GOLDEN SHIELD Submission - Manhattan Theatre Club Auditions

GOLDEN SHIELD - EQUITY VIDEO SUBMISSIONS

Manhattan Theatre Club

CONTRACT

LORT Non-Rep $1008 weekly minimum (LORT B)

SEEKING

Equity actors for roles in GOLDEN SHIELD--principals and understudies (see breakdown).

INSTRUCTIONS

Please submit contemporary monologues, 2 minutes in length. If you speak Mandarin, please let us know in your tape. Videos should be shot in landscape framing and sent in a non-downloadable format – private YouTube link, Vimeo, etc. Please include your headshot & resume. Subject line should include your name, the character name & your Equity status.

Deadline: Wed, Sep 1, 2021

SUBMIT TO

GoldenShieldEPA@gmail.com

PERSONNEL

Director: Danya Taymor
Writer: Anchuli Felicia King
Casting: Kelly Gillespie (viewing auditions)

OTHER DATES

1st Rehearsal: March 29, 2022
1st Preview: April 26, 2022
Opening: May 17, 2022
Clear Thru: July 10, 2022

OTHER

When enterprising American lawyer Julie Chen files a class-action lawsuit involving a multinational technology corporation and the Chinese government, she hires her strong-minded sister Eva as her translator. But what compromises will they make in order to win? And can they put aside their past differences to speak the same language?

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 submit.

BREAKDOWN

JULIE CHEN: 30s-early 50s. Female-identifying. Managing partner of Chen & Warren PLLC. Chinese-American. Speaks English only. Professional. Tenacious. Ambitious and idealistic, but those two traits are tangled in a way that compromises both. Uncomfortable with emotion and not good at managing it in herself or others. Her sister is important to her, but she doesn’t really have the tools to cross the void between them.

EVA CHEN: Mid-20s-early 40s. Female-identifying. Julie’s younger sister and translator. Chinese-American. Speaks English & Mandarin. Smart, but lost. Emotionally intelligent. Bisexual. An underachiever. Used to being underestimated – even underestimates herself. Has been supporting herself as a sex worker since dropping out of college. Guarded and ill-at-ease, especially around her sister, but capable of pushing herself to directness and honesty when she feels it’s important. She sees herself clearly, but that doesn’t make her life any easier or happier.

THE TRANSLATOR [CAST]: Speaks English and Mandarin. An intermediary between the audience and the action. They intervene in the action only when their presence becomes essential. They are otherwise engaged in an act of self-abnegation.

LI DAO [CAST]: Mid 40s-mid 50s. Male-identifying. Professor at Beijing Institute of Science and Technology. Chinese. Speaks Mandarin only. Principled. Worn-down, but proud. A dissident who was imprisoned and permanently injured for teaching Chinese internet-users how to get around firewalls. His formerly playful spirit has calcified into a careful stoicism; his happy marriage into a silent stalemate.

MARSHALL MCLAREN: 40s. Male-identifying. President of China Operations, ONYS Systems, Inc. Caucasian American. Speaks English only. Brash, verbose, 100% capitalist. Shrewd and self-justifying. Caustically funny. Exasperated by inefficiency and timidity. Opportunistic and successful, if you define success as making lots of money. Which he does.

RICHARD WARREN/LARRY MURDOCH: 40s-50s. Male-identifying. Caucasian American. Speaks English only.
Richard Warren: Managing partner of Chen & Warren PLLC. Pragmatic, successful, a pretty decent guy. Comfortable in his career, comfortable in his skin. Not personally inclined to rock the boat, but he won’t get in Julie’s way when she does.
Larry Murdoch: VP of China Operations, ONYS Systems, Inc. Mild. Extremely dry wit. The beta to Marshall’s alpha. A rule-follower.

HUANG MEI/DEPUTY MINISTER GAO SHENWEI [CAST]: 40s. Female-identifying. Chinese. Speaks Mandarin only.
Huang Mei: Li’s wife. Emotionally strong. Kind. Clear in her values. A true partner to her husband. His actions have rocked the foundations of the life they’ve built together, and she bears up under his silence until she can’t.
Deputy Minister Gao Shenwei: Ministry of Public Security. A high-level official. Confident, poised. Does not suffer fools. Knows a good idea when she hears one, but not one to give anything away.

AMANDA CARLSON/JANE BOLLMAN: 30s. Female-identifying. Speaks English only. Caucasian.
Amanda Carlson: International Project Manager, Digital Freedom Fund. Australian. Queer. Chill vibe, but she’s a serious person who does serious work. Kind and direct.
Jane Bollman: Chief Legal Officer, ONYS Systems. British. Professional, driven, no-nonsense. Dry sense of humor. Operates at a high level and a fast pace. Very clear about what she does and why she does it.

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 submit.