1776 Equity Principal Actors - Paper Mill Playhouse Auditions

REVISED

LOCATION

Change of holding room: Pearl Studios (500), 500 8th Ave, New York, NY 10018-6504.

AUDITION DATE

Friday, January 9, 2026
10:00 AM – 6:00 PM (E) — Holding room: Studio 412
Lunch: 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM

PERSONNEL

Producing Artistic Director: Mark S. Hoebee
Associate Artistic Director: Jen Bender
Associate Producer: Christopher Slavik
Music and Lyrics By: Sherman Edwards
Book By: Peter Stone
Director: Mark S. Hoebee
Choreographer / Musical Staging: TBD
Music Director: Jillian Zack
Casting Director: The TRC Company / Xavier Rubiano, CSA

CONTRACT

$1214 weekly minimum (Tier 4)

SEEKING

Equity actors for roles in 1776 (see breakdown). All roles will be understudied.

OTHER

EPA procedures are in effect for this audition. An Equity Monitor will be provided.

PREPARATION

Please prepare a brief cut of a traditional musical theater song in the style of the show that shows range. No pop/rock. Please bring a headshot and resume stapled together. An accompanist will be provided.

Paper Mill Playhouse is committed to anti-racism and anti-oppression practices in all areas, including casting. We acknowledge histories of systemic exclusionary practices and will continue to dismantle barriers to theatre making. Paper Mill Playhouse welcomes diversity and inclusion across the spectrum of race, gender, gender identity, gender expression, sexual orientation, religion, neurodiversity, and artists with disabilities. The audition process is open to all actors and stage managers. Always bring your Equity Membership card to auditions.

EXPECTED TO ATTEND

Mark S. Hoebee: Producing Artistic Director / Director
Jen Bender: Associate Artistic Director
Xavier Rubiano, CSA: Casting Director

OTHER DATES

Rehearsals begin: March 9, 2026
1st Performance: April 1, 2026
Opening Night: April 5, 2026
Closing: May 2, 2026

BREAKDOWN

JOHN ADAMS

Male. 40s. Delegate from Massachusetts. John is a dutiful husband. Opinionated, passionate, and a bit boisterous, he wears his age with pride. Starving for independence from England. Vocal range: C3–F#4.

STEPHEN HOPKINS

Male. 60+. Delegate from Rhode Island. Hopkins' drinking has led to an appearance befitting of the 2nd oldest in the Continental Congress. He has a dirty old man playfulness about him. Vocal range: C3–Eb4.

ROGER SHERMAN

Male. 50s. Delegate from Connecticut. A coffee drinker with a penchant for hyperactivity, Sherman is a simple and balding cobbler. Vocal range: C3–Bb4.

ROBERT LIVINGSTON

Male. 30s. Delegate from New York. Recently a father, Livingston's disposition has become one of humility and graciousness. He has changed considerably over the years. Vocal range: Bb2–F4.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN

Male. 60s. Delegate from Pennsylvania. Franklin is intelligent, well-traveled, and pleasantly cunning. A jolly and admirable fellow with whom one would desire to have a friendship. Vocal range: Ab2–Eb4.

JOHN DICKINSON

Male. 40s. Delegate from Pennsylvania. A thin, hawkish gentleman. He is sharp-tongued and a touch detestable. Vocal range: A2–E4.

COL. THOMAS MCKEAN

Male. 40s. Delegate from Delaware. McKean is florid and likable with a charming, yet commanding, Scottish brogue. Vocal range: C3–Eb4.

RICHARD HENRY LEE

Male. 40s. Delegate from Virginia. Lee is a willowy aristocrat. His flamboyancy is intoxicating and borderline infuriating. Vocal range: C3–G4.

THOMAS JEFFERSON

Male. 30s. Delegate from Virginia. Though noticeably tall, Jefferson is mild-mannered and sweet. Along with being a well-read man, he is very much in love with his wife. Vocal range: C3–G4.

EDWARD RUTLEDGE

Male. 30s. Delegate from South Carolina. Despite his good looks, Rutledge is haunting and somewhat ominous as the youngest member of the Continental Congress. There is a serpent-like quality to him. Vocal range: C3–A4.

ABIGAIL ADAMS

Female. 30s. Loving wife to John Adams. Intelligent, quick-witted, and talented with a pen, Abigail is a radiant and shapely beauty. Every bit as bright as her husband. Vocal range: Db4–F5.

MARTHA JEFFERSON

Female. 20s. Thomas Jefferson's very-much-in-love wife. Her looks are striking, her dancing delightful, and her humor appealing. She doesn't shy away from a good time. Joy radiates from her. Vocal range: Bb3–D5.

COURIER

Male. 20s. Any ethnicity. The message runner between General Washington's army and the Continental Congress. He has witnessed the hardships of war firsthand, although his innocent disposition and appearance may imply otherwise. Vocal range: C3–Db4.

JOHN HANCOCK

Male. 40s. President of the Congress, from MA. He was one of the wealthiest men in the Colonies. He began his political career in Boston as a protégé of Samuel Adams.

DR. JOSIAH BARTLETT

Male. 40s. Delegate from NH. Bartlett practiced medicine for over 40 years. During that time, he promoted wellness practices, including diet, exercise, fresh air, and a contented mind.

LEWIS MORRIS

Male. 30s. Delegate from NY. Morris was born at his politically connected family's estate, Morrisania, presently part of Bronx County.

REV. JOHN WITHERSPOON

Male. 50s. Delegate from NJ. A Scottish American Presbyterian minister, educator, farmer, and slaveholder, he embraced the concepts of Scottish common-sense realism. President of the College of New Jersey, he was influential in the development of the United States’ national character.

JAMES WILSON

Male. 30s. Delegate from PA. Born in Scotland, he was a legal scholar, jurist, and statesman. A leading legal theorist, he was one of the first four Associate Justices appointed to the Supreme Court by George Washington.

CAESAR RODNEY

Male. 40s–50s. Delegate from DE. He was an officer of the Delaware militia during the French and Indian War and the American Revolutionary War. He was tormented throughout his life by asthma, and his adult years were plagued by a facial cancer.

GEORGE READ

Male. 40s. Delegate from DE. Described as “tall...gracefully formed, with pleasing features and lustrous brown eyes. His manners were dignified.... He commanded entire confidence.” Also, “his legal abilities are said to be very great, but his powers of oratory are fatiguing and tiresome to the last degree; his voice is feeble and his articulation so bad that few can have patience to attend him.”

SAMUEL CHASE

Male. 30s. Delegate from MD. Nicknamed Old Bacon Face due to his proneness for a facial flush when angered or excited or due to his general ruddy complexion, or both.

JOSEPH HEWES

Male. 30s/40s. Delegate from NC. Born in Princeton to Quaker parents. A shipping merchant, appointed to the Naval Board and the Marine Committee, which laid the foundation for the US Navy.

DR. LYMAN HALL

Male. 40s. Delegate from GA. Born in CT, graduated from Yale; physician, clergyman, statesman.

CHARLES THOMSON

Male. 40s. Secretary of the Congress. Irish born, a Latin teacher and translator. As secretary, Thomson chose what to include in the official journals of the Continental Congress (which caused some criticism and disputes).

ANDREW MCNAIR

Male. 60s. Congressional custodian. Served as official ringer of the Liberty Bell from 1759 to 1776, and he likely rang it to announce independence on July 8.

LEATHER APRON / PAINTER

Male. 20s. A working man.

OFF-STAGE FEMALE UNDERSTUDY

Female. 30s. Will understudy the roles of Abigail Adams & Martha Jefferson.

OFF-STAGE MALE UNDERSTUDY

Male. 30s. Will likely understudy the roles of Dr. Josiah Bartlett, Lewis Morris, Col. Thomas McKean, George Read, Leather Apron/Painter.