SHANGHAI SONATAS - EQUITY VIDEO SUBMISSIONS
Showtown Theatricals
CONTRACT
Development Agreement
$575 weekly minimum (Tier 1)
SEEKING
Equity actors for roles in SHANGHAI SONATAS (see breakdown).
INSTRUCTIONS
Slate with your name, role and if you play the instrument(s) in the character description. Please prepare a 1 minute video of either a musical theatre song of your choice OR the song in this Dropbox: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/jgb94efbto8qag7/AABce0AjBf8x8wX5STTDL73-a?dl=0 . Email your headshot/resume and video submission (that can be viewed without needing to be downloaded).
SEEKING:
TAN HUA: Female, 40s. Former Chinese Opera singer who no longer performs on the opera stage due to the Japanese occupation of Shanghai, but has now become a star of the nightclub scene. Ming-Kai’s mother. A regal-looking consummate performer who had reached the pinnacle of perfection in her art, she now accepts her fate, though the compromises she has had to make weigh upon her. Scarred by tragedy, she has single-mindedly dedicated herself to her son and his life in music, teaming up with Rachel to try to get him to play the violin again. Suggested vocal range: Strong mezzo (soprano timbre).
MING-KAI (KAI KAI): Male, mid-to-late-teens. Tan-Hua's son. A former violin prodigy who has given up the instrument and Western music in response to mistreatment by Western and Japanese occupiers. He is angry at his mother for giving up a great Chinese artform for Western popular music, and defiantly vows to only learn classical Chinese music, like his late father used to play, from now on. But Tan Hua and Rachel manage to create a bond between him and Leo, which eventually brings him back to his love for the violin. Suggested vocal range: Tenor up to at least a high A (light youthful sound). Note: Violinists are encouraged to submit.
RACHEL: Female 40s or 50s. Jewish refugee from Germany. A passionate musician with a warm-hearted nature, but who can also be temperamental and volatile—a tendency exacerbated by her separation from, and anxiety about, her husband, Leo, who is being held in Dachau. When they are finally reunited in Shanghai, she is shocked by the person he has become and is determined to overcome the gulf his trauma has created between them, and between him and his music. Suggested vocal range: Mezzo (alto timbre). Note: Violinists are encouraged to submit.
LEO: Male, 40s or 50s. Jewish refugee from Germany. A kind, gentle, thoughtful man who has been deeply traumatized by his experiences in Dachau, where he was forced to play the violin for his captors in order to survive, and can now no longer bring himself to play. He eventually becomes Ming-Kai’s teacher, which begins his process of healing and recovery and leads to his rediscovering his love for music, and for Rachel. Suggested vocal range: Baritone to at least a G. Note: Violinists are encouraged to submit.
ERNST: Male, 50s or 60s. Jewish refugee from Austria. An elegant, upper-class Viennese musician who played with the Vienna Philharmonic. Highly cultured and quite arrogant, he also harbors prejudices against Chinese people and their music. But his wartime experiences in the Ghetto bring about a change of heart—he surprises everyone by deciding to remain in Shanghai after the war and teach music to repay the Chinese people for welcoming him and his fellow Jews and providing them with safe haven. Suggested vocal range: Baritone. Note: Violinists are encouraged to submit.
SAMMY: Male, 30s. Jewish refugee from Germany. A streetwise jazz/classical musician, a denizen of nightclubs and bars, who has a breezy personality and easy-going demeanor. The most extroverted of the group of musicians, he enjoys a good joke and giving upper-class people like Ernst a hard time. Suggested vocal range: Tenor. Note: Actors who play a jazz/classical instrument are encouraged to submit.
MIRI: Female, 20s. Jewish refugee from Germany. A fun-loving, enthusiastic young woman trying to enjoy life, despite the trauma of the Nazis’ rise to power and her flight to Shanghai. She now works as a taxi dancer in the nightclub. She has a real sweetness and openness to her—the type of person it’s impossible not to love. Suggested vocal range: Soprano.
HERMANN: Male, 40s or 50s. Jewish refugee from Austria. A gossipy street peddler, husband of LOTTE. A resourceful pragmatist who can always figure out how to get by. Suggested vocal range: Tenor.
LOTTE: Female, 40s or 50s, Hermann’s wife. Jewish refugee from Austria. A gossipy street peddler, wife of HERMANN. Loves Viennese operetta. Suggested vocal range: Low alto.
LAO SUN: Male, 40s or 50s. A hard-working street peddler who accepts his lot in life with equanimity. Suggested vocal range: Baritone.
WONG MA: Female, 40’s or 50’s. Proud and temperamental—she’s not afraid to say what she’s thinking and doesn’t care much what others think. Suggested vocal range: Soprano.
MEI MEI: Female, 20s. A taxi dancer. From a slightly more educated background than most of her fellow taxi dancers, she nevertheless accepts what she has to do to survive and tries to have fun. Suggested vocal range: Soprano.
LI LI: Female, early 20s. A Taxi dancer. Having grown up in utter poverty, she’s uneducated but street-wise. Resentful of being pushed around by foreigners, she’s a no-nonsense survivor. Suggested vocal range: Alto.
WU YE: Male, 40s. A tough guy you don’t want to cross, but who can’t help hiding his warm heart. He runs the nightclub and looks after his dancers and musicians with a paternalistic flair but a businessman’s shrewdness.
GHOYA: Male, 40s. Japanese overseer of the Ghetto. An irrational, irascible, arrogant buffoon. A clown who can nevertheless be dangerous, he controls whether or not Jews can get a pass to leave the Ghetto for work, and he grants or denies these passes for absurd reasons. He loves music and fancies himself a violinist, though he plays terribly, and forces the Jewish refugees to listen to him play and praise him profusely. He demands the refugees call him “King of the Jews.” Suggested vocal range: Baritone to high F. Note: Violinists are encouraged to submit.
OLD MING-KAI: Male, 90’s. Ming-Kai as an aged former violinist and music teacher, now at the end of his life. Suggested vocal range: Baritone. Note: Violinists are encouraged to submit.
Deadline: Mon, Sep 12, 2022
SUBMIT TO
shanghaisonatascasting@gmail.com
PERSONNEL
Director: Chongren Fan
Music Director: Asher Denburg
Music: Xiang Gao
Lyrics: Joyce Stoner
Libretto: Alan Goodson
General Manager: ShowTown Theatricals
Casting Director: Alexandre Bleau (viewing auditions)
OTHER DATES
October 17 - October 28, 2022
OTHER
https://www.showtown.nyc/
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.
Videos
