Philadelphia Artists’ Collective is casting its 2025-26 Season, including INHERITORS and THE CONTRAST. Synopses, role breakdown, audition and sign-up information below:
AUDITIONS:
Date / Time: Sunday, Oct 5, 12-5p and Monday, Oct 6, 4-8p
Where:The Civic Lofts, 1600-1650 Spring Garden, Philadelphia, PA 19130
Please prepare a brief monologue that showcases your skills. Shows this season are period pieces (early 20th century realism and late 18th century comedy of manners) but no verse is required. You may be asked to read from sides provided on the day.
Please bring a copy of your headshot and resume.
Open to non-AEA and AEA (Single Engagement Agreement) actors. In the room will be Abby Weissman (director of INHERITORS) and Ann Garner (director of THE CONTRAST and PAC’s new Artistic Director, who would love to meet you). Actors of all types, races, and genders are encouraged to audition. If you see yourself in the role, we want to see you.
$375/wk
Sign up for a 5-min audition slot here (make sure to go to Oct 5 & 6 to find times):
https://calendar.app.google/FcRFTwHJM7YER3WBA
Questions? Contact us at
info@philartistscollective.org
SEASON BREAKDOWN:
INHERITORS by Susan Glaspell
Rehearsals Dec 8 - Jan 7 (time off for the holidays)
Performances Jan 8 - Jan 24 at Community College of Philadelphia
Midwest Morton College, founded with tremendous idealism, finds itself on the eve of its 40th anniversary facing pressure from the state government to quell protests from faculty and students. Madeline, the founder’s granddaughter and a student at Morton, must decide what she is willing to risk to do what she believes is right. Best known for her one-act Trifles, Susan Glaspell gives us a play from 1921 that makes our times seem a little less unprecedented.
Roles:
(Please note that doubling may shift.)
SMITH / SENATOR LEWIS
Smith - 20s, a young business man, entrepreneurial spirit. Curious and respectful.
Senator Lewis - 30s-40s, a State Senator, from an agricultural town in the Midwest. Prioritizes America and is suspicious of radical ideas.
GRANDMOTHER / ISABEL FEJEVARY
Grandmother - 80s-90s, SILAS MORTON'S mother, a Pioneer, and proud of it. “Her spirit remembers the the days of her strength.” Unable or unwilling to investigate the past, but loves to talk about it and never forgets a detail. Makes great cookies.
Isabel Fejevary - 50s-60s, wife of FELIX FEJEVARY the Second, and MADELINE'S aun, “A woman of great social distinction and charm.” Acts as a mother figure to Madeline. Invested in keeping the peace at all costs.
SILAS MORTON / IRA MORTON
Silas - 50s-60s, a pioneer farmer, an idealist. Speaks passionately and fights for his ideas.
Ira - 50s, son of SILAS MORTON, and MADELINE'S father. Shrewd, greedy, and desperate. He is preoccupied with his corn crop. Carries the pain of losing his wife and son.
FELIX FEJEVARY, the First / HOLDEN
Felix - 50s-60s, an exiled Hungarian nobleman). Steady and introspective. Friend and neighbor to Silas.
Holden - 50s, professor at Morton College, believes in the dream of Morton College and has a strong moral compass. He cares deeply for his students. His wife is sick.
FELIX FEJEVARY, the Second
20s, Felix the First's son, a Harvard student, Excited to share his knowledge, respectfully. Starting to outgrow his hometown.
Ages into: 60s, a banker, Successful, but holding the weight of the college on his shoulders and struggling with the responsibilities of stewarding an institution in a less than ideal world. A realist.
HORACE FEJEVARY / EMIL JOHNSON
Horace - late teens-early 20s, son of FELIX FEJEVARY, the Second. Likes to play devil’s advocate. Delights in his position of privilege. A bit of a tattletale.
Emil - 20s, an Americanized Swede. Has a job at the courthouse. Understands the value of working within a system.
MADELINE FEJEVARY MORTON
Late teens-early 20s, daughter of IRA MORTON, and granddaughter of SILAS MORTON. A senior at Morton college and a “peculiar”girl. Quick and sarcastic, she stands up for what she thinks is right without shame.
THE CONTRAST by Royall Tyler
Rehearsals: March 9 - April 8
Performances: April 9 - 26, at Louis Bluver Theatre at the Drake
Written in 1787, The Contrast was America’s first comedy and an indisputable hit in its time! The sentimental Maria is unhappily engaged to Dimple, a dandy whose recent European tour has given him expensive tastes and a tendency to flirt with her friends. They all seem on track for a life of misery until Colonel Manly and his salt-of-the-earth waiter Jonathan arrive in town to disrupt this disreputable plot. Fresh from the American Revolution, this 1787 gem is a comedy of manners that helped define what American manners were to become.
Roles:
COLONEL MANLY - 20s-30s - A hero of the American Revolution and a man of sense and integrity. He finds his integrity challenges when he falls for the engaged Maria.
JONATHAN - 20s-50s - Manly’s waiter (like a servant, but America doesn’t have servants). A Yankee, through and through. Simple with a heart of gold. A clown(ish) part.
DIMPLE - 20s-30s - A rouge and a cad. Once a decent American boy, his manners have become “European.” Engaged to Maria but stringing along her two friends, Charlotte and Letitia.
JESSAMY - 20s-30s - Servant to Dimple with manners just as “European.”
VAN ROUGH - 50s & up - Maria’s father. His manners are rough, as his name implies, sometimes too much for Maria’s delicacy. He’s focused on making sure his daughter doesn’t miss “the main chance.”
MARIA - 20s-30s - A sincere young women with sentimental ideals. Her sense of propriety is challenged by the behavior of fiance Dimple and the dashingness of Colonel Manly.
CHARLOTTE - 20s-30s - Friend to Maria and Letitia, Sister to Manly, and secretly courted by Dimple. A coquette un-squeamish about money matters but with a heart of gold.
LETITIA - 20s-30s - Friend to Maria and Charlotte (maybe more friendly with Charlotte). Also secretly courted by Dimple.
JENN - 20s-50s - A crafty housemaid. Clown(ish).
Videos
