DON'T LOOK AWAY - No Dream Deferred Non Equity Auditions

Audition Now for

Don't Look Away

An Audio Performance Written by Lydia Y. Nichols
Directed by James Ijames

Production Schedule

Rehearsals*

Workshop: December 15th - 22nd

Recording Dates: January 27th (music), 28th, 29th, 30th

Production

Premiere Date: April 1st, 2022

Run Dates: April 1st - April 22nd

Character Descriptions &
Audition Application Links

SILESS LAMOTTE

Black woman, late 20s, from the Acres (Reparative Gulf Nation) and living in Shreveport (United States); Ph.D. student

Audition for Siless Here

ARISHA PIROT

Black woman, mid-20s, from Jackson, Mississippi (United States) and living in the Acres as Gulf correspondent to Turtle Island Public Radio (renamed from National Public Radio as an act of “land recognition”)

Audition for Arisha Here

JOSINE LAMOTTE aka JO

Black woman, mid-30s, from the Acres, cousin of SILESS

Audition for Jo Here

MAMI

Black woman, late 60s, poster child of Gulf patriotism and the owner and operator of Chavis-LaMotte Mortuary and Birthing Center

Audition for Mami Here

HAKI

Black person, late 20s, owner of Shorty’s Tech Repair, Siless’ high school sweetheart

Audition for Haki Here

SHELL

Black woman, late 60s, funder of JO and JAKE’s plan to take down the Line; producer of the annual Stripper Bowl and runs a nightcare center for the children of the sex workers in her employ

No Audition link for Shell

PAY RATE
Each actor will receive $300 for the week of the workshop,
and $300 for the week of recording. Contracts for the production of the audio play will include an additional pay structure for actors.

Play Description

2082, the Angola Climate Change Refugee Settlement (bka the Acres). It's the 50th anniversary of the Reparations Proclamation, and for the first time since she left for college in the north, Siless Jones-LaMotte has come home to the ever-narrowing strip of Gulf Coast land that the US government ceded to a coalition of Black-led nonprofits as belated payment for the stolen labor of 40 million citizens' enslaved ancestors, prepared - sort of - to declare her independence to her grandmother: Siless won't be moving back to run the Jones-LaMotte Mortuary and Birthing Center. But her news is eclipsed by her sister Jo's insurgent plot that threatens not only the family business but the very ground upon which it was built. Don't Look Away follows a family navigating the sustenance of legacy on disappearing land: What happens when they all agree that The Story must be told but not on what the story is or how to tell it?

COVID-19 Protocol: This production is virtual and will adhere to all local and CDC COVID-19 regulations and protocols.

Sides and audition instructions are included in the Audition links beneath each character description.

No Dream Deferred is a New Orleans based theatre production company, launching its inaugural theatre season in the Fall of 2019. We prioritize cultural relevance for our community audience as well as theatrical works written by playwrights that have been historically marginalized.

We recognize the systemic nature of cultural marginalization in the arts and therefore, we fight to create and to create as often as we please so that our stories are told and our dreams are never deferred. No Dream Deferred strives to be an artistic home to theatre-makers of color in New Orleans, a place where our stories are authentically realized and wonderfully experienced.