New York Shakespeare Festival | New York, NY
Monday, March 3, 2025
9:30 AM - 5:30 PM (E)
BREAK: 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM
Off Broadway
$1024 weekly minimum (BB)
Equity actors for roles in the Public Theater's Mobile Unit tour of MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING (see breakdown).
Please prepare one SHORT (no more than two minutes in length) Shakespeare monologue. Bring picture and resume stapled together.
Actors' Equity New York Audition Center
165 W 46th St
16th Fl
New York, NY 10036
Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by Rebecca Martinez
Original music by Julián Mesri
Casting Directors: Jordan Thaler, Kate Murray
EXPECTED TO ATTEND:
Jordan Thaler, Director of Casting
Heidi Griffiths, Director of Casting
Kate Murray, Casting Director
Chalin Tulyathan, Casting Associate
1st Rehearsal: 4/22/25
1st Performance: 5/17/25
Final Tour Performance: 6/29/25
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.
Notice: Audition Call Type: EPA
For over 10 years, the Public Theater’s Mobile Unit has been breaking down economic and geographic barriers to the arts by meeting our communities where they are, staging free professional theater productions in local neighborhood venues. It is rooted in the founding impulse of The Public Theater; that theater is an essential cultural force.
In the Summer of 2025, The Public Theater will embark on a 5-week tour performing in all five boroughs of New York City. The Mobile Unit tour will partner with organizations like Bryant Park, the New York Public Library, and St. John the Divine, venues hosting up to 300-400 attendees. This tour will begin indoors primarily within correctional facilities and then move outdoors traveling to all 5 boroughs with repeated performances at most NYC Parks sites including: St. Mary’s Park, Prospect Park, Sunset Park, and others. The company will travel to venues in a company van.
NOTE FOR ALL ACTORS: We are seeking a company of collaborative, language-oriented actors/singers who enjoy working in a physical style. As this is a multicultural adaptation of the play, PLEASE NOTE CAREFULLY on character descriptions where fluency with Spanish, a strong familiarity with Spanish or none at all is required as well as where confident solo singing and/or musical skill is a component for the character.
Set in a heightened and sometimes madcap world inspired by telenovelas, this is a new take on the classic tale of love, deception, and misunderstandings blends Spanish, music, and Shakespeare’s timeless wit.
30s. Any ethnicity. Not necessarily bilingual, but possesses an above-average facility and comfort level speaking and singing in Spanish. A woman from a privileged background, she is sharp, quick-witted, and extremely intelligent who is unchallenged by the world around her. She has a gift for verbal sparring and wordplay and becomes locked in a war of wits with Benedick, her nemesis. However, when she discovers that Benedick is in love with her, we catch our first glimpse of the sensitivity and vulnerability that lie beneath her witty “who needs romantic love?” exterior. Has great verbal and physical comedic skills. Sings.
30s. Any ethnicity. The quintessential rom-com leading man. Equal parts dashing, funny, sexy, foolish, and intelligent. An officer and a gentleman returning from war. He meets his match, wit-for-wit, in Beatrice. Although he has sworn he will never fall in love or marry, when he discovers Beatrice’s feelings for him, what begins as a desire to outdo her in love and courtship transforms into a more mature, truthful, and tender affection. Has great verbal and physical comedic skills. Sings.
40s+. Latino. Not necessarily bilingual, but possesses an above-average facility and comfort level speaking and singing in Spanish. Father to Hero, uncle to Beatrice and governor of Messina. Commanding and pragmatic. Capable of great gentleness and humility and also rage. Reputation equals money and power, and when his reputation is threatened, the scope and volatility of his wrath is strong. Doubles as WATCH, a member of the ragtag security team watching Leonato’s home. Comfortable with group singing.
20s. Latina. Bilingual Spanish/English speaker. Cousin to Beatrice, daughter of Leonato. A beautiful young woman who has been raised to understand the power that beauty and money engender. Sheltered by family and money, she feels protected and untouchable until her life begins to unravel. Innocent of any wrongdoing, she is slandered by Claudio’s enemies and is devastated by the attacks on her good name. Sings.
30s – 40s. Latino. Bilingual Spanish/English speaker. Benedick’s contemporary and commander. They are old friends and comrades in arms. He is wealthy, privileged, charming, and virile. He possesses an innate sense of power and authority, which he wears with great ease. A man comfortable in his own skin. Doubles as VERGES, second-in-command of the ragtag security team watching Leonato’s home. The divide of these characters calls for a character actor capable of delineating character with great verbal and physical skills. Comfortable with group singing.
20s. Latino. Bilingual Spanish/English speaker. In love with Leonato’s daughter, Hero. A distinguished soldier. He moves seamlessly between the macho world of the military and the gentler and more entitled world of his class. A true believer in honor and virtue. His strict moral code sometimes clouds his judgment and causes him to act rigidly and impetuously. Comfortable with group singing.
30s – 40s. Any ethnicity. Any gender. A role for a masterful comic actor with ENORMOUS physical and verbal comedic skills. The head of the security team of Leonato’s home. Dedicated, determined, but clumsy. Proud, sincere, he takes his job extremely seriously. Eager to impress his employers and will go to absurd lengths in order to do so. He attempts to speak formally and elaborately but sometimes the desire to fit in results in major misunderstanding and ludicrous malapropism. Comfortable with group singing.
Late 20s - 30s. Latino. Bilingual Spanish/English speaker. Don Pedro’s illegitimate half-brother. As his name suggests, his energy and appearance evoke the image of the classic libertine Don Juan. Melancholy, brooding, restless. Envious of his brother’s popularity and status. An excellent mind for planning and calculating, and an eye for pinpointing the weaknesses of others, he crafts an elaborate scheme to bring the pair down. Doubles as CONRADE, a cohort and hanger-on of Don Juan. Not an entirely trustworthy guy. Sings.
20s-30s. Latina. Bilingual Spanish/English speaker. An employee at Leonato’s home who takes care of his daughter, Hero. She is sensual, robust, and has a hard time keeping a cap on her sexuality, especially in comparison to the more sophisticated Beatrice and Hero. Doubles as SEXTON. The law. An authority figure in Messina. Sings.
20s - 30s. Any ethnicity. Not necessarily bilingual but possesses an above-average facility and comfort level speaking and singing in Spanish. A bad-boy and hanger-on of Don Juan. Not one of the privileged but more than happy to move in that circle. Slick, tough, and edgy. Doubles as FRIAR FRANCIS, a strong believer in the redemptive power of love. A man of true faith and considerable imagination. A musician comfortable with group singing. Plays guitar or similar stringed or handheld instrument(s) with enough skill to accompany others while they are singing. Please note the instrument(s) played in submission.
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