Artists’ Theater of Boston is hosting an open audition for our 19/20 Season: Gender & Power

Season Auditions will take place on Sunday September 8th, at a location near South Station to be given upon audition confirmation.

Auditions will take place between 2pm-8pm. To request an audition slot, email info@artiststheater.org with your preferred time frame as well as your headshot and resume. If you cannot attend our 9/8 audition but wish to be seen for our season, please email us regardless so that we can possibly book another time with you.

Please prepare a 1-2 minute contemporary monologue, and possibly be prepared to read sides as well.

ATB recognizes that the themes our season is centered around hold complex and deeply personal meanings to everyone. We strive to support all folks involved in our work as they navigate potentially difficult materials and conversations they are part of, from the audition process onward. If any material you encounter during any component of working with us, including the audition process, brings up anything for you that you’d like support around, please let us know and we will direct you to trusted resources we are connected to.

Artists’ Theater of Boston is committed to producing thoughtful, evocative works that challenge systemic injustices facing our communities through the collaborative process of making theater.
ATB is committed to inclusive and equitable casting.

Productions & Readings will include an actor stipend.

Descriptions & Casting Breakdowns

She Eats Apples
By Stephanie K Brownell

She Eats Apples is a nonlinear exploration of rape culture as seen through the eyes of four teenagers embroiled in the complexities of growing up. When sixteen-year-old Ashley realizes her first time was significantly less than perfect, Ashely is forced to navigate through the realization that sometimes the people you love and trust don’t view betrayal the same way you do. What does it mean to identify as a survivor when you are a teenager, and what are the risks if you don’t? Reality and fantasy intertwine as Ashley finds the breadcrumbs of her experience in biology lessons, hopscotch rhymes, fairytales and art history. The play asks: How can we imagine a culture of consent and healthy relationships when we are embroiled in the complex web of rape culture, when we are taught through media, casual conversation, and uncritiqued views of history that what doesn’t feel right inside our own bodies, is just normal?

She Eats Apples is the winner of the National Partners of the American Theatre Playwriting Excellence Award and runner-up for WomenWorks 2015. The play has been developed around the country including significant development through educational institutions such as Boston University MA, Queensboro College NY, Carthage College WI, Breaking Barriers at Strath Haven High School PA.

Casting Breakdown:

ASHLEY: 16, f, any ethnicity. An A student, book smart and kind of a good girl, but being good means filling certain roles.

LILY: 16, f, any ethnicity. The best friend, the self-styled “slutty friend,” perky, flirty, the evolution of Emily Post.

BEN: 16, m, any ethnicity. The boyfriend, a dreamboat who thinks he’s a sidekick.

SHE: 16, f, any ethnicity. The outcast, the group-styled slut, Jeanne d’Arc suffragette, victim of the rumor mill… if not more.

GIRL 1: f, any ethnicity. Plays Sarah, 8; Mason, 16, the bro; Teacher, 37; a Witch; a Psychiatrist.

GIRL 2: f, any ethnicity. Plays Becky, 8; Trevor, 16, the sports star; a Witch, a Police Officer.

Policarpa
By Diana Burbano

In the near future, an inexplicable plague infests La Gran Colombia. Ingrid Bolivar–the brilliant, mad ex-wife of Colombia’s leader–is the only one who knows that the plague is carried by young women of the streets, whom she adopts and uses as weapons against the government. Policarpa, a girl with magical gifts, is supposed to be Ingrid’s secret apocalyptic weapon. But when Policarpa falls in love with a top government official, she resists becoming an instrument of destruction and instead seeks to become a savior through sacrifice. Rooted in traditional Latin American magical realism, the nightmare magic science fiction world of Policarpa exists in a neither here-or-there.

Policarpa has been developed by The Drama League’s Rough Draft series, Theatricum Botanicum Seedlings, Oregon Shakespeare Festival Black Swan Lab Latinx Play Project, and Milagro Theatre’s Ingenio play reading series. It received an Honorable Mention for the Jane Chambers Playwriting Award and was a finalist for the Bay Area Playwrights Festival.

Casting Breakdown:

Policarpa: f, 19, Colombian, Indigenous. Dark hair and skin. She is la Salvadora.
Can be played by: Indigenous, First Nation, or Native American, Latinx/o/a or Hispanic.

Bibiano: m, 19, Colombian, Indigenous. Policarpa’s twin brother.
Can be played by: Indigenous, First Nation, or Native American, Latinx/o/a or Hispanic.

Ingrid: f, 40s-60s, Colombian, White Latinx. The queen of the barrios. Runs a high end sewing shop as a front for her revolutionary actions. She is dark and dangerous.
Can be played by: Latinx/o/a or Hispanic

Valentia: f, any age adult, Afro-Latinx, Colombian. An army general, Joan of Arc. Tough. Has prosthetic legs. She’s not young or old.
Can be played by: Black, African, Caribbean, or African American, Latinx/o/a or Hispanic

Paciencia: f, 30s, Colombian, Latinx/a or Hispanic. A brilliant woman. A computer geek. An inventor. Looks much younger than she really is.

Realidad: f, 18, Colombian, Latinx/a or Hispanic. Paciencia’s daughter. Stunning, ripe. A killer.

Laurelia: f, 30s-60s, Colombian, Latinx/a or Hispanic. A pacifist nun. Older woman.

Soldado: m, 20s, Colombian, Latinx/o or Hispanic. A series of young boys.

Viejo: nb, 60s+, Colombian, Latinx/o/a or Hispanic. A very, very elderly person, prototype “General Sandua”

A project to be announced soon:

L: 30s, trans man, any ethnicity. He comes from Tennessee and works the night shift as a mechanic for the MTA. He is handsome and slightly gruff.

B: early 20s, non-binary trans masculine, person of color. They have a very academic look and speech. Nerdy, stylish, cute, confident, and bubbly.

C: 40s, trans woman, any ethnicity. She is calculated, self-assured, motherly, and has kind eyes. She works the front desk of a real estate agency.

J: late teens/early 20s, non-binary trans feminine, black. They are confident with a polished androgynous look. They are sweet, sharp, know who they are and have a give-no-fucks attitude. They work at Sephora and are a minor internet celebrity among queers.

Also searching for actors/ artists for two additional projects:

• Collaborators whose gendered experience intersects with masculinity, including but not limited to cisgender men, trans men, trans masculine individuals, trans women, trans feminine individuals, and nonbinary individuals, for The Masculinity Project, a DEVISED THEATRE PROJECT.
• Collaborators of all genders, ethnicities, abilities, and identities interested in working on The Uncomfortable Conversation, a VOLUNTEER COMMUNITY-BASED WEB SERIES aimed at normalizing conversations about consent, healthy & unhealthy relationships, and gendered power. This project is produced in collaboration with The Uncomfortable Conversation and One Love, and is a community action project. More details below at this link!