New Plays for Young Audiences is holding auditions for its June 2023 series! - New Plays for Young Audiences (NYU Steinhardt)

New Plays for Young Audiences is holding online auditions for our June 2023 series April 1-15 (although the form is open now for those who want to submit materials early)! The series (rehearsals and rehearsed readings) take place in the historic Provincetown Playhouse in the heart of Greenwich Village just a half block from Washington Square Park (133 MacDougal Street).



Auditions will be held on a rolling basis online between April 1-15. Actors will be asked to provide a link to a 1-3 minute recorded monologue, headshot, and resume. Actors submit their materials here: https://forms.gle/Av32ADhRSoxdu1Du8. Actors will receive a modest $250 stipend for their participation (per script they are cast in). Actors may audition for one, two, or all three scripts. We are historically a non-Equity program, but Equity actors may be able to request a waiver through AEA to participate. We are casting approximately 20 actors including one script with a diversity of characters including Mexican American, Filipino American, and multi-racial (week 1, ZEQ); one with primarily Indigenous (Native American) characters (week 2, The Witch of Boggy Depot); and one with all Filipino characters (week 3, The Dream Pillow).



Please note that actors will need to follow NYU’s COVID-19 guidelines to participate. See the NYU website for more information: https://www.nyu.edu/life/safety-health-wellness/coronavirus-information/covid-related-guidance.html.



Each week of the series is devoted to a different script. The first week runs 6/4-6/11 (ZEQ by Ramon Esquivel, directed by Rudy Ramirez) and needs 6 actors including one comfortable playing guitar. The second week is 6/11-6/18 (The Witch of Boggy Depot by Alan Kilpatrick, directed by Jake Hart) and needs 8 actors. Week three runs 6/18-6/25 (The Dream Pillow by Amanda L. Andrei, directed by Gaven D. Trinidad) and needs 6 actors.



Rehearsals during the week of development are 5:30-10 p.m., generally Sunday through Friday and on Saturday between 12-10pm. Each week culminates in one or two rehearsed readings, which are most likely on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday at 3 p.m. There will be no rehearsal on Juneteenth.



Week 1 (6/4-6/11): ZEQ, a play with music, by Ramon Esquivel, is an unequivocal love story about and for queer youth. Ezequiel “ZEQ” Zapata is annoyed to be spending their 17th birthday working at The Pop, a burger joint in a rural town. Coworkers Lolo, JC, and bestie Panchita try to cheer up ZEQ, but The Pop is slammed. Then a bus carrying a school choir pulls up, and ZEQ spots dreamy Danilo for the first time. Time moves slowly. Music plays. Fingers touch in a bag of tater tots. Electricity. ZEQ and Danilo share dreams of pop stardom. Danilo writes songs, so he and ZEQ exchange TikToks and make plans to duet later. ZEQ is certain that fame, fortune, and love are within reach. But there is one problem: ZEQ doesn’t sing or dance well. Like, at all. What happens when dreams meet reality? How do we navigate romance when we’re still figuring out friendship? Rudy Ramirez directs. (Characters: ZEQ [Age 17. (they/them), Mexican-American], Panchita [Age 18. (she/her); Mexican-American], Danilo [Age 17. Filipino-American], JC [Age 19 (he/him); Multiracial], Lolo [Grown (she/them); Multiracial], Stage Directions)



Week 2 (6/11-6/18): The Witch of Boggy Depot by Alan Kilpatrick. In this comic fantasy, a Choctaw elder, recounts a hair-raising event from her childhood in turn of century Oklahoma. It seems that LOIS “RAINY” ISHCOMER, when she was nine years old, heroically saved her sister from the machinations of a mysterious witch who was threatening the inhabitants of Boggy Depot. With the help of DR. QUACK, a medicine show barker, the little girl was able to discover the evil doer in their community then devise a plan to destroy this supernatural menace. Jake Hart directs. (Characters with doubling: LOIS “RAINY” ISHCOMER, a Choctaw elder, who serves as narrator, RUTH, Rainy’s Mother, 40s, and HATTIE PRITCHETT, Rainy’s aunt; RAINY ISHCOMER, 9 yrs. of age and MARY PARKS, a budding writer, 20s, part-Choctaw; TAMMY ISHCOMER, RAINY’S sister, 10 yrs old, RACHEL HAWKINS, a mysterious woman who doesn’t seem to age, and MRS. THORNBERRY, Director of the Rose Hill Academy; REV. SAM SAMUELS, 40s and the voice of ALBERT, A LITTLE PERSON; DELBERT R. QUACK, 40s, A Choctaw medicine show barker; Stage Directions)



Week 3: The Dream Pillow by Amanda L. Andrei; On her fourth birthday, Palmie receives a dream pillow from her mother and uses it to go on an adventure to meet her Filipina grandmother in dreamland. Gaven D. Trinidad directs. (Characters: Palmie, Four years old, female, Filipina American; Lola Birdie, 60-80 years old, female, Filipina; Mommy, Late 20s to mid-30s, female, Filipina American; Birdie, Four years old, female, the younger version of Lola Birdie, Filipina; Lola Ilaw, Late 20s to mid-30s, female, Filipina; Stage Directions)
Salary: 250.00