MAKANDAL Equity Principal Auditions - Developmental Lab Auditions

Call Type
Equity Principal

Time(s)
Equity Principal Auditions
Monday, May 5th, 2014
10 AM to 6 PM
lunch 1 to 2

Contract
Other
Developmental Lab Agreement; $1000/week

Location
Pearl Studios NYC 500
500 Eighth Avenue
(35th/36th Streets)
New York, NY
12th floor

Seeking
Equity actor/singers for various roles in this developmental lab production.

see breakdown.

Preparation
Please prepare a legit contemporary song that shows vocal range and depth of character.

Please bring a picture and resume, STAPLED TOGETHER.

Other Dates
Monday, June 2, 2014 - Saturday, June 7, 2014
Monday, June 9, 2014 - Saturday, June 14, 2014
Monday, June 16, 2014 - Saturday, June 21, 2014
Monday, June 23, 2014 - Saturday, June 28, 2014

Other
Makandal is a contemporary opera employing folkloric and classical music forms as well as visual installation and animation.

Personnel
Producers: Harlem Stage, James King & Brad Learmonth
Conceived & written by Carl Hancock Rux
Composer: Yosvany Terry
Director: Lars Jan
Musical Director: Manuel Valera
Casting: Tara Rubin Casting

· EPA Rules are in effect.

· A monitor will be provided.

Performers of all ethnic and racial background are encouraged to attend.

Always bring your Equity Membership Card to auditions.

Breakdown

Makandal is a contemporary opera employing folkloric and classical music forms as well as visual installation and animation. At first glance it tells two stories. One of Francois Makandal, an 18th century revolutionary who leads a failed slave revolt. And of a group of 21st century Haitian, Cuban and Dominican illegal immigrants embarking upon a dangerous boat ride to Puerto Rico. However, Makandal in its reach is about all people who have yet to fully realize emancipation. It is about the history of colonization, slavery and dysfunctional immigration bureaucracies; the death of men at the hands of ideologues who control both marketplace and nation states and the global denial of freedom incentives. Subjects both timely and universal.

SEEKING:

PERFORMER 1:
Male, Late 20’s, Early 30’s. (TENOR). Plays the following:
MAKANDAL: a fugitive slave & maroon chieftain.
BOY: Afro-Cuban of Haitian descent.
Actor should be a rough kind of handsome, with an iconic voice. Strong worker’s physique. Eyes of a visionary. Spanish fluency desired. Experience with French a plus.



PERFORMER 2:
Female, early 20’s. ( MEZZO SOPRANO). Plays the following:
YANIRA: Dominican prostitute &
PILAR: Mulatto slave on the Dufresne plantation & NARRATOR. ?
Beautiful, slightly weathered, yet with an enduringly innocent, hopeful quality.



PERFORMER 3:
Male, early 30s. (BARITONE). Plays the following:
PASTOR PIERRE BAPTISTE-MENTOR. Haitian. A devout Christian under the thumb of his wife. Nervous, slight and generous. ROLE IS CAST



PERFORMER 4:
Female, 40s to 60s. (SOPRANO / CONTRALTO in chorus). Plays the following:
MAMA TOYA: A Haitian vendor. &
ESTELITA: Boatman’s grandmother. Opera singer. Afro-Cuban
Capable of playing both a tough, weathered and somewhat desperate elder woman and then shedding a couple of decades to play the classic chanteuse. A natural performer and storyteller. Experience with Spanish a plus.



PERFORMER 5:
FELICIA FELIX-MENTOR: Wife of pastor Pierre. Haitian
Female, early 30s. (does not necessarily need to sing) ROLE IS CAST



PERFORMER 6:
YEMAYA LOA: Of the Sea. ?Capable of dominating men.
Fearsome. With a quality that belies tremendous physical and vocal power. ROLE IS CAST



PERFORMER 7:
Male, early 30s to early 40s. (Ideally has choir singer skills). Plays the following:
CAPITAINE Trafficker. Dominican &
JACQUIN Pilar’s lover. Slave on the Dufresne plantation.
Shifty, jaded and physically intimidating. Frankly, a villain. ROLE IS CAST



PERFORMER 8:
Male, early 20s. (Ideally has choir singer skills): Plays the following:
CANE CUTTER In Dominican Republic. & HAITIAN?
A worker; aged beyond his years. Native Spanish speaker a must. French also a plus.



PERFORMER 9:
Male 50s. (Ideally has choir singer skills): Plays the following:
BOATMAN: Cuban. An old salt with seemingly little to lose.


NOTE: Many characters are double or triple cast and all will serve in various choruses. There will be much for ALL performers to do in this piece. That is to say, there are no “small” parts herein.