Looking for Actors for New Works Festival

IN THE WORKS ~ IN THE WOODS is a thrilling New Works Festival at the Forestburgh Playhouse in the beautiful southern Catskills of New York. This year’s festival marks our 6th anniversary of bringing and nurturing playwrights, composers, lyricists and emerging theatrical works and cabaret to the Catskills.

If you are available and interested in being considered for one of the shows, please send submissions to [email protected] by end of day on FRIDAY, JULY 10th, with the following information.

Union Status (AEA or NON-AEA)

Headshot/Resume as ONE PDF Document (ATTACHED TO EMAIL - links will not be accepted)

Self-taped material for the teams to be able to get a sense of who you are. (These can be video submissions you’ve used for other projects.)

***Pursuant to Forestburgh Playhouse’s Mission, actors of all ethnicities, abilities, and gender identities are strongly encouraged to submit for all projects***

SALARY:

All AEA Actors will be contracted under a Special 34 Hour Developmental Agreement with AEA of $545 for the week plus pension and health. Housing, Travel and Meals provided.

All Non-AEA Actors will be contracted with a Salary of $350 for the week. Housing, Travel and Meals provided.

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ABOUT THE SHOWS…..

THE HOMEFRONT

A New Musical

Book by Malika Oyetimein & Jenny Stafford

Music & Lyrics by Sam Salmond

Director: Malika Oyetimein

For consideration, please provide 32 bars of a Pop/Rock Song and a contemporary monologue or scene.

SYNOPSIS:

Leslie (black) and Ruth (white) work side-by-side building planes in the Willow Creek factory during WWII, forging a friendship that could only exist in this crisis moment in American history--when the need for factory production was so great that segregation barriers temporarily fell away. When the war ends and the men return home, the women are immediately fired. Leslie and Ruth lead a movement to fight for the jobs of their fellow female workers. But when it becomes clear that the black women and the white women will no longer have the same opportunities in this post-war world, they have to decide what – and who – are they willing to give up in the fight, and what happens when loved ones get caught in the crossfire.

SEEKING:

LESLIE—African American, 20s. After moving north and getting her education, she lost her husband in the war and was left a single mother. Eager to fulfil the dream she and her husband had together, she is fighting to get her factory job back. Strong, decisive, a go-getter. Mezzo pop belt. (AEA)

RUTH—Caucasian, 20s. A feisty, progressive, free-thinking woman who wants to keep her factory career at the end of World War II, and struggles to balance her ambitions and her ideals in her friendships, her career, and her marriage. Bold, outspoken, single-minded. Mezzo pop belt. (AEA)

IDA MAE—African American, Leslie’s sister, 30s. She moved north with her daughter to help Leslie with her baby during the war, but is resentful of the life Leslie had that she never got. Strong, practical, no-nonsense. (AEA)

DORIS—African American, 53. Traditional, married, scraping by. Worn down. Wants her job back, but always waiting for the shoe to drop. She will run alongside the bike even though she knows it’s going to crash, and then bandage the knees. (AEA)

PEARL—African American, Ida Mae’s daughter, 13. Eager to be older than she is. Very excited and inspired by her Aunt Leslie, and quick to dismiss her more traditional mother. Eager, idealistic. (NON-AEA)

JAMES—Caucasian. Ruth’s husband, 20s. Deeply damaged by his time fighting overseas, he yearns for the stable home life he knew before the war. Progressive, strong, compassionate. Baritenor. (NON-AEA)

BETTY—Caucasian, 30s. After losing her husband in the war, she is desperate to return to her life as a homemaker but no longer has the option. A Betty Crocker type, ultra feminine. Mezzo. (NON-AEA)

PENELOPE—Caucasian, 20s. She loves fun, she loves life, she loves sex and men. After her brother died in the war she got married impulsively, and is now stuck in a controlling marriage and needs the factory as an escape route. Fun, inappropriate, determined. (NON-AEA)

MARGE—Caucasian, 30s. Her formerly abusive husband returned from war mentally and physicallyv disabled, and she has to care for him and her five kids. Broke, uneducated, desperate. (NON-AEA)

LILLIAN—Caucasian, 20s. A lesbian who isn’t necessarily “out,” but everyone knows. She feels torn between where she is safe in terms of marginalized communities. Outspoken, rough and tumble, funny. (NON-AEA)

GLADYS—African American, 20s/30s. Her family is from the North and has wealth. She’sxcomfortable, went to college. Her parents want her to be teacher or librarian, but she wants to work in the factory--not because she needs it, but because she likes it. (NON-AEA)

MALE ENSEMBLE—Caucasian. One actor, any age. Manager, union head, chairman. Baritenor. (NON-AEA)

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HUT, HUT, HIKE

A New Play by Kenneth Jones

Directed by Jeremy Webb

For consideration, please provide a contemporary comedic/dramatic monologue or scene.

SYNOPSIS:

A college football star is one bad grade away from losing everything — his scholarship, his endorsements, even his shot at the NFL. The problem? He’s flunking a class he never took seriously: Modern Drama. When he’s paired with a bookish theater major as a last-chance tutor, an unexpected intimacy rewrites the carefully planned playbooks of both their lives. Bridging the worlds of sports and the arts, Hut, Hut, Hike is a sexy, brutal and bittersweet coming-of-age story about ambition, intimacy and fumbling your way toward an identity you can live with.

SEEKING:

MILO DENNIS, a 20-ish male college junior of any race; an English major; gay; vulnerable; a little nervous; academic-minded; flinchy; a trauma survivor; charming; smart; neurotic; attractive but wouldn’t know it; introverted; possibly not sexually experienced; productive but not aggressively ambitious — doesn’t work the system. (AEA)

MIKE WOODS, a 20-ish male college junior of any race; a general studies major; a gifted and professionally ambitious football player; BMOC; more physically imposing than Milo, probably; knows how to work system; a sex object and knows it; confident on the field; clueless in classroom; extroverted, with a confidence that hides his secrets — like his low grade point, familial trauma and ambiguous sexuality, which he doesn’t define or obsess over. (AEA)

LEXI SUMMERS, a 20-ish female college junior of any race; a marketing, PR, communications/business major with Kardashian vibes; Mike’s future wife and business partner; Mike’s gatekeeper; ambitious and protective of Mike; a rule-setter in their relationship; steely; ruthless; does not suffer fools; eyes on the prize of fame and fortune; knows everything about Mike. (AEA)

SAM NOBLE, a 20-ish male college junior of any race; a journalism major; queer identity and accessories that are slowly shed; saucy; flexible pronouns; an ally with limits; ambitious; funny; quirky; ruthless. (AEA)

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THE COLOR OF THINGS

A New Family Musical

Music by Grace Oberhofer

Book & Lyrics by Lisa Mongillo

For consideration, please provide 32 bars of a Musical Theatre Comedy Song.

SYNOPSIS:

THE COLOR OF THINGS is a whimsical musical about fighting back when your whole world has gone grey. It centers on Jill, an 11-year-old autistic girl who excels in engineering but is stuck in a rut of self-doubt. When two nefarious inventors build a machine that drains every color—and every spark of joy—from the town of Monroe, Jill wakes up to find her world turned completely grey. As the greyness spreads, she clings to the memory of what colors were—and of all the things that made life more colorful—and sets out to restore what’s been lost. Through ingenuity, courage, and community, Jill helps her town reclaim its color. There’s a generation of kids right now living in a world that often seems dark and gloomy and beyond their control…our show is about how we can harness the colors, and the hope, that no one can take away.

SEEKING:

JILL - (She/her, 18+ to play 11 years old, soprano with a high mix/belt) A smart, anxious kid on the spectrum, who loves engineering more than anything. She’s struggling to be confident in her intelligence and ingenuity, but has a bold imagination nurtured by her father. (NON-AEA)

BLAKE - (He/him or she/her, 18+ to play 11 years old, alto or tenor with high extension) An outwardly wry, plucky, independent kid––whose independence tends to mean avoiding social situations. A loyal friend to Jill and only Jill. Dreams of joining theater crew to design sets for school plays but would never want to have to talk to all those people. *Specifically seeking performers from the disability community.* (NON-AEA)

DAD - (He/him, 30s/40s, baritenor) A kind, warm single father and visual artist. He fills his home with paintings, curiosity, and comfort. But lately, he’s also increasingly worried about their finances. And he wonders if he's lost the spark he used to have. (NON-AEA)

DRAINIT - (She/her, 30s/40s, mezzo-soprano/soprano) Co-President and self-appointed Chief Inventor of The Pit Laboratory (which consists of two scientists who work in a dark, dingy lab and build strange machines that have a tendency to harm the people who encounter them). Cunning and brilliant. Disgusted by the happiness and free will of the townspeople. (NON-AEA)

DEWITT - (He/him, 30s/40s, baritone). The other Co-President of The Pit Laboratory. Highly melodramatic and generally annoyed by other people. Scatterbrained, clumsy, and easily distracted – usually by the prospect of eating cheese. (NON-AEA)

GRACE HOPPER/OTHERS - (She/her, 18+ to play multiple ages, soprano/mezzo soprano) Plays the wise, blunt, funny spirit of a famous scientist, a local kid, and a local adult. (NON-AEA)

TAYLOR TYLERSON/OTHERS - (He/him, 18+ to play multiple ages, tenor or low alto) Plays a laid back, cool classmate of Jill and Blake and a local adult. (NON-AEA)