MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM Equity Principal Actors - Yale Repertory Theatre Auditions

Yale Repertory Theatre 2026-27 Season - New Haven, CT EPA

Yale Repertory Theatre / Drama Productions Inc. | New Haven, CT

Notice: Audition Call Type: EPA

AUDITION DATE

LOCATION

Friday, June 5, 2026
Center for Collaborative Arts and Media
149 York St
9:30 AM - 5:30 PM (E)
Yale School of Drama
New Haven, CT 06510

BREAK: 1:00PM - 2:00PM
Room 107/109, First floor, wheelchair accessible

APPOINTMENTS:

CONTRACT

LORT Non-Rep $889 weekly minimum (LORT D) - Paid at $1450 weekly + Pension and Health. Housing in New Haven and economy travel is provided for actors outside a 50-mile radius from New Haven, CT.

OTHER DATES

See breakdown for production-specific dates.

OTHER

SEEKING

Equity actors for roles and understudy roles in Yale Repertory Theatre's 2026-27 Season (see breakdown). All rehearsals & performances in New Haven, CT. All roles at Yale Rep are understudied. All rehearsals take place in New Haven, CT. An Equity Monitor will not be provided. The producer will run all aspects of this audition.

Yale Rep is committed to an inclusive casting policy and encourages all actors to audition regardless of an individual’s sex, race, color, religion, age, disability, status as a veteran, national or ethnic origin, sexual orientation, or gender identity or expression. Please refer to character breakdown and descriptions for more details.

PREPARATION

Please prepare a 2-3 minute contemporary or classical monologue, your choice; preference for heightened or poetic language; material either by a Yale Rep commissioned writer or from a writer in any Yale Rep season very much appreciated. For more information go to
www.yalerep.org.

Breakdown

Yale Repertory Theatre 2026-27 Season

AUGUST WILSON’S MA RAINEY’S BLACK BOTTOM

Directed by: Timothy Douglas
Rehearsal period: August 18 – September 24
Technical rehearsals begin: September 25
Previews: October 2, 3, 5, 6, 7
Opening: October 8
Closing: October 24

SEEKING:

Set in a Chicago recording studio in 1927, the play centers on race, power, ambition, artistry, and survival within the early American music industry. The ensemble should possess strong command of heightened naturalism, musical rhythm, and emotional volatility. Musical ability is an ideally significant asset for the band member roles.

CHARACTER

BREAKDOWN

MA RAINEY
Black woman | 40s–50s | Blues Singer
The legendary “Mother of the Blues.” Fierce, commanding, sensual, funny, and shrewdly strategic. Ma understands the exploitative nature of the white-controlled music industry and refuses to surrender authority over her voice, body, or art. She is unapologetically Black, Southern, and self-defined.

LEVEE GREEN
Black man | Late 20s–30s | Trumpeter
Ambitious, charismatic trumpet player with dreams of transforming popular music and escaping poverty. Levee is energetic, flirtatious, volatile, stylish, and ‘wounded’ beneath his bravado. His hunger for validation and success tragically collides with ‘the system’ and his unresolved trauma.

CUTLER
Black man | 40s–50s | Trombone Player/Bandleader
The practical, steady member of the band. Cutler functions as mediator, protector, and moral anchor within the ensemble. He is religious and grounded in survival wisdom, understands the consequences that come with crossing racial boundaries.

TOLEDO
Black man | 40s–60s | Pianist
The intellectual philosopher of the band. Toledo is educated, reflective, and politically conscious, often delivering incisive commentary on Black identity, migration, history, and assimilation. He sees himself as part of a collective Black future, though the others sometimes dismiss him.

SLOW DRAG
Black man | 40s–60s | Bass Player
Easygoing, humorous, and observant. Slow Drag often diffuses tension with wit and charm, but beneath his laid-back demeanor is a survivor shaped by experience. He acts as a social glue within the band.

DUSSIE MAE
Black woman | 20s–30s
Ma’s younger girlfriend. Attractive, flirtatious, and aware of the power her sexuality gives her in male-dominated spaces. Though often underestimated, Dussie Mae navigates survival through charm, instinct, and adaptability.

SYLVESTER
Black man | 20s
Ma’s nephew. Earnest, prickly, dignified, and ‘country’. He possesses a pronounced stutter. Ma insists that he perform the spoken introduction on her recording despite pressure from the band members who have little patience for him and from the producers to replace him. Represents innocence and the importance of dignity and familial protection.

IRVIN
White man | 40s–50s
Ma’s manager. Diplomatic, and perpetually attempting to manage conflict between Ma and the recording studio executives. He presents himself as supportive while ultimately serving the economic interests of his own.

STURDYVANT
White man | 40s–60s
Owner/producer of the recording studio. A perpetrator of the exploitative machinery of the music business. Sees Ma Rainey and Levee primarily as commodities and profits.

POLICEMAN
White man | 30s–50s
A Chicago police officer who is the embodiment of institutional authority with a particular charge of keeping non-whites in line. He is ‘on the take.’

SOHO REP PRODUCTION OF WATCH ME WALK

Written and performed by: Anne Gridley
Directed by: Eric Ting
Rehearsal period: Nov 2 - 7
Technical rehearsals begin: Nov 9
Previews: Nov 14 - 18
Opening night: Nov 19
Closing night: Dec 5

Anne has a disease you’ve probably never heard of and it doesn’t have a cure. Her doctor says it shouldn’t define her, but she’s going to define it for you. Watch Me Walk is a hilarious, biting, and compassionate new play about disability, pity, injustice, and family mythologies that will stay with you long after the curtain–or Anne–falls.

SEEKING:

The roles of Anne Gridley and one Adonis have been cast. As a remount of a previous production with limited rehearsal time; looking for performers who can quickly pick up staging and choreography.

ADONIS
Male presenting | 20's - early 30's | Open to all ethnicities
One of Anne's backup performers - the two Adonis' are, in the fantasia of Anne’s story, her dreamy sidekicks. Part singer/backup dancer, part security, they take care of Anne with a wink and a smile, and likely a sequined top hat to boot. Looking for physically fit performers with experience singing & dancing. Performers must be 6'2 - 6'4.

WORLD PREMIERE ELECTRA AMERICA

By: Kate Attwell
Directed by: Sivan Battat
Commissioned by Yale Repertory Theatre
Rehearsal period: Nov 17 - Jan 6
Technical rehearsals begin: Jan 7
Previews: Jan 14 - Jan 20
Opening: Jan 21

SEEKING:

NOTE: All roles require strong command of fast-paced dialogue and rhythm. Playing ages and gender identity flexible.

ELECTRA
white female | early 20s
Recently returned home after an absence; she is at once at war with her family and family life, and searching for connection. Fiery, sardonic, with moments of deep emotional vulnerability.

CLYTEMNESTRA
white female | 40s-50s
Her mother. Commanding, larger-than-life, image conscious, she's a woman who has been holding it all together for too long. Possesses a comedic command of language.

ORESTES
white male | early to late 20s
Electra's older brother. The wayward son, returning home to his mother's dismay. Energetic, emotionally volatile but charismatic and charming.

CHRYSOTHEMIS
white female | early 20s
Electra's younger sister. The good-girl of this rigid, religious family. Invested in appearances. She knows how to play the feminine type that her world asks of her.

PYLADES
white male | 20s-30s
A youth pastor at the local evangelical church. He is charming, polite and controlled. Also sings and plays guitar.

LEDA
white female | 60s-70s
Clytemnestra's mother. Moves seamlessly between moments of clarity and confusion, her body holds the family's history. A beautiful, glamorous older woman constrained in her aging body.

THE SEAGULL

By: Anton Chekhov
Newly adapted & Directed by Yura Kordonsky
Rehearsal period: Jan 19 - Feb 25
Technical rehearsals begin: Feb 26
Previews: March 5 - 10
Opening: March 11

SEEKING:

Looking for a diverse company of actors to play a collection of volatile and fragile persons. Everybody is in love and is rejected. Emotions run high, hands are smeared in blood, bodies carry pain and experience.

ARKADINA
Female | early 40s
A fast-paced emotional acrobat: jumps from vulnerability to cruelty in seconds. Predator and victim at once. Raw, open, unguarded – a car accident you cannot look away from. Earned her financial security through years of hardship. Loves her son but believes he doesn't have what it takes to be an artist. Brutal and honest, trying to save him from a terrible mistake, she disregards how this destroys him. Terrified of aging.

KONSTANTIN
Male | mid-20s
Still being born. Cannot separate from his mother. Flashes between genuine tenderness and ferocious anger. Gen Z. Feels everything at full volume. Ricocheting attention. Cannot self-regulate. Anger-management issues. Loses his identity when he loses Nina.

SORIN
Male | 60s
Trying to keep the peace in his dysfunctional family. Trying to avoid alcohol. Failing at both. Heart-damaged, the clock is ticking. Would give anything for a moment of true artistic ecstasy, daydreams about a different life; but his legs hurt, he cannot sleep without pills, and barking dogs infuriate him.

NINA
Female | early 20s
A young Arkadina. Tough, sometimes even stubborn. Starts the play at age 19 as a free, beautiful seagull – a luminous personality, too bright for this small town lake. Suffers two terrible years of devastating loss; returns physically and emotionally dehydrated. Paid a catastrophic price for the discovery of her voice and would do it again.

SHAMRAEV
Male | mid-50s
Failing estate manager and a hopeless theatre romantic. Writes earnest bad love poems he keeps to himself. Knows he is not Masha’s real father. Keeps his head in the sand. Rubbing elbows with celebrated artists makes him feel like he almost matters.

POLINA
Female | late 40s
Married to Shamraev but still in love with Dorn. Mother to Masha by their affair. Repulsed by her husband and cannot hide it. Insecure and explosive, savagely jealous of everyone who breathes near Dorn. Abandoned shame long ago, she is all fire and ashes.

MASHA
Female | mid 20s
Hopelessly in love with Konstantin and too angry to hide it. A punk who wears her misery in public as a badge of honor, shocking people with dangerous honesty and vodka-fueled cynicism. Living out the town's open secret, she is choked by the shame of her illegitimacy, resentful of her mother and betrayed by her father.

TRIGORIN
Male | mid 30s
Famous writer. Arkadina’s lover. Stays with her out of habit and great sex — but often feels like her dog playing fetch. His true burning affair is with literature and art. Talented but insecure: doubts himself constantly. Non-confrontational. Feels guilt but not shame. Wants to encourage Konstantin as an artist, but can't understand why he refuses his help.

DORN
Male | 50-55
Formerly charismatic, brilliant, cynical, and irresistible, now a cold volcano. Fervently speaks against alcohol addiction and the fear of death – suspiciously so for someone who claims to be unfamiliar with these demons. He loves his daughter Masha, but can’t pull her back from the edge. An artist and a dreamer on the inside but too late to change his life.

MEDVEDENKO
Male | mid 20s
Poor schoolteacher. Loves Masha. Lives in hardship but remains an optimist. An oddball. Has scars, bruises, and burns from lab experiments gone wrong. Poet and philosopher in spirit if anyone would listen. Totally unseen.

YAKOV
Male | early 20s
Future Konstantin. Loves theatre. Secretly writes a play dismantling old theatrical forms.

WORLD PREMIERE QUISQUEYA ON THE HUDSON

By: Guadalís Del Carmen
Directed by: Knud Adams
Commissioned by Yale Repertory Theatre
Rehearsal period: March 9th - April 15
Technical rehearsals begin: April 16
Previews: April 23 - 28
Opening: April 29

SEEKING:

ROBERTO DE LA CRUZ
Black Dominican | M | 40s
The patriarch. Served in WWII as one of the Tuskegee Airmen. Is a delivery driver for a textile factory.

QUISQUEYA DE LA CRUZ
Dominican | F | Late 30s
The matriarch. Married young. Worked in a factory making nylons during WWII. Is now a homemaker and works from home - laundry and tailoring for neighbors.

CONSUELO GONZALEZ
Black Dominican | F | early to mid 20s
Quisqueya’s first cousin. Arrives in the US after almost getting arrested for conspiring with a rebel group in DR. She was a journalist and kept an account of Trujillo's dictatorship. Has an accent speaking in English.

SAMUEL DE LA CRUZ
Black Dominican | M | just turned 18
Roberto and Quisqueya’s son. Senior in high school. His mother dreams of him going to law school; he has his own. Speaks with a slight accent when speaking in Spanish.

ANDRE HODGES
Black American | M | mid-late 20s
Lives down the hall. A jazz musician, saxophonist. NYC born and raised, has been living in the building for almost eight years.