Actors Shakespeare Project 2026-27 Season Equity Principal Actors - Actors' Shakespeare Project Auditions

AUDITION DATE

LOCATION

Tuesday, March 31, 2026
Dorothy and Charles Mosesian Center for the Arts
321 Arsenal St, Watertown, MA 02472-5710
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM (E)
Lunch 2:00 PM - 3:00 PM, Red Studio

APPOINTMENTS

PERSONNEL

To schedule an audition appointment please go to:
www.actorsshakespeareproject.org/work-with-us/auditions. If you cannot attend these audition dates, you can inquire about sending a self-tape at
casting@actorsshakespeareproject.org.

Expected to attend: Christopher V. Edwards, Artistic Director; Regine Vital, Manager of Artistic & Community Programs. See breakdown for production-specific personnel.

CONTRACT

$561 weekly minimum (Category 5). See breakdown for production-specific dates.

Typical Rehearsal Schedule: Weekday evenings (Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday evenings). Weekend days / early evenings: Saturday and Sunday. Each production schedule will include at least two weekday morning student matinees, for which actors must be available.

NEAT

OTHER DATES

No roles will be understudied. All roles are available to any actor regardless of race, heritage, or gender identification unless otherwise indicated by the playwright. If you have any questions, please email
casting@actorsshakespeareproject.org.

SEEKING

Equity actors for roles in Actors' Shakespeare Project's 2026–27 Season. We seek actors who can and will enjoy playing multiple roles in a production, who are physically engaged in the work, and who are eager to collaborate with ensemble members.

OTHER

An Equity Monitor will not be provided. The producer will run all aspects of this audition.

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 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.

PREPARATION

Please prepare material of your choice; if you wish, this may be selections from the season. For those who wish to perform a scene from the season, a reader will be available (please be prepared to supply sides for such, the reader, which include indication of your starting & stopping places). Audition appointments are scheduled in seven (7) minute intervals; each Equity Member has a maximum of five (5) minutes to audition. Please bring your Equity membership card.

Actors' Shakespeare Project 2026–27 Season

ASP’s Anti-Racism Statement: Actors’ Shakespeare Project (ASP) is committed to actively examining and combating the multifaceted nature of racism in our company, our community, the theater industry, and the United States. Racism dehumanizes everyone it touches and creates an environment not conducive to creative expression. Actors’ Shakespeare Project seeks to dismantle organizational systems, processes, structures, and cultures that discourage any person from engaging with us. We pledge to foster diversity, inclusivity, and equity across our board, staff, artists, productions, educational programming, and business operations. The stories of all people will be reflected in all the work that we do.

Please note: All rehearsal and performance dates below are TENTATIVE.

DRACULA: A COMEDY OF TERRORS

Written by Gordon Greenberg and Steve Rosen
Directed by Christopher V. Edwards
First Rehearsal: Wednesday, September 9, 2026
Opening: Thursday, October 8, 2026
Closing: Sunday, November 1, 2026

SYNOPSIS

Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors is a 90-minute, small-cast, gender-bending parody of Bram Stoker’s novel, in which meek estate agent Jonathan Harker travels to Transylvania, unleashing a narcissistic Count Dracula on modern-minded Lucy Westfeldt, her sister Mina, insect-obsessed Renfield, and vampire hunter Jean Van Helsing in a whirlwind of quick changes and broad physical comedy. The piece satirizes Gothic horror while centering capable female protagonists and queer-coded humor, ending with Lucy and Van Helsing driving the story’s moral and emotional resolution.

Content Advisory: ASP will hire an Intimacy Director for all instances of sexually/emotionally charged intimacy.

Playwright’s note: All characters can be played by actors of any gender, ethnicity, age or type.

TRACK 1: HARKER / CAVENDISH / WORTHINGTON / HAVEMERCY / BOSUN / GRAVEDIGGER

Jonathan Harker – Prim and proper and obsessive-compulsive real estate agent, frightened of his own shadow. Once bitten he loosens up... a lot... and becomes a Tom Jones–style rock star in leather pants. RP British dialect.

Lord Cavendish – Lucy's suitor; a Scottish dolt.

Lord Worthington – Lucy's suitor; posh, British and petulant.

Lord Havemercy – Lucy's arrogant suitor from Memphis. Texas accent.

Bosun – A scurvy seaman who goes down with the ship in a storm. Irish dialect.

Gravedigger – A drunk gravedigger with a secret.

TRACK 2: DR. WESTFELDT / RENFELD / CAPTAIN / MAN-EATING WOLF

Dr. Wallace Westfeldt – Lucy and Mina's father, a blowhard; self-important misogynist given to proclamations and posturing with his pipe. RP British dialect.

Renfeld – Insane patient of Dr. Westfeldt who lives to serve and loves to eat bugs. In a word, the dude is nuts. Cockney dialect and salivary issues.

Captain – The salty captain of a doomed ship caught in a raging storm.

TRACK 3: LUCY / KITTY / DRIVER / MAN-EATING WOLF

Lucy Westfeldt – Brilliant, plucky earth scientist daughter of Dr. Westfeldt, full of energy and the spirit of adventure and often underestimated because of her beauty. RP British dialect.

Kitty Rutherford – A dotty kleptomaniac patient of Dr. Westfeldt, she serves as a maid in his house. Cockney dialect.

Driver – Transylvanian driver of the carriage carrying Jonathan to Dracula's castle. Eastern European or Russian dialect.

TRACK 4: MINA / VAN HELSING / MAN EATING WOLF

Mina Westfeldt – The less attractive, less intelligent Westfeldt daughter; she lives in her sister Lucy's shadow and is desperate for attention. RP British dialect.

Dr. Van Helsing – Brilliant and sturdy German vampire-hunting doctor from the University of Schmutz. Strong, shmart, unt bold; she is a woman of action. German dialect a la Mel Brooks.

TRACK 5: DRACULA

Count Dracula – Hugely sexy, magnetically handsome, rock star presence with a killer body; he is a narcissist whose greatest love is himself—and his leather pants. Commanding European dialect.

THE COMPLETE WORKS OF JANE AUSTEN, ABRIDGED

Written by Jessica Bedford, Kathryn MacMillan, Charlotte Northeast, and Meghan Winch
Directed by Regine Vital
First Rehearsal: Wednesday, November 11, 2026
Opening: Thursday, December 3, 2026
Closing: Sunday, December 27, 2026

SYNOPSIS

The Complete Works of Jane Austen, Abridged is an 80–90 minute, three-actor “romp” in which two die-hard Janeites and a bewildered understudy crash through all six major Austen novels, switching roles at high speed while sending up Regency romance, class satire, and fan culture itself. The show blends affectionate parody, direct address, and sketch-like sequences to compress the Austen canon into a single, big-hearted evening that welcomes both devotees and newcomers.

SEEKING

If the three characters were a symphony…

• Track 1: is the lilting high notes
• Track 2: is the steady, driving alto
• Track 3: is the dependable baritone — except when the excitable tenor

HAMLET

Written by William Shakespeare
Directed by David R. Gammons
First Rehearsal: Wednesday, January 6, 2027
Opening: Thursday, January 28, 2027
Closing: Sunday, February 21, 2027

SYNOPSIS

Hamlet follows Prince Hamlet of Denmark as he confronts the ghostly revelation that his uncle Claudius has murdered his father, forcing him into a spiral of grief, moral doubt, feigned (or real) madness, and political paralysis that ultimately destroys the royal family and state. The play interrogates corruption in power, surveillance, mental health, and the difficulty of acting ethically within a broken system, themes that remain powerfully resonant.

Content Advisory: This production will feature scenes with nudity. ASP will hire an Intimacy Director for all instances of nudity, simulated sexual interaction, and sexually/emotionally charged instances of intimacy as well as all states of partial undress. This production will feature scenes of violence. ASP will hire a Fight Director for all instances of physical violence.

SEEKING

• Track 1: Hamlet, and ensemble – Prince of Denmark, son to Gertrude and Hamlet, nephew to Claudius (role will feature nudity)
• Track 2: Gertrude, and ensemble – Queen of Denmark, wife to King Claudius, widow to King Hamlet
• Track 3: Claudius, and ensemble – King of Denmark, husband to Gertrude, brother to King Hamlet
• Track 4: Ophelia, and ensemble – daughter to Polonius, sister to Laertes, possible lover to Hamlet
• Track 5: Laertes, and ensemble – son to Polonius, brother to Ophelia, peer to Hamlet
• Track 6: Polonius, and ensemble – counselor to Claudius, father to Laertes and Ophelia
• Track 7: Horatio, and ensemble – friend and confidant to Hamlet
• Track 8: Ghost / Gravedigger / Player, and ensemble – ghost of King Hamlet / digger of graves

JITNEY

Written by August Wilson
Directed by Christopher V. Edwards
First Rehearsal: Wednesday, March 10, 2027
Opening: Thursday, April 8, 2027
Closing: Sunday, May 9, 2027

SYNOPSIS

August Wilson’s Jitney, set in a worn-down 1970s jitney cab station in Pittsburgh’s Hill District, chronicles a group of unlicensed cab drivers, their dispatcher Becker, and his estranged son Booster as they confront imminent building demolition, generational conflict, racism, economic precarity, and the possibility of community self-determination. Over a few weeks, the men’s intersecting struggles—Youngblood’s attempt to buy a house for his family, Turnbo’s gossip-driven conflicts, Becker and Booster’s tragic rift—build toward both personal loss and a collective decision to fight for their space.

Content Advisory: ASP will hire an Intimacy Director for all instances of sexually/emotionally charged intimacy.

Note: All roles are of African descent.

SEEKING

• BECKER – well-respected, runs jitney station (60s)
• BOOSTER – Becker's son, recently released from prison (early 40s)
• TURNBO – jitney driver, always interested in the business of others
• YOUNGBLOOD – jitney driver and Vietnam War veteran (mid-to-late 20s)
• RENA – Youngblood's girlfriend and mother of their young son
• FIELDING – jitney driver and former tailor, has a dependency on alcohol
• DOUB – longtime jitney driver and Korean War veteran
• SHEALY – numbers taker who often uses the jitney station as his base
• PHILMORE – local hotel doorman, a recurring jitney passenger