BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK - NYC EPA
Signature Theatre Company Inc.
AUDITION DATE
Mon, Sep 24, 2018
9:30 am - 5:30 pm (EDT)
Lunch 1 to 2
CONTRACT
Off Broadway
SEEKING
Equity actors. NOTE: All actors must have strong comic timing and abilities.
PREPARATION
Sides will be provided. Actors may perform a side or a brief contemporary monologue.
Please bring a picture and resume, stapled together.
LOCATION
Actors' Equity New York Audition Center
165 W 46th St
16th Fl
New York, NY 10036
PERSONNEL
Artistic Director: Paige Evans
Associate Artistic Director: Beth Whitaker
Author: Lynn Nottage
Director: Kamilah Forbes
General Manager: Gilbert Medina
Casting Director: Caparelliotis Casting
In attendance at EPA: Rob Marcato, Artistic Line Producer
Machel Ross, Casting Associate.
OTHER DATES
First Rehearsal: January 2, 2019
Announced Run: January 29, 2019 through March 3, 2019 (possible three-week extension).
OTHER
The production employs one Stage Manager and one Assistant Stage Manager. Both positions have been filled.
EPA Procedures are in effect for this audition.
An Equity monitor will be provided.
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
BY THE WAY, MEET VERA STARK: It’s the Golden Age of Hollywood, and aspiring starlet Vera Stark works as a maid to Gloria Mitchell, an aging star grasping at her fading career. Worlds collide when Vera lands a trailblazing role in an antebellum epic starring… her boss. While Vera’s portrayal of a slave turns out to be groundbreaking, decades later scholars and film buffs still grapple with the actress’ legacy in Hollywood and the impact that race had on her controversial career. Two-time Pulitzer Prize-winner Lynn Nottage’s fast-paced, sly satire, directed by Kamilah Forbes, will take you on a seventy-year journey through Vera’s life and the cultural climate that originally shaped her and continues today.
NOTE: All actors must have strong comic timing and abilities.
SEEKING:
VERA STARK
African-American female; first appears at age 28, and then again in her 60s. Beautiful, smart, funny and willful. Works as an assistant to the famed actress of the moment, Gloria Mitchell, until she gets her own big break. Her subsequent career does not play out as she perhaps hoped it would. Actors who can sing are a plus.
GLORIA MITCHELL
White female; first appears at age 28, and then again in her 60s. A movie star who is vain, melodramatic and self-absorbed, though not entirely unaware of her absurdities. Works tirelessly to preserve an air of glamour as she fights to stay afloat in Hollywood. Actors who can sing are a plus.
LEROY BARKSDALE/HERB FORRESTER
African-American male, 20s-30s. Plays Leroy Barksdale, chauffeur of famed film director Maximillian Von Oster, and a love interest of Vera’s. Brazen and endearingly pompous. Also plays Herb Forrester, a smart, savvy and articulate contemporary filmmaker/musician, who is fascinated by Vera’s celebrity.
LOTTIE MCBRIDE/CARMEN LEVY-GREEN
African-American female, 20s-30s. Plays Lottie McBride, Vera’s pretty, heavyset, cynical and witty roommate, who is also an actress. Also plays Carmen Levy-Green, a respected, stylish college professor with strong views on what happened to Vera in her later years.
ANNA MAE SIMPKINS/AFUA ASSATA EJOBO
African-American female, 20s-30s. Plays Anna Mae Simpkins, Vera’s sassy, sexy and overconfident roommate. Her light complexion allows her to exploit her racial ambiguity—she passes herself off as a fair-skinned Brazilian to score a big role. Nothing is beneath her. Also plays Afua Assata Ejobo, a modern-day poet, journalist and performer with her own staunch opinions on the late Vera.
MR. SLASVICK/BRAD DONOVAN
White male, 40-60. Plays Mr. Slasvick, an attractive, well-groomed and wealthy studio executive with less-than-stellar social skills. Also plays Brad Donovan, a smooth-talking 1970s talk show host with an appealing, over-the-top personality.
MAXIMILLIAN VON OSTER/PETER RHYS-DAVIES
White male, 30-45. Plays Maximillian Von Oster, an exquisitely haughty Russian film director with an inflexible artistic vision. Also plays Peter Rhys-Davies, a groovy 1970s English rock musician. Actor must have facility with accents.
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 audition.
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