ARENA STAGE 2026-27 SEASON "ACT 1" Equity Principal Actors - Arena Stage Auditions

ARENA STAGE 2026-27 SEASON ACT 1 - NYC EPA

Arena Stage | Washington, DC

Notice: Audition Call Type: EPA

AUDITION DATE

LOCATION

Monday, June 22, 2026
Pearl Studios (500)
500 8th Ave
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM (E)
New York, NY 10018-6504
Lunch 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM - Sign-ups will end early due to the Juneteenth Holiday.
Holding room - Studio 1215

PERSONNEL

CONTRACT

OTHER DATES

See breakdown for production specific dates.

SEEKING

Equity actors for roles in Arena Stage's 2026-27 Season Act 1 (See breakdown). Please do not attend both DC and NYC auditions. Please choose your closest location.
Also seeking understudies (for all roles) and swings.
Arena Stage will provide reasonable accommodations to Equity Performers of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, gender identities and expressions, and performers living with disabilities are encouraged to audition.
Accommodation requests may include but are not limited to: Large Print Materials, Social Narratives, and ASL Interpretation. Please call 202-554-9066 with any questions.

PREPARATION

Please prepare 1 short song & 1 short monologue OR 2 contrasting short monologues. Auditions may not exceed 3-minutes total. An accompanist will be provided. Please have a headshot and resume (as a pdf) on your phone ready to upload to an online form.
Please bring a hard copy of your headshot and resume stapled together. Always bring your equity card to EPAs. Equity’s contracts prohibit discrimination. Equity is committed to diversity and encourages all its employers to engage in a policy of equal employment opportunity designed to promote a positive model of inclusion. As such, Equity encourages performers of all ethnicities, gender identities, and ages, as well as performers with disabilities, to attend every audition.
Always bring your Equity Membership card to auditions.

BREAKDOWN

Arena Stage 2026-27 Season “Act 1”

Some character breakdowns within this document include gender specifications that reflect the identity of the characters as written by the playwrights. However, we encourage performers with any gender expression and/or gender identity to audition for any role.

All dates are subject to change.

NIKOLA TESLA (Kreeger, LORT B)

First Rehearsal: 8/31/26
First Preview: 10/9/26
Opening: 10/22/26
Closing: 12/6/26
Directed by Marshall Pailet
Choreography by Katie Spelman
Music Supervision by Dominic Fallacaro
Music Direction by Heath Saunders.

SYNOPSIS: Nikola - A New Musical charts the rise of famed inventor Nikola Tesla from unknown engineer to eccentric genius to “mad scientist.” As his celebrity rises and the war of the currents with Thomas Edison heats up, Nikola pushes himself, his followers, and the limits of electric power to dangerous extremes to connect the world and reach his vision of a new tomorrow. Nikola features book and lyrics by Nikko Benson and Benjamin Halstead, music by Nikko Benson, music supervision by Dominic Fallacaro (& Juliet), choreography by Katie Spelman (The Notebook), and direction by Marshall Pailet (Private Jones). Meet the visionary. See the visionary electric musical.

SEEKING:

Nikola Tesla [Tenor, Mid 20s - early 30s] is a visionary inventor whose vivid visions of the future often leave him feeling isolated, misunderstood, and at times even a little insane. With an overactive imagination and near-photographic memory, he can visualize inventions fully formed in the air around him, seeing possibilities decades before anyone else can comprehend them. His ability to see what doesn’t exist is both his genius and his curse, driving groundbreaking innovation while pulling him further away from reality and ordinary human connection. At first, Tesla believes science can transform the world for the better, but after Edison’s betrayal, he becomes increasingly consumed by the need to prove his vision right at any cost. With the help of some new friends, Tesla briefly discovers the connection and understanding he’s always longed for, but his relentless obsession with inventing the future ultimately makes it impossible for him to remain grounded in the present.

Katharine Underwood [Soprano, 20s - 30s] is a dazzling New York City socialite who has mastered the art of connection in a world where women are rarely taken seriously. She moves through high society like a conductor, orchestrating conversations, relationships, and influence with effortless charm. Beneath her wit and magnetic confidence is a woman deeply restless with the limits placed on her life. Watching the world race toward the future, Katharine is one of the few people asking who that future is actually for. Her connection with Tesla begins as fascination but grows into a rare and profound intimacy as they recognize in each other a familiar hunger to be understood. For a moment, their relationship offers both of them the possibility of a more human future built on connection rather than power. As Tesla spirals further into isolation, unable to recognize the human cost of his ambition, Katharine is ultimately forced to walk away from him just as he finally realizes how much he needs her—choosing to move forward with her life after Tesla leaves her no place within his.

Thomas Edison [Tenor, mid-30s to early-50s] is a charismatic, larger-than-life showman of an inventor — equal parts genius, mogul, and diva — who has built his empire as much on turning innovation into spectacle. He commands every room like a stage, dazzling the public with bold promises and brighter demonstrations, all in service of a singular obsession: to matter, to be celebrated, to be remembered. Beneath the bravado is a man who has worked relentlessly to construct not just a system of power, but a legacy with his name stamped on it. To Nikola, he begins as an idol, and the embodiment of what it means to change the world. But that admiration curdles into rivalry when Edison recognizes that Tesla’s vision of the future could eclipse everything he’s built. Though he frames himself as a champion of progress, his true allegiance is to his own permanence; every decision, every deception, every dazzling display is driven by a deep fear of being forgotten. In the end, Edison isn’t just battling over the future of electricity, he’s fighting to ensure that when history is written, it’s his name that lights it.

Robert Underwood-Johnson [Tenor, late 20s - early 40s] is a slick, charming reporter who moves effortlessly through a fast-changing world, shaping its chaos into his hard-hitting exposés with instinct, wit, and total control over how he’s perceived. A master of words (and punctuation), he knows exactly who to be in every room—including the devoted husband to the fiery and magnetic socialite, Katharine Underwood-Johnson—using his carefully constructed persona to move seamlessly through society while uncovering truth in others with razor precision. But that instinct is born from necessity: he’s learned to conceal a fundamental truth about himself and who he really loves in a world that wouldn’t accept it. When he encounters Tesla, he glimpses not only a more electrified future, but the possibility of an intimacy he’s never allowed himself to live openly. But when that hope shatters, Robert hardens, eventually using the truth as a weapon to take Tesla down.

J.P. Morgan [Soprano, 30s] is the ruthless king of American capitalism. To Morgan, nothing is more seductive than power, and he uses it to bend the world to his every will. He’s sharp, intimidating, and impossible to outmaneuver. While men like Edison and Tesla fight to leave their mark on history, Morgan already owns the factories that print it. Tesla’s brilliance and ambition intrigue him, recognizing great power in him. Morgan agrees to finance Tesla’s massive wireless tower believing it will make him the man who owns the future itself. But Tesla has kept one crucial truth hidden: the tower is not designed to sell power, but to give it away for free. To Morgan, it’s a direct attack on the entire capitalist world that took him a lifetime to build. If Tesla intends to destroy the system that made Morgan king, then Morgan must destroy Tesla first.

George Westinghouse [Baritone, 40s-50s] is a booming, big-hearted industrialist with the soul of an optimist and the energy of a hype man—Nikola Tesla’s most enthusiastic champion and, for a time, his perfect counterpart. Flush with success from his railroad innovations, he’s already conquered industry once, and now he’s determined to use that fortune to make the world fairer, more accessible, more alive with possibility. He believes power should belong to everyone, not just the elite, and it’s this shared ideal that binds him to Tesla, whose visions push Westinghouse to dream even bigger than he thought possible. He’s barely able to contain his excitement as each new breakthrough brings them closer to reshaping the world. But as Tesla’s ambitions stretch further and further into the future and beyond reality, Westinghouse follows—and it costs him everything. Financially ruined and emotionally broken, he’s left a fundamentally changed man, no longer believing the world will ever be fair.

Guglielmo Marconi [Tenor, 20s - 30s] is a young immigrant inventor bursting with ambition, swagger, and just enough brilliance to be dangerous—a rising star who might have been Nikola Tesla’s friend under different circumstances. When they finally meet, Marconi can’t help but fanboy over his hero, mirroring Tesla’s own wide-eyed admiration of Edison years earlier—except now Tesla is the legend in the room. Marconi is inspired by Tesla's wireless communication ideas, and yet he seems to lack in communication skills. To Tesla, Marconi is all bravado: a cocky, high-volume peacocker with rough edges, and more eagerness than polish. Their interaction goes so poorly that Marconi decides to team up with Edison and steal one of Tesla's dreams away from him. He uses that very invention, the radio, to spread the rumor that Tesla has officially turned into a mad scientist. Marconi goes to great lengths to help Edison destroy his once idol, Nikola Tesla, all to heal his own bruised ego.

ENSEMBLE SINGERS: ages 20s – 30s, all gender identities, all ethnicities, all body types. Seeking strong and vivid singer/actor/dancers to play various members of society. Most ensemble tracks will understudy principal roles.

ENSEMBLE DANCERS: ages: 20s – 30s, all gender identities, all ethnicities, all body types. Seeking energetic/expressive/dynamic dancers. Strong vocals an advantage.

PRIMA FACIE. (Kogod Cradle, LORT C)

Kogod Cradle
First Rehearsal: 10/13/26
First preview: 11/13/26
Opening: 11/20/26
Closing: 12/27/26

SYNOPSIS: Tessa is a brilliant criminal defense attorney who has fought her way to the top of her field, defending men accused of sexual assault. She knows how to win, and she trusts the system that made her success possible. But when the unthinkable happens to her, she finds herself sitting where her clients’ accusers once sat. What follows is a reckoning with the law's patriarchal power and the gap between the burden of proof and truth. Prima Facie by Suzie Miller is an electrifying, award-winning one-woman show that doesn’t just ask what justice means. It demands we do something about it.

SEEKING:

TESSA [White, woman, 30s] A brilliant, ambitious defense barrister who has worked her way to the top of her field through intelligence, determination, and belief in the legal system. Tessa is sharp, charismatic, funny, and fiercely competitive in the courtroom.

PURPOSE (Kreeger Stage, LORT B+)

First Rehearsal: 1/5/27
First preview: 2/5/27
Opening: 2/11/27
Closing: 3/28/27

SYNOPSIS: Meet the Jaspers — a Black political dynasty of civil rights leaders, pastors, and congressmen who have long anchored Black American life. But beneath the surface, cracks and secrets simmer. When the youngest son, Naz, returns home with an unexpected guest, long-buried resentment boils over, fracturing the family's foundation. Wickedly smart, outrageously funny, and ultimately devastating, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins' Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning Purpose is a provocative, deeply felt exploration of legacy, belonging, and the cost of believing in something bigger than yourself.

SEEKING:

SOLOMON JASPER [Black, Man, 50-60s] - The patriarch of the Jasper family. A legendary civil rights leader and minister whose reputation looms large over everyone in the household. Commanding, intelligent, and deeply invested in legacy and public image.

CLAUDINE JASPER [Black, Woman, 50s-60s] - The matriarch of the Jasper family. Fiercely protective of the family and committed to maintaining its image. Warm but controlling. Acts as the emotional and political “manager” of the household, trying to preserve appearances.

NAZARETH JASPER [Black, Man, 30s] - The youngest son of the Jasper family and the play’s narrator. Introspective and sensitive. He left divinity school and prefers a quieter life centered around photography and nature.

SOLOMON “JUNIOR” JASPER JR. [Black, Man, 40s] - The eldest son and former state senator, who has recently been released from prison for campaign fraud and embezzlement. Charismatic, arrogant, wounded, and desperate for validation.

MORGAN JASPER [Black, Woman, 40s] - Junior’s wife. Intelligent, exhausted, brutally honest, and no longer interested in pretending everything is okay. She is also facing prison time connected to Junior’s scandal.

AZIZA HOUSTON [Black, Woman, 30s] - Naz’s friend. Gets unexpectedly pulled into the family gathering. Smart, curious, grounded, and emotionally open in a way the Jasper family isn’t used to.