National Black Theatre | New York, NY
REVISED
Expected to attend revised. IAS Producing Resident: Kyra Shaw-Davis added.
Friday, October 3, 2025
9:30 AM - 5:30 PM (E)
Lunch 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM
LOA-NYC
$900 weekly minimum + Health & Pension - pending negotiations
Equity actors for roles in THE FESTIVAL IN DA BACK (See breakdown).
Please prepare the Sides that will be available at the audition location beginning at 8:30AM. Also, please bring your headshot and resume stapled together.
Actors' Equity New York Audition Center
165 W 46th St
16th Fl
New York, NY 10036
Written by Brian Egland
Artistic Director: Jonathan McCrory
Artistic Production Associate: Ava Novak
Director: Nic Ashe
Soul Series L.A.B & Special Projects Program Manager: Belynda M'Baye
TAP Production Coordinator: Kevin Ferguson
Casting Director: Sujotta Pace, CSA, Erica A. Hart, CSA
Expected to attend:
Ava Novak, Artistic Production Associate
Casting Director(s): Sujotta Pace, Erica Hart
IAS Producing Resident: Kyra Shaw-Davis
Rehearsal: March 10 – April 3, 2026
Tech Rehearsals: April 4 – 8, 2026
Dress Rehearsal: April 8, 2026
Public Performances: April 9 – 12, 2026
Venue: HERE Arts Center 146 6th Avenue, New York, NY 10013
EPA Procedures are in effect for this audition.
An Equity Monitor will be provided.
Notice: Audition Call Type: EPA
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 attend every audition.
Always bring your Equity Membership card to auditions.
SYNOPSIS: In a 1997 Cajun dominated small Louisiana town considered to be the crawfish capital of the world, annual celebrations of the Crawfish Festival are divided by geography and culture. While the official celebrations, the Cajun centric one, happen in the front of town; the Creole Festival happens in the back attracting an influx of visitors to pass in front of the Jolivette family’s home to get to the Festival in da Back.
Serving as the culmination of playwright Brian Egland’s NBT I AM SOUL Residency, this play documents the now defunct Creole Crawfish Festival of Breaux Bridge, Louisiana through the memory and imagination of the playwright, Zydeco music, food, and the rich culture, people, and history of Southwest Louisiana, while showcasing the life of a Creole family gathered for the Crawfish Festival Day.
We also recognize that the characters are written on the binary (use she/her and he/him pronouns) and we invite gender non-conforming, genderqueer, transgender, and non-binary actors to audition for the roles they most identify with. In reference to the descriptions below – these are descriptions of the characters as identified in the script and in collaboration with the creative team. They are not meant to be exhaustive of who should play these roles and we seek to cast expansively and intentionally with consideration of race/ethnicity, gender, body type, and ability.
OZWA (oz-wah), Oswald Jolivette: Male. African American. 66. Patriarch. A hustler. Still dreams for more for his life despite his age or maybe because of it. Trying to make money for the crawfish festival. Louisiana Creole French Speaker.
NANAN (nuh-nan), Joie Jolivette: Female. African American. 64. Matriarch. Ozwa’s Wife. Hardened & Harsh. Could be the voice of reason but it comes across in negative ways and often has negative effects and outcomes. Louisiana Creole French Speaker.
T-CHO, Tawaski Jolivette: Male. African American. 44. Drinks heavy. Has a high tolerance to alcohol. Has talent and lives with dreams deferred. The Creole people would call him Canille (kah-nie) meaning mischievous and sneaky. Stirs the pot. Means well. Plays the accordion.
DELLA, Mary-Dale LaBostrie: Female. African American. 40. Has a big dramatic personality with tons of talent but has been made to feel that she is a simple plain Jane in the shadow of her younger sister who is not there. Everything on her is plain, except her hair. She consciously or subconsciously expresses herself through the elaboration of her gelled french rolls and updos.
OLA, Oladokun LaBostrie: Male. African American. 18+ to play 9 years old. Della’s Son. He is little. Adorable. Sweet. But he has an attitude. He is lonely. Has no one to play with. And no one considers him or the things he prefers.
PHÉNO, (faye-no) Philip LaBostrie: Male. African American. 24. An amateur Zydeco singer. Ola’s cousin that lives in Texas. He smooth. Charming. Cool. Has a presence about him. He’s made it on the other side of a hard time and it shows. But the phrase “God ain’t done with me yet” applies to him. He a little canille too. Plays the accordion.
FUZZY, Fustrail Lewis: Male. African American. 37. Good Intentioned. Oblivious in ways yet more Observant than others in ways. Speaks repetitively. Flamboyant in energy, but a bit more shy in personality. Can be shady, but not on purpose. His innocence along with an unnamed, undiagnosed special need makes him honest. Plays the drums or has musical inclination.
Videos
