ECHO READS READING SERIES - Echo Theatre Non Equity Auditions

Posted February 13, 2021
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ECHO READS READING SERIES - Echo Theatre

Echo Reads is a staged reading series that aims to make plays by women+ playwrights accessible to all by providing free, digital readings. This year, Echo Reads will be presented in a Summer Season (May to July) and Winter Season (October to December), with two readings of a play each month. The readings in the Summer Season will be entirely digital; readings for the Winter Season will rehearse digitally, but may offer an in-person performance, provided adequate positive change in the COVID-19 crisis. Echo Theatre will be following all CDC and Dallas County HHS recommendations and precautions for the health and safety of our artists and audience.

Each play will have 11 hours of rehearsals prior to the first performance, followed by two readings. Rehearsals are typically scheduled in the week prior to the performance. Performance dates are non-negotiable. Each actor will receive an artistic stipend of $75.

2021 AUDITIONS ARE ALL ONLINE

We are accepting video submissions from Friday February 12th until Saturday February 27th.

To audition:

  1. Complete the 2021 Echo Audition Form, which can be found on the Echo website under the auditions tab. On your Audition Form, make sure to select every play/role for which you would like to be considered.

  2. Send your completed form (.docx), headshot (.jpeg), and resume (.pdf) to
    auditions@echotheatre.org. Please label your files: FirstName_LastName_FileType. ex. Jane_Doe_AuditionForm.docx, Jane_Doe_Headshot.jpeg, etc.

  3. Within one business day, you will receive an email from Echo Theatre with a Dropbox link to upload your audition video(s).

  4. Record your video(s) according to Echo’s Video Submission Guidelines. If you are interested in multiple plays, please submit separate videos for each play. You are welcome to record as many sides as you would like within each video. You will be considered for every play/role which you selected on your Audition Form, even if you don’t record a side for that character.

  5. Upload your audition video(s) to the Dropbox link as a .mp4 or .mov file labeled: FirstName_LastName_ShowName.
    ex. Jane_Doe_BrightHalfLife.mp4, Jane_Doe_CatchasCatchCan.mov, etc.

If you have any additional questions or technical difficulties, please reach out to
auditions@echotheatre.org and allow one business day for a reply. The Video Submission Guidelines, play descriptions, character breakdowns, and key dates are available below:

ECHO READS 2021 AUDITIONS

VIDEO SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

  1. Record in front of a well-lit, neutral background in a quiet space. Please frame in a ¾ or full body shot. You will not be judged on production quality, we just need to be able to clearly see and hear your audition.

  2. DO NOT INCLUDE TITLE CARDS. Instead, please slate in front of your audition: state your name, height, the roles, and the name of the production you are reading for.

ex. “Hello, my name is ___ and I am _’ __”. I will be reading for ____ in ____.”

  1. If you are reading two sides, please record them separately and slate for each one.

  2. Please format your video as an .mp4 or .mov file using the following specifications:

    1. Under 100MB, 640x840 VGA

    2. Compression: H.264

    3. Compressor Quality: High

    4. Sound Format: AAC

  3. Label each audition video: FirstName_LastName_SideTitle. Then, upload to the Dropbox link you received from
    auditions@echotheatre.org.

ex. Jane_Doe_Bright1.mp4, Jane_Doe_Catch3.mov, etc

BRIGHT HALF LIFE
by Tanya Barfeild (Pulitzer Prize Nominee ‘15)
Directed by Caroline Hamilton
SUMMER SEASON

SUMMARY:

Bright Half Life follows Erica and Vicki through the ups and downs of their relationship over the course of 1985-2031. Scenes are told achronologically, hopping between multiple points of their life in each scene.

CASTING:

ERICA: “soft butch” caucasian woman+, Vicki’s partner (18+)

VICKY: more traditionally feminine than Erica, non-white woman+, Erica’s partner (18+)

KEY DATES:
REHEARSALS
TBD - 11hrs of rehearsals to be scheduled between June 7th - June 17th

PERFORMANCES
Friday, June 18 at 8pm
Saturday, June 19 at 8pm

CATCH AS CATCH CAN
by Mia Chung
Directed by Tim Johnson
SUMMER SEASON

SUMMARY:

As the play begins, Theresa Phelan and Roberta Lavecchia are sharing a plate of rainbow cookies and piles of family gossip. The Phelans and the Lavecchias are longtime neighbors. Theresa’s son Tim, the family golden boy, is back in town and newly engaged to a Korean-American woman. Roberta’s son, Robbie, lives at home and is smarting from a divorce. Her daughter, Daniela, is waiting for her boyfriend to propose. This is what the mothers believe, because these are the roles and tropes they recognize. They are almost entirely wrong.

Two blue collar New England families grapple with a spiraling crisis that threatens not just their relationships, but their very identities. Three actors take on the six roles, crossing both generation and gender, upending the kitchen sink drama in a theatrical tour-de-force.

CASTING:

ACTOR L/D – white, can play late 30s and early 70s
LON LAVECCHIA (early 70s)
DANIELA LAVECCHIA (late 30s) daughter to Roberta and Lon

ACTOR R/R – white, can play mid-40s and late 60s
ROBERTA LAVECCHIA (late 60s)
ROBBIE LAVECCHIA (mid 40s) son to Roberta and Lon

ACTOR T/T – white, can play mid-40s and late 60s
THERESA PHELAN (late 60s)
TIM PHELAN (mid 40s) son to Theresa

KEY DATES:

REHEARSALS
TBD - 11hrs of rehearsals to be scheduled between July 5th - July 22nd

PERFORMANCES
Friday, July 23rd at 8pm
Saturday, July 24th at 8pm

THERE IS EVIL IN THIS HOUSE

by Natalie Nicole Dressel

Directed by TBD

WINTER SEASON

SUMMARY:

This coming of age story follows a trans-woman as she unwinds the many twisted threads of her life: her mother is manic, her new step-dad is a con-man, and the ghost of her dead father won’t stop rearranging the furniture. This auto-biographic play weaves therapy, horror, Hamlet, and late-night talk shows together into a meta-theatrical examination of Penny’s continually evolving relationship with her mother and how the past can—quite literally—haunt you.

Eugene O'Neill National Playwright Conference, finalist (2019)

CASTING:
THIS SHOW HAS BEEN CAST, PLEASE COME AND ENJOY A FREE READING!

KEY DATES:
PERFORMANCES
Friday, October 22nd at 8pm
Saturday, October 23rd at 8pm

BOURBON AT THE BORDER
by Pearl Cleage
Directed by Mikaela Brooks
WINTER SEASON

SUMMARY:

When May and Charlie went to Mississippi in 1964 for a massive voter registration drive, they had no idea their lives were about to change forever. White supremacists responded with violence that left three civil rights workers dead and many more psychologically scarred. Decades later, May and Charlie are still searching for a way back from the damage that was done to them during that long ago “Freedom Summer.”

May is unable to confide even in her best friend, Rosa, about the demons that haunt her dreams and twist Charlie’s love for her into something she can no longer recognize. Rosa’s boyfriend, Tyrone, gets Charlie a job as a truck driver, but May is convinced that if she can just get Charlie to leave Detroit and cross the bridge to Canada, they can start a new life. But when the two couples hear about a serial killer targeting white people in Detroit, the madness of that summer bubbles over until it threatens all of their very lives.

CASTING:

MAY THOMPSON - black woman, late 40s-50s; Charles’s wife. Former revolutionary. A woman anxiously waiting for the return of the man she once loved. Fiercely loyal.

ROSA ST. JOHN - black woman, late 40s; May’s best friend. Stylish, with expensive tastes. She is considering secretly working for a phone sex line.

CHARLES THOMPSON - black man, late 40s-50s; May’s husband. Former revolutionary. Horrific torture in a Mississipi jail has caused him to be institutionalized; he has just returned home.

TYRONE WASHINGTON - black man, late 40s; Rosa’s new man. Vietnam War veteran and long-haul truck driver. Frugal. He isn’t looking for any trouble.

KEY DATES:
REHEARSALS
TBD - 11hrs of rehearsals to be scheduled between November 1st - November 18th

PERFORMANCES
Friday, November 19th at 8pm CST
Saturday, November 20th at 8pm CST

in a word
by Lauren Yee
Directed by Eric Berg
WINTER SEASON

SUMMARY:

Fiona has a nagging feeling that she’s missing something. Today is Fiona’s birthday and the two-year anniversary of her son’s disappearance, and still, nothing makes sense to her: not the incompetent detective, her “understanding” boss, or the neighborhood kidnapper who keeps casually introducing himself at the grocery store. Her husband, Guy, is desperately trying to move on, but Fiona delves back into her memories of that fateful day, struggling to find the right words to bring her son home.

A comedy about grief and how the words we use to describe tragedy can take on a life of their own.
NYT Critic’s Pick - Best New Play (2017)
Frencesa Primus Prize (2017)

CASTING:

FIONA (30s-40s, any race) - Guy’s wife. Determined to get her son, Tristan, back. In denial about a great many things.

GUY (30s-40s, any race) - Fiona’s husband. Desperately trying to get back to normal. Reaching the end of his rope.

MAN (any age or race) - This role is a challenge for the actor, playing a variety of important roles:

Kidnapper - a guy you’d otherwise hangout with; friendly and nondescript.
Detective - missing persons detective. Has seen it all before.
Tristan - 7 years old, smart, different--probably has undiagnosed ASD1 (Aspergers’ Syndrome).
Principle Ted - Fiona’s boss; a nice guy just doing his job.
Andy - Guy’s best friend; a real nice fucker.

KEY DATES:
REHEARSALS
TBD - 11hrs of rehearsals to be scheduled between November 29th - December 9th

PERFORMANCES
Friday, December 10th at 8pm CST
Saturday, December 11th at 8pm CST

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