature of objective truth and the ways in which we manipulate and distort it to serve our own ends.

• KATHLEEN ABEDON. 40s.   White.  A mother.
• JOSEPHA HUNTER.  30s.   Any ethnic background, a journalist.

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