THE UNSINKABLE — Principal Actors Auditions

THE UNSINKABLE - NYC EPA

Ronald O Perelman Performing Arts Center | New York, NY

Notice: Audition

AUDITION DATE

Tuesday, September 15, 2026
10:00 AM - 6:00 PM (E)
Lunch 1:30 PM - 2:30 PM

CONTRACT

Special Agreement
$1191.85 weekly minimum (Cat. 3)

SEEKING

Equity actors for roles in THE UNSINKABLE (See

BREAKDOWN

PREPARATION

Please prepare the Sides for the role you are interested in. Sides will be available on the morning of the audition through the Equity monitor.

LOCATION

Pearl Studios (500)
500 8th Ave
New York, NY 10018-6504
Holding room - Studio 1206

PERSONNEL

Written by Frances Ya-Chu Cowhig
Directed by Aya Ogawa
Executive Director: Khady Kamara Nunez
Artistic Director: Bill Rauch
Director of Producing: Jessica Wasilewski
Producer: Meredith Boggia
General Manager: Alyssa Simmons
Company Manager: Sabra Jaffe
Casting: The Telsey Office, Charlie Hano CSA

Expected to attend:
Director: Aya Ogawa
Casting Director: Charlie Hano

OTHER DATES

First Rehearsal: Monday, January 4, 2027
First Tech: Tuesday, February 2, 2027
First Preview: Wednesday, February 10, 2027
Opening Night: Thursday, February 18, 2027
Closing: Sunday, March 7, 2027
Furthest possible extension: Sunday, March 14, 2027

OTHER

EPA Procedures are in effect for this audition.
An Equity Monitor will be provided.

Equity's

CONTRACT

Always bring your Equity Membership card to auditions.

SYNOPSIS

When 17-year-old Little Fong is plunged into the freezing Atlantic as the Titanic sinks, survival becomes a battle inside his own mind. The Unsinkable is a wildly inventive, darkly funny, and deeply moving odyssey inspired by the six Chinese seamen who lived—then were erased from the story of the Titanic's survivors. From Liverpool's engine rooms and Chinatown streets to Cuban sugarcane fields, and a Chicago nursing home in 1986, Little Fong's memories and desires spring to life through puppetry, cross-Atlantic dance traditions, and flourishes of Chinese opera. He fights for dignity and love even as time slips and his life is largely forgotten.

NOTES FROM CASTING

All characters in this play are working-class Toisanese migrants. ALL characters are from the AAPI diaspora.

SEEKING

DREAMER: Dreamer, or Ah Lam, 40s. One of the Chinese men who survived the sinking of the Titanic. He has been a transnational migrant since he was 5 years old, first in San Francisco and then in Liverpool. A loving father and merchant marine who works as a fireman in the engine room of steamer ships, he struggles in the play between speaking truth to power and protecting his loved ones from brutal reality by spinning beautiful lies. He is an idealist at his core and a devotee of the Goddess of Mercy. Has an Irish wife in Liverpool and a growing family. Will double as a Shrimp Soldier (martial/Chinese opera movements, dry wit), a Nurse in a 1986-era Chicago Nursing Home. The Unsinkable is a highly physical, ensemble-driven show that requires performers to sing with a group, operate various puppets and objects as puppets, and learn choreographed movement based in traditional and contemporary dance vocabularies.

UNDERSTUDY 1: Any gender, 20s-30s, AAPI, to cover the following roles:

LITTLE FONG / OLD FONG (or Fang Lang), The protagonist of this play, who never leaves the stage. When we first meet him, he seems to be a teenager reliving his experience surviving the sinking Titanic. By the end of the play, he is a man in his 90s, in 1986 Chicago, facing the last day of his life. Amidst his unrelenting fight for physical and emotional survival, his central struggle is shame. Originally from Toisan, he spends most of the play speaking in standard American English but has a few scenes where he speaks English with a thick Toisanese accent.

HAW-FLAKE (or Lee Bing), A playful hedonist who lives to eat and cook food. Though grounded and pragmatic, he is also a clown and practical joker who is able to roll with the punches because no matter where he lives in the world, he will continue to pursue his primary objective of making money and sending it back home. Will double as a Shrimp Soldier (martial/Chinese opera movements, dry wit), Older Sister, Little/Old Fong's sister.

BIG HEAD (or Cheong Foo), Working-class Toisanese migrant. Perhaps the most tender hearted of the bunch, Big Head has a keen sense for justice and a lust for sensual pleasures. He and his Irish wife in Liverpool have two sets of twins already and plan to grow their family even more. Will double as a Shrimp Soldier (martial/Chinese opera movements, dry wit), Kevin (Old Fong's Chinese American son), and others.

UNDERSTUDY 2: Any gender, 30s-50s, AAPI, to cover the following roles:

ICE MAN (or Ling Hee), A skeptic and a pessimist, Ice Man's soft spot is his Irish wife in Liverpool and the family they are raising together. He's put down roots in England and plans to stay, though he doubts that any government will come to his aid. Will double as Crab General (martial/Chinese opera movements, dry wit), Jimmy (Old Fong's Chinese American son), and others.

DREAMER (or Ah Lam), He has been a transnational migrant since he was five years old, first in San Francisco and then in Liverpool. A loving father and merchant marine who works as a fireman in the engine room of steamer ships, he struggles in the play between speaking truth to power and protecting his loved ones from brutal reality by spinning beautiful lies. He is an idealist at his core. Will double as a Shrimp Soldier (martial/Chinese opera movements, dry wit), a Nurse in a 1986-era Chicago Nursing Home, and others.

UNCLE (or Chang Chip), An optimist, whose lightness and buoyancy is in part due to his Christian faith, and in part due to the lessons of adversity and the wisdom of age. A former opium addict, he is Dreamer's closest confidant and mentor and has known him since they were deported from San Francisco together. Will double as a Shrimp Soldier (martial/Chinese opera movements, dry wit), Ghost Father (the spirit of Little Fong's dead father), and others.