New York Stage & Film Company
CONTRACT
SPT $465 weekly minimum (SPT 5)
SEEKING
Equity actors for roles in New York Stage and Film's 2022-23 Season (see breakdown).
NYSAF affirms our commitment to a policy of equal employment opportunity designed to
promote a positive model of diversity and the elimination of discrimination in theatre. All
qualified applicants shall be afforded equal employment opportunities without
discrimination because of race, creed, color, national origin, sex, age, disability or marital status. Candidates from populations underrepresented in the theatre field are encouraged to submit an audition.
INSTRUCTIONS
SEE PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS IN BREAKDOWN. Submit your headshot/resume and video submission at https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1obvxHEyPhkzCX9UA7O_RT-8-vtqXV5is5ew2JvOMKCc/viewform?edit_requested=true .
Deadline: Thu, Jun 2, 2022
PERSONNEL
Executive Director: Thomas Pearson
Producing Directors: Mark Linn-Baker, Max Mayer, Leslie Urdang
Viewing auditions:
Artistic Director: Chris Burney
Artistic Producer: Liz Carlson
Assistant Artistic Producer: Alex Montoya
OTHER DATES
See production dates in breakdown.
OTHER
https://www.newyorkstageandfilm.org/
In keeping with NYSAF’s continuing commitment to the safety and well-being of our
workplace and community, all full-time, part-time, and seasonal employees, independent
contractors, and all other program participants involved in NYSAF’s work, must be fully
vaccinated and fully “up to date” on their COVID-19 vaccine series, as defined by the CDC.
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 submit.
BREAKDOWN
PREPARATION INSTRUCTIONS:
If you are using an iPhone to video record, be sure to film horizontally and in a well-lit space (not backlit). At the top of the video, slate your name & location.
FOR PLAYS: Please prepare a brief one-to-two-minute contemporary monologue of your choice.
FOR MUSICALS: Please prepare a brief one-to-two-minute contemporary monologue of your choice, along with a brief cut of a contemporary musical theatre song or a song that best features your vocal strengths using your own accompaniment. You may also vocalize scales using the provided accompaniment at https://www.dropbox.com/sh/a36dk99tii2yb5x/AADK5WqF-HqbyXDHT9E6-df_a?dl=0 .
PLAY WORKSHOP: THE WORLD IS NOT SILENT, written by Don Nguyen
Directed by Marya Mazor
Residency: July 5 - 17th
Presentations 1-3: July 15-17th
BLURB: Don, an Astro photographer, returns home to reconnect with his estranged Vietnamese father only to discover that the communication gap between them has grown even wider in the wake of his father's recent deafness. Hoping that sign language will provide a bridge to overcome that distance, Don begins taking lessons. But the closer he gets to being able to communicate with his father, the further he seems to get from actually understanding the man, leaving Don to realize that mastering a language means very little if you're not willing to speak from the heart. Performed in English, Vietnamese and Sign Language, The World is Not Silent is a multilingual play that explores how language simultaneously divides and unites us.
CHARACTERS:
DAU - A Vietnamese man in his 70s; speaks fluent Vietnamese and Vietnamese Sign Language.
DON - Dau's son, a Vietnamese man in his 40s.
LINH - A young Vietnamese woman in her 30s; speaks fluent Vietnamese and Vietnamese Sign Language.
PLAY WORKSHOP: SWEET CHARIOT, written by Eric Lockley
Directed by Shariffa Ali
Developed with The Movement Theatre Company
Residency: July 12 - 24th
Presentations 1-3: July 22nd-24th
BLURB When the prospect of a far off place called Home seems more appealing than the terrors of Earth, Marcus, a down and out teacher, launches himself on a journey across planets and centuries. Marcus risks everything, and a dysfunctional space crew will stop at nothing to discover Home. But as they encounter mysterious alien figures, Afro-Bots, and a very uncertain future, Home may not be all that they expected. Sweet Chariot is an Afrofuturistic exploration of the sorted line between escape and resilience, posing the question: is true liberation only possible for Black people beyond Earth?
CHARACTERS:
MARCUS - empath, a dreamer, community-driven, feeling hopeless, but determined to find some hope in the unknown (Cast).
SOLEIL / BRIA - curious, measured, holds a quiet rage, constantly seeking answers (Cast).
SINCERIA / MA / ORACLE - deeply caring, intentional, nurturing, values connection - both interpersonal and spiritual (Cast).
AFROBOT / NEWONE - loyal, truth-teller, her settings include, Bougie Broad and Keepin it 100 (Cast).
TYSON / POTNAH - headstrong leader, always believes he knows what’s best, secretive, doesn’t make mistakes.
Pi / DEANDRE / BLACK MATTER - helpful, playful, enjoys attention, desires to make a difference.
PLAY WORKSHOP: TELL THEM I’M STILL YOUNG, by Julia Doolittle
Directed by May Adrales
Residency: July 12 - 31
Presentations 1-4: July 28th-30th
BLURB: Allen and Kay are approaching sixty-five when their only daughter is killed in a car crash. Now parents without children, the two struggle to renegotiate their identities and their marriage, as the entrance of two young people revives a painful longing for what’s been lost: their family and their futures.
CHARACTERS:
KAY - (62, Female, any race) – Allen’s wife, Nikki’s mother. A poet who hasn’t been able to write for a few years. She’s funny, witty and outspoken; a free spirit, probably former Bohemian. Dresses comfortably but curated. Her vanity remains intact. Warm with a dark undercurrent. (Cast).
SETH - (25, Male, any race): A bartender/musician who lives in Brooklyn. Handsome in a folk musician or beach-guitarist way. Laid-back, sweet, has a good heart and an apparent vulnerability.
ALLEN - (63, Male, any race) – Kay’s husband, Nikki’s father. A professor of martial history in the graduate program at UPENN. One might think Allen is a stern, unfeeling kind of man at first glance. But he’s mostly soft-spoken, shy, a nerdy young-man all grown up. His intelligence and education gives him confidence, and he’s at least articulate and fast-talking enough to keep up with his wife. (Cast).
TAYLOR (25, Female, any race) – Allen’s student at UPENN. Taylor is pursuing her Masters and eventual PhD in History. Smart, brave, and a little scattered. Taylor’s wardrobe hasn’t outgrown undergrad quite yet.
MUSICAL WORKSHOP: THE RETURN OF YOUNG BOY
Book by Keenan Scott II
Music & Lyrics by Tre Matthews and Keenan Scott II
Directed by Steve H. Broadnax III
Residency: July 12 - 24
Presentations 1-3: July 23rd-24th
BLURB: After a five-year trek to become the next Supreme Ruler upon the death of his grandfather, Prophet, Young Boy finds himself in an unfamiliar home as he’s soon reunited with his best friend and first love only to find out that his grandfather wasn’t the man he once thought him to be.
CHARACTERS:
OG, 60s, Black. Was raised by Griots and holds the knowledge of his tribe. Holder of all stories and history of their community. He is an orator with a high sense of regalness and strength.
YOUNG BOY, 23, Black. Grandson of slain Griot of Amberleaf tribe, Prophet. Not as confident as he portrays. Insecure about him following his grandfather as the next griot of the tribe. He is madly in love with Baby Girl.
BIG MOMMA, 60s, Black. Matriarch of the family. Full figured and old school in demeanor with a soft spot for her grandson Young Boy. Widow of Prophet.
BABY GIRL, Early 20s, Black. Driven and clear on what she wants. Intelligent, sweet and kind. Always willing to help her friends. Once childhood sweetheart of Young Boy.
MAN MAN, Mid 20s, Black or Hispanic. Once best friend now enemy of Young Boy. He is brass and rude. His negative attitude is rooted in him feeling his family was wronged by Young Boy’s.
SHORTIE, Early 20s, Black. Brilliant, openly gay, conspiracy theorist, and kindhearted jokester. Best Friend of Young Boy, she is like his little sister. She is always down to have an adventure and fun.
MONEY BAG$, 30-40s, Black or Hispanic. He always remains posed. He is filled with sacred knowledge. He is what they call “The Second,” which is the second in command to the Griot. He held this position under Prophet and now it’s his job to make sure the next Griot takes the proper rites of passage.
SOLIDER, 40s, Black. Once a praised warrior in his tribe, but after the death of his wife he fell victim to alcohol abuse which cause him to be homeless. Now known as the neighborhood guy, Solider speaks to whoever will listen.
MUSICAL WORKSHOP: THE POTLUCK, by César Alvarez
Directed by Sarah Benson
Residency: July 19 - 31
Presentations 1-3: July 29th-31st
BLURB: On November 3, 1979 five communist labor organizers were murdered in broad daylight in the streets of Greensboro, NC by a group of KKK and Nazis. All five of the victims had committed their lives to fighting the rule of the capitalist class. The murders had been planned and supported by paid informants of the Greensboro Police and agencies within the U.S. government. One year later in Greensboro, César James Alvarez was born into the survivor community and named after two of the victims, César Cauce and James Waller. 36 years after that an “entertainment” company paid César to write a musical about the Greensboro Massacre, but it turned into a seance full of ghosts and queerness and feelings and some stuff about how to recuperate from trauma that happened to you before you were born, and also capitalism.
CHARACTERS:
CÉSAR - (late 30s) Latinx, nonbinary, queer, dad, composer, playwright, maybe a little southern.
MOSS - (early 20s) Trans, nonbinary or gender nonconforming, college student, theater maker, confident, intelligent, a little goofy.
The 5: All of the 5 are dressed in 1979 activist/factory worker garb. Campaign tee-shirts, bell bottoms, boots. They all have glasses.
JIM - (37) Tall Jewish man, with coal black hair and beard. Very charming, funny. Intermittently confident and self-deprecating. A doctor.
MIKE - (32) Tall bookish man, John Lennon glasses, thinning hair, long brown beard and gentle demeanor. Low, monotone voice. A doctor. (Cast).
CESAR - (25) Cuban man with a dense afro, slightly heavy set, goofy and a little rumpled. Ridiculously intelligent. Maybe a wispy Che Guevara beard.
BILL - (31) Tall blond man, beard, earnest, thoughtful. A musician.(Cast) .
SANDI - (28) Black female revolutionary, stylish, charismatic, preternaturally self-confident. (Cast).
JAIME - A tranquil and wise YouTube yoga teacher.
MOM – (Older white woman) César's mom.
DAD – (Older Cuban Man) César's dad.
MUSICAL WORKSHOP: SUN SONGS
Music and Lyrics by Katie Madison
Book by Deborah Cowell
Residency: July 26 - August 7
Presentations 1-3: August 5th-7th
BLURB: Revolve…evolve…to solve the question. Depart and start to chart a new answer. Only for you, the answer isn’t just what you do, the answer is who you are! So who are we? SUN SONGS is an existential musical from the universe reminding us that we are all, ultimately, stardust. Seamlessly bringing musicians into the narrative, SUN SONGS by Deborah Cowell (book) and Katie Madison (music & lyrics) is an ensemble piece that follows two entities of light trying to find their place in time. Guided by their ancestors and a “narrator” of sorts, their relationship to the natural world inspires memories they thought they had lost. From the past through the present, inspiring endless possibilities of the future, we re[turn] to learn who we are is never far from who we were and who we’ll be. You, like me…see.
CHARACTERS:
i – SABEDORIA: wisdom (Cast).
ii - SONALI: beautiful color, sun.
iii - YATASA’AL: wonder (Cast).
ENSEMBLE 1 - piano/vocal (Cast).
ENSEMBLE 2 - guitar/percussion/vocal.
ENSEMBLE 3 - upright bass/vocal.
ENSEMBLE 4 - cello/vocal.
BIOS:
Don Nguyen (Pronouns) was born in Vietnam, grew up in Nebraska and currently lives in NYC. Full-length plays include THE SUPREME LEADER (Dallas Theater Center), HELLO, FROM THE CHILDREN OF PLANET EARTH (The Playwrights Realm), RED FLAMBOYANT (Firebone Theatre), SOUND (Azeotrope/ACT), THE COMMENCEMENT OF WILLIAM TAN (Yale Cabaret), THE MAN FROM SAIGON (A.C.T New Strands Festival), and THE WORLD IS NOT SILENT. Recipient of the 2015 GAP Prize from the Aurora Theatre and a NYSAF Founder’s award. Finalist for The O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, The Princess Grace Award, and The Woodward International Playwriting Prize. Nominations include: the Laurents/Hatcher award and the L. Arnold Weissberger Award. Don was a member of the Ma-Yi Writers Lab, the Public Theater’s inaugural Emerging Writers Group, The Civilians inaugural R&D Group, and a frequent volunteer at the 52nd Street Project. For more information, please visit: thenuge.com Marya Mazor (She/Her) is an award winning and critically acclaimed director based in Los Angeles. Marya’s February 2020 production of Fun Home won the Los Angeles Ovation Award for Best Production of a Musical. Her numerous stage productions have received multiple LA Times Critic's Pick designations, Ovation Award Nominations, and Stage Raw Award Nominations. She has directed for The Geffen Playhouse, South Coast Repertory, Berkeley Repertory Theater, The Long Wharf Theater, and many other venues in New York, Los Angeles and regionally. Marya was a National Endowment for the Arts TCG Fellow and an AFI DWW fellow. She directed the digital series, Sophie in Hollywood, now airing on Asian American Movies. Her AFI Directing Workshop for Women short film The Winged Man was lauded at festivals worldwide including ComiCon. She directed the Broadway scale Disney’s Aladdin for Disney Cruise Lines. Marya was co-founding Artistic Director of Voice & Vision theater in NYC, developing the voices of women and girls. She holds an MFA in Directing from the Yale School of Drama and has taught at Chapman University, the University of Southern California, Fordham University, Saddleback College, and others. www.maryamazor.com
Eric Lockley (He/Him) is an OBIE award-winning actor, writer, comedian, filmmaker, producer and podcast host. Stage: #DateMe, Choir Boy, How We Got On Screen: First Reformed, Luke Cage, The Inheritance Eric’s comedic web series Blacker is featured on “Best Web Series” lists and his short film, The Jump is available on Amazon. Eric’s plays including Blacken the Bubble and Without Trace and his solo shows, Last Laugh and Asking For More have been on stages in Chicago, DC, Texas and New York. Lockley was Head Writer for the inaugural awards ceremony, The Antonyos, celebrating Black Theater in 2020. His inspirational podcast, The 180, features guests of many industries discussing a moment when they turned their lives around, and is available on all streaming platforms. Lockley is also a founder of and produces with Harlem-based orgs, The Movement Theatre Company & Harlem9 creating opportunities for artists of color. EnGarde Arts commissioned Eric to create a walking tour that will mix fact and fiction to create a unique experience of Downtown Manhattan. The tour premieres in June 2022. To stay connected with Eric find him at @iamericlockley and www.iamericlockley.com
Julia Doolittle (She/Her) is a playwright and screenwriter raised in Los Angeles. Her plays include The Absentee (Know Theatre, Semi-finalist Relentless) , Tell Them I’m Still Young (NYSF, American Theatre Group starring Andre Braugher and Michele Pawk), and Love and Contracts (Writers Theatre, South Coast Rep dir Moritz Von Steulpnagel). Her work has also been seen at Victory Gardens Theatre, Portland Stage, Williamstown Theatre Festival, the Sam French Off-Off Broadway Festival, Rattlestick Playwright's Theatre, The Tank, Tiny Rhino, Urban Stages, and Rogue Machine Theatre. She's a proud recipient of the Elizabeth George Commission from South Coast Rep, a finalist for the Neukom Award, a semi-finalist for the O'Neill Summer Conference, and a finalist for the Heidemann Award at the Humana Festival. She is a member of the Obie-Award winning playwrights' group, Youngblood. http://www.juliadoesalot.com/ [juliadoesalot.com] May Adrales (She/Her) is a director, artistic leader, teacher and mother; she has directed over 25 world premieres nationally, most recently at Second Stage (Rajiv Joseph’s “Letters of Suresh”) and MTC (Qui Nguyen’s “Vietgone”). Awards include: Ammerman Award at Arena Stage; TCG’s Alan Schneider award for freelance directors; Denham fellowship; New Generations Grantee. Fellowships: Drama League Directing, Van Lier, WP Lab Director, SoHo Rep Writers/Directors Lab, and New York Theater Workshop directing. She served in artist leadership positions at Milwaukee Rep; The Playwrights Center; The Public Theater; and The Lark. She is currently the Director of the Theatre Program at Fordham University. MFA, Yale School of Drama. (www.mayadrales.net
Keenan Scott II (he/him) is a playwright, poet, actor, director, and producer of original work from Queens, New York. His work has been workshopped and produced at notable theaters such as National Black Theater, New York Theater Workshop, Arena Stage and Woolly Mammoth. His critically acclaimed piece ‘Thoughts of a Colored Man’ world premiered at Syracuse Stage for their 2019-2020 season and transferred to Baltimore Center Stage to finish its regional run, before settling at the Golden Theater during the 2021-2022 Broadway Season, where he made his writing and unconventional acting debut. Scott was chosen to be a part of the 2021 TED Fellow cohort to be among a global community of artists, inventors and scientists. His latest work The Migration LP and new original musical The Return of Young Boy is currently being developed at New York Stage & Film, while his other stage plays are in various stages of development. He is a part of the creative team of the miniseries A Luv Tale by Sidra Smith, now on BET+. He is also developing an array of projects for television and film, currently developing a pilot with UCP of NBCUniversal and adapting a novel by JJ Bola called The Selfless Act of Breathing with BRON Studios.
For Tre Matthews (he/him), art serves as a vehicle through which he uses to stimulate people’s feelings through a cohesive blend of thought-provoking lyrics, topics and visuals that tug on the heart strings of the human heart. Michigan native, Tre Matthews is a creative swiss-army knife as it relates to the world of audio-visual production. A seasoned multimedia visionary, Tre manifests his artistry to audiences as a hip-hop artist, songwriter, music producer, audio engineer and video director and editor. After graduating from American University in 2009, Tre began working at a local recording studio where he wrote and produced songs for some of Washington DC’s top unsigned artists as well as filmed and edited television and video productions for national campaigns for the US State Department, BET, Voice of America and other DC based companies. With an eclectic appreciation that spans the vast spectrum of artistic expression and innovation, Tre founded “Be.Leave.”, an inter-media brand focused on delivering the highest quality content in music, film, fashion, tech and musical theater. His current work, a musical entitled: The Return of Young Boy, a collaborative effort with Broadway Playwright Keenan Scott II is currently being developed at New York Stage and Film. Steve H. Broadnax III THOUGHTS OF A COLORED MAN (Broadway) Katori Hall’s 2021 Pulitzer Prize Première THE HOT WING KING at The Signature Theatre, Lee Edward Colston’s THE FIRST DEEP BREATH at Chicago’s Victory Garden Theatre (Premiere and Winner of Jeff Awards Best New Work) Dominique Morisseau’s BLOOD AT THE ROOT at the National Black Theatre (Winner of Kennedy Center's Hip Hop Theater Creator Award) and William Jackson Harper’s Premiere TRAVISVILLE at NYC Ensemble Studio. Ensemble Studio Theatre member and serves as the Associate Artistic Director at People’s Light Theatre and a Professor of Theatre at Penn State University; Co-Head of MFA Directing.
César Alvarez (they/them) is a composer, lyricist, playwright, and performance maker. They create large experimental musicals as non-normative possibility spaces for embodiment, inter-dimensionality, socio-political transformation, kinship and coexistence. With a background as a jazz saxophonist, band leader and sound artist, César's work inhabits a space between the worlds of theater, music, performance art and social practice. César has written five full-length musicals, FUTURITY (2016 Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical); The Elementary Spacetime Show; The Universe is a Small Hat; NOISE (a commission of The Public Theater); and The Potluck. César also composed the music for Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' An Octoroon (Soho Rep, TFANA. Drama Desk Nomination), and The Foundry Theater's Good Person of Szechwan (LaMaMa, The Public Theater. Drama Desk Nomination). In 2015 César co-founded Polyphone, a festival of new and emerging musicals at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and served as Artistic Director for five seasons. César was a 2018-20 Princeton Arts Fellow, 2020-22 Hermitage Fellow, a recipient of The Jonathan Larson Award in 2016, the Kleban Prize for lyrics in 2022 and is currently under commission at Playwright's Horizons and Denver Theater Center. César is an Assistant Professor of Music at Dartmouth College. Sarah Benson (She/Her) is a theater director based in New York City and one of the three Directors of Soho Rep. Recent credits include: Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Fairview (Soho Rep, TFANA, Berkeley Rep, play awarded Pulitzer Prize for Drama); Suzan-Lori Parks’ In The Blood (Signature Theater) for Soho Rep: Richard Maxwell’s Samara with music by Steve Earle; César Alvarez and The Lisps’ Futurity (ART, Walker Arts Center and in New York with Ars Nova, Lucille Lortel Outstanding Musical, Callaway Award for Direction); Branden Jacobs-Jenkins An Octoroon (Soho Rep, TFANA; OBIE Best Play); Lucas Hnath’s A Public Reading of an Unproduced Screenplay About the Death of Walt Disney; Sarah Kane’s Blasted (OBIE award for direction, Drama Desk nomination); and David Adjmi’s Elective Affinities with Zoe Caldwell (site-specific). She is a Vilcek Foundation awardee and moved to New York from London on a Fulbright. She also directed the award-winning 2019 Skittles Superbowl commercial Skittles Commercial: The Broadway Musical (Town Hall).
Katie Madison (She/Her) is a composer, writer, director, producer, and vocalist based in the Canarsie and Munsee Lenape land known as Brooklyn. She is a 2021 Jonathan Larson Award finalist, and was recently seen in conversation with New York Times best selling author Ibi Zoboi debuting a digital commission she produced with Kweli Journal. Katie is part of the inaugural cohort of the Hi-ARTS Artspace Exchange Program in collaboration with the Cowles Center for Dance and the Performing Arts. She is a 2021 New York Stage and Film Founders Award finalist, and was one of three featured emerging artists in the 2021 Crossroads Theatre Genesis Festival. In August of 2021, Katie used her New York City Artist Corps Grant to produce, direct and perform in a concert of her work at the historic Weeksville Heritage Center. She was chosen by The Downtown Alliance in collaboration with En Garde Arts and The Tank to re-open New York City in their first live performance post pandemic. Katie was a Critical Breaks Resident with Hi-Arts in April 2021 developing her show SUN SONGS. Her show [taking ] space was a 2019 Sundance Theatre Lab finalist. Find her original digital work on www.kvmadison.com. Deborah Cowell (She/Her) is an editor, writer, and digital artist. Working primarily with black and white photography, video, and film, Deborah has had recent work commissioned by Kweli Journal (March 2022), the University of Michigan School of Musical Theater and Dance (November 2020), Hi-Arts (May 2021), The American Opera Project (June 2021). Her work has been featured by The Weeksville Heritage Center (August 2021), Judson Memorial Church (June 2020), The Downtown Alliance in collaboration with En Garde Arts and The Tank. She is currently building a portfolio of black and white candid portraits and still life in and around local Black, Queer musical theater artists developing new works and New York City at large. Debbie has documented the development of shows such as BYE BYE SELF-LOVE HELLO POP-TARTS by Daniel James Belnavis, SPIRIT IN THE VINE (words by Jay St. Flono & music by James Dargan, HOMEGOING (music by Jarrett Murray, book & lyrics by Katie Madison), [ taking ] space (book, music & lyrics by Katie Madison), SUN SONGS (music & lyrics by Katie Madison) and other untitled works in development. Deborah Cowell is a product of the public school system, first grade through graduate school
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 submit.
Videos
