Contemporary American Theater Festival 2026 Season - Washington, DC
Keegan Theater
1742 Church Street NW
Washington, DC 20036
Monday, February 23, 2026
9:00 AM - 6:00 PM (E)
Front door will be unlocked during audition time. An elevator from the entrance to the theater level is available. Lunch 1:00 PM - 2:00 PM. Accessible bathrooms available on the theater level.
To schedule an audition appointment please contact Nicole M. Smith, Company Manager, at
auditions@catf.org or M–F 10:00 AM–6:00 PM, 681â240â4046 (text only).
Artistic Director: Peggy McKowen
Managing Director: Amy Wratchford
Casting Directors: McCorkle Casting, LTD
Expected to attend: McCorkle Casting team
$839 weekly minimum (LORT D) — until 6/28/26
$889 weekly minimum (LORT D) — after 6/29/26
First Rehearsal: June 9, 2026
Openings: July 10–12, 2026
Closing: August 2, 2026
Equity actors for Contemporary American Theater Festival's 2026 Summer Season. Understudies will be considered only for the role of VOICE in THE BRIDGE.
An Equity Monitor will not be provided. The producer will run all aspects of this audition.
Please prepare a brief contemporary monologue, one minute in length. Bring a physical copy of your headshot and resume stapled together. Always bring your Equity Membership card to auditions.
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. Equity encourages performers of all ethnicities, gender identities, and ages, as well as performers with disabilities, to attend every audition.
For more information:
www.catf.org
Written by Harmon dot aut
Directed by Craig Lucas
“. . . a person living on the street is no longer a citizen.” Franky is an Autistic, creative, loving, resilient, queer artist living on the streets of Minneapolis as the world and the voices within him try to pinpoint his “problem.” Brilliant, funny, & heartbreaking, The Bridge is a play unlike any you’ve seen before, immersing you in a world of troubled memory and magical thinking, a world at once limited by homelessness and poverty and unlimited in the human potential for dreams-come-true.
Note: Neurodivergent actors are encouraged to audition. Actors with movement or dance skills are encouraged to audition.
FRANKY: 20 years old (in 1992); aspiring actor/writer/artist: fawn-like. Grew up in rural northern Oklahoma; routinely abused by family and community members. Autistic and doesn’t know it. Unhoused. Queer. One brief moment of partial nudity with backside revealed — negotiable.
VOICE: 50s (in 2026), non-binary, queer. Functions as the narrator and voice inside Franky’s head; this figure also facilitates scene and costume changes and plays all other characters.
Written by Beth Kander
Directed by: TBD
“Modesty hasn’t done much for women, historically speaking.” Nichols & May were one of the greatest comedy duos of all time, but when they parted ways, Mike Nichols soared while Elaine May struggled. The system wasn’t built for “difficult” women, but it endlessly rewarded “charming” men. Decades later, when Mike approaches Elaine with a new opportunity, she must wrestle with what matters more: succeeding on her own, or reuniting with the partner who knows her true worth. Set in the complex intersection of creativity, competition, and gender disparity, this split-second-timed, laugh-out-loud play imagines the power of lifelong friendships, thorns and all.
Elaine: Elaine May, in her 20s and 30s, and then in her 60s. Quirky, brilliant, doesn’t suffer fools gladly, an unerring sense of comic timing, gives no quarter, full of integrity, ambitious, settles for nothing less than perfection, a hard shell masking a very tender heart.
Mike: Mike Nichols, in his 20s and 30s, and then in his 60s. Brilliant, charming, an unerring sense of comic timing, occasionally entitled, secretly insecure, innate leadership ability coupled with the ability to move people profoundly, ambitious, yearning for both connection and approval.
Written by Yussef El Guindi
Directed by: Zi Alikhan
“Because love will always carve you up eventually.” Jealous love sears the skin of this darkly comic play like lava seeping down a hillside, inevitable and all-consuming. A chance meeting of a pair of young Arab-Americans framed by their refugee experience and an impossibly rich patroness sets in motion a chain of events that leads to a violent crime. As tensions mount and relationships are shattered, a therapist (who’s grappling with her own marital issues) is hired by the defense to determine culpability. Award-winning playwright Yussef El Guindi explores immigrant lives in plays praised for “insightful, open-hearted...humor, warmth and all-around compassion” (Seattle Times).
Sakinah: mid to late 20s. Arab American. The accused. Works at “Goodwill.”
Jenny: late 20s to mid-to-late 30s. African American. Psychologist. Works for the lawyer of the accused.
Fouad: mid to late 20s. Arab American. Sakinah’s boyfriend. Works at “Goodwill.”
Richard / Waleed: late 20s to mid-to-late 30s. African American. Richard — Arts Administrator. Works at a non-professional arts organization. Waleed — late 20s to mid-to-late 30s. West African. A character from a painting that comes to life.
Emily: late 20s to mid-to-late 30s. European American. Philanthropist, charity organizer.
Written by Lisa D’Amour
Directed by: Shelly Butler
“Breath. Precious Life. Love. We can’t hold it and yet, we must hold it.” What makes community? For this unlikely gathering of underâemployed, underâinsured dreamers on a New York street corner, it’s the communal need for a cigarette. As different as different can be—in gender and sexual orientation and relationship status, in their aspirations, vocations and avocations—they gather outside an apartment building to consume the chemicals that unite them—nicotine and the endorphins produced by friendship.
The Smoker: mid 40s. White male. Unassumingly charming. he/him.
Roberto: late 30s–early 40s. Mexican male. he/him. Came to the States as a teenager to work construction after Hurricane Katrina, and stayed, eventually migrating to work in New York after Hurricane Sandy. Currently works at a factory and as a gig worker. Roberto is a determined soul who is full of light — a family man.
Tonya: mid-30s. Black female or gender non-conforming. she/they. A poet, activist and sometimes paralegal assistant. Originally from Houston, and cast out of her conservative Christian family, Tonya found her people in New York. Direct, brave and sometimes snarky.
Kim: mid-30s. White female. she/her. Kim has a solid career as an opera singer, primarily working outside of New York. Originally from the Midwest, she was blessed with an extraordinary opera teacher at a young age — and it has been her passion ever since. Kind, practical and perhaps overly concerned with being a good person.
The Lady Who Walks Sammy / Ruthie / Miranda: Female or gender non-conforming. Flexible on race/ethnicity/age. Ruthie is a woman who has been unhoused for some time. Obviously mentally ill and obviously very intelligent, with a storied past. Miranda is a public school teacher who was married to The Smoker for some time. A smart, overworked girlâmom who has seen it all.
Written by Christina Pumariega
Directed by: TBD
“Every day, I look my daughter in the eye and tell her the truth.” The lives of five women intersect in this passionate, powerful play set in Argentina, across decades of political upheaval that led to the kidnapping and murder of tens of thousands of people who came to be known as “the disappeared” — los desaparecidos. Juxtaposing the saga of one woman whose infertility journey has left her exhausted and broke with the stories of 1970s revolutionaries and their daughters, ¡VOS! explores the sorrow of seeking as only women can experience it.
ANNIE & SOFIA: Latina, 30s–40s.
ANNIE (in 2015–2016): Born in Buenos Aires, emigrated when she was a baby and grew up in Louisiana not speaking Spanish at home. Lowly book editor. After several years of failed fertility treatments and debt, her marriage ended in divorce. Later Annie discovers her late mother owned an apartment in Palermo, Buenos Aires. A friend encourages her to seek IVF treatment in Argentina, bringing Annie to Dr. Cossi. A Southern people-pleaser, Annie doesn't know who she is, even though deep down she knows she is a mother.
SOFIA (in 1975–1976): From Santa Cruz, El Chaltén in Patagonia. Shy, plain spoken, methodical and a bonafide cowgirl on her father's cattle ranch. A new graduate student at the University of Buenos Aires studying fine arts. Sofia sculpts, does printmaking, and finds herself painting posters for the campus Peronist Youth. Drawn to Ana, so much that Sofia's devotion obscures why she attended Peronist Youth to begin with. Sofia hides a secret tied to her turbulent past that threatens to blow her love for Ana wide open. Wears glasses.
DR. COSSI, ANA & others: Latina, 40s–50s.
DR. COSSI (in 2015–2016): Born and raised in Palermo, a neighborhood in Buenos Aires. An OB-GYN and endocrinologist specializing in fertility. Intuitive, patient, wry, closed off about herself without making you feel like she's withholding anything. Unapologetically spiritual. Takes a special interest in women's health because of the fallout and lasting effects of the Dirty War, which she's not keen to talk about. Cossi will tolerate North Americans et al seeking medical tourism to help make families complete.
ANA (in 1975–1976): Grew up poor, then married and had a daughter, Maca. After the divorce, Ana studied medicine on scholarship at the University of Buenos Aires. After the Ezeiza Massacre, Ana shifted to law school to become a criminal defense lawyer; until then she's Professor Tómas Concado’s TA. Leads with her heart and wins every argument, so long as it's a fair fight. Quick to anger but more interested in empathy, Ana berates herself for not measuring up as a mother and a student. Intrigued by Sofia's quiet strength.
Videos
