The Coast Starlight by Keith Bunin
Director: James Koonce
Location: First Parish Church
842 Tremont Street, Duxbury MA, 02331
Audition Dates:
Sunday, October 13, 3pm to 5pm
Monday, October 14, 7pm to 9 pm
Performance Dates: January 31 + February 1, 2, 7, 8
About the play:
The Coast Starlight is a beautifully woven dramedy of missed connection and self-discovery, exploring the lives of characters navigating their pasts and their imagined futures on an overnight train journey from Los Angeles to Seattle. With rich themes of longing and the search for meaning, the play invites audiences to reflect on the fractured nature of relationships in our modern world.
Roles are listed with gender as scripted, but we welcome all actors to read.
TJ: Male, 20s. A U.S. Navy medic who’s considering going AWOL to avoid a second tour in Afghanistan. He’s hiding out on the train (thanks to a stolen credit card) looking for answers, but he’s not sure if he’ll find them.
JANE: Female, 20s. An introverted animator on her way to Seattle to see her longtime — and long-distance — boyfriend. She knows they’re going to break up, but she can’t bring herself to admit it. She sketches the other characters and is very observant, though perhaps less so about herself.
NOAH: Male, 30s/40s. A former soldier who’s conflicted about his military past. He has no patience for TJ’s plight, but he knows firsthand the volatile scope of emotions that soldiers face as they follow orders they may not believe in. On his way to see his aging mother in Oregon, as he frequently does.
LIZ: Female, 30s/40s. Impulsively boards the train to get away from her husband, who humiliated her at a couples retreat by admitting in a group session that he’s cheating on her. By day she’s a confident fitness and lifestyle coach, and she’s not about to take this turn of events lying down. She provides a great deal of humor as she recounts her story and her character is revealed.
ED: Male, 40s/50s. A traveling businessman and almost certain alcoholic, it’s only his constant motion that keeps him together. Also a regular on The Coast Starlight, he fills his days with the minutia of his mundane job in a failing effort to distract himself from the realities of his life: he’s divorced, unable to see his kids, angry and alone. The victim of his own bad choices, he doesn’t know how to get back on track.
ANNA: Female, 40s. She’s headed home to her wife and children after identifying her deceased, drug-addicted brother for the police in San Francisco. Her unconditional mom energy is a beacon for TJ, and even though she has considerable issues of her own to process and grieve, she can’t help but see him for the fragile, wounded creature that he is and take him under her wing.
Auditions will consist of readings from the script. Please bring a headshot and resume if you have them.
We can’t wait to see your talent!
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