Audition: Howl in the Black Box
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AUDITIONS
Howl in the Black Box
Saturday, August 9 at 7:00 PM
Sunday, August 10 at 7:00 PM
Howl Playwrights, a local collective dedicated to developing bold, socially engaged new work, is seeking actors for a series of short plays to be performed in The CENTER’s black box space. These one-acts (and one full-length play) explore timely themes with humor, heart, and a willingness to take risks.
Location: The CENTER for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck Black Box, 661 Route 308, Rhinebeck, NY
Performance Dates: October 3-5, 2025. Friday and Saturday at 8PM, Sunday at 3PM
Questions: Please contact aG93bCAhIHBsYXl3cmlnaHRzIHwgZ21haWwgISBjb20=
Prepare: Please visit HERE: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GFGrh3hwHQg-T9j9nVnzca9p-Bb3ZQdb?usp=drive_link to view and select a side to prepare. Full scripts are also available in this folder for your reference. Additional information about the plays and roles can be found below. You're welcome to prepare sides from any piece that interests you. Please note that all auditionees will be considered for multiple roles across all plays. Memorization is not required. You may prepare multiple sides if you wish. Auditions will likely take place in small groups.
AUDITION INFO
Play: BEAR
Playwright: MOLLY PARKER MYERS
Performed: Friday, Oct 3 at 8pm
About: A child army is formed when a preschool class encounters an enemy at their door.
Character Descriptions:
CHILDREN: PLAYED BY ADULTS
A - Curious
B - Follower
C - Clever
D - Brave
E - Magical
F - Timid
AUDITION NOTES:
The children should be played by adults, but there is no need to use small voices or impersonate children vocally. An effort should be made to study the physicality of small children and move as they do.
The children should overlap their lines and feel free to improvise vocalizations at appropriate times.
The children should function as a group, and move and speak with deep awareness of each other, despite their individuation
View BEAR Audition Sides HERE: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1Qw5rn21Tp_CKLBh31i4YpuE55Y3GdeFJ
Author’s Bio:
Molly Parker Myers is an actor, artist and writer based in Kingston NY. Recent regional acting projects include The Thanksgiving Play (WAM Theatre), The Moors (Bridge Street Theatre) Papermaker (Shadowland Stages), Emilie, House of Blue Leaves (Wellesley Rep) Mamma Mia!, The Graduate, The Norman Conquests Trilogy and Lost in Yonkers (Winnipesaukee Playhouse). Molly’s original cabaret (COMEBACK!) was part of the 2014 NYC United Solo Festival, her play KITTY will be part of the 2025 O+ Festival, and she is a member of HOWL playwrights. As both an actor and playwright, Molly is interested in exploring themes of intimacy, bravery, connection and particularly, complicated and flawed humans of all ages. www.mollyparkermyers.com
*******
Play: A SHORT(ER) VIEW…
Playwright: DWIGHT WATSON
Performed: Friday, Oct 3 at 8pm
About: Mosley and Olive, long-time custodians at the Kennedy Center, anticipate an inspection of the Center by the President. Meanwhile, on another stage and in another time, Mr. Coll lectures on the harmful effects of the theater.
Character Descriptions:
MR. COLL – male, middle age (or older), a pompous fop from the 17th century
MOSLEY – male, middle age (or older), a custodian at the Kennedy Center
OLIVE – female, middle age (or older), a custodian at the Kennedy Center
View A SHORT(ER) VIEW Auditions Sides HERE: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1c-Uw5Nf2qvfgIXOmkoodFCfFZ6pRDpDe?usp=drive_link
AUTHOR’S BIO:
After thirty-six years of teaching at Wabash College in Indiana, I moved to the Hudson Valley. The journey to New York was preceded by childhood in North Carolina, theater tours in the South, marriage in Alabama, life in Los Angeles, and then tenure at Wabash. Today, time is shared with my spouse, my grandchildren, sons and family, with essay and play writing, fly fishing, drumming, and collecting LPs. In 2017, I completed by tenure at Wabash as Emeritus Professor of Theater and Charles D. and Elisabeth S. LaFollette Distinguished Professor of the Humanities.
*******
Play: GRETAL AND HANSEL
Playwright: DAVID SIMPATICO
Performed: Saturday, Oct 4 at 8pm
About: An innocent brother and sister struggle to escape the hunger and pain of their dilapidated trailer park in Scrotum, Pennsylvania. A modern-day grand guignol!
Character Descriptions:
Hansel, M, 15-20; an innocent lad in hardship; starving*(can be in 20s)
Gretal, F, 13-18, an innocent lass in hardship; starving* (can be in 20s)
Traci, F, 35+, a furious, starving harpy
Gordon, M, 40+ , a widowed dad; also, a strung-out junkie
Sheriff Billy, M, 35+, a morally repugnant ‘morality enforcer’
Alexa, M/F; a Home Computer
Stage Directions reader; M/F; a real storytelling energy, set the scene as we play it out
View GRETAL AND HANSEL Audition Sides HERE: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UFo84SdXtBIKxgvz5omcleA2ubet2aPj?usp=drive_link
AUTHOR’S BIO:
David Simpatico’s career highlights include: the book/stage adaptation of Disney’s High School Musical; The Screams of Kitty Genovese (Jonathan Larson Award; music by Will Todd); Garden of Light, libretto for choral symphony, with composer Aaron Jay Kernis. His musical adaptation of Twelve Angry Men, music and lyrics by Michael Holland, received its world premiere production in June, 2022 at Theater Latte Da in Minneapolis, directed by Peter Rothstein. His grand opera, The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing, with music by Justine F. Chen, received its world premiere at Chicago Opera Theater in March, 2023, also directed by Peter Rothstein. He is currently adapting Wally Lamb’s She’s Come Undone, with co-bookwriter Darrah Cloud, and composer/lyricist, Michael Holland. He is also working on That Hellbound Train, a new jazz opera with composer Lisa DeSpain, based on the short story by Robert Bloch. His play, Ex-Gay Bar, was named Honorable Mention in the Carlo Annoni International Playwriting Award, as well as receiving the inaugural Voices For Change Action Grant by ArtsWestchester. He wrote Cruel Shoes, the backstage murder mystery musical comedy, with Ross Patterson. Most recently, his oratorio adaptation of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, with score by Will Todd, received its first production with Opera Holland Park at Sinfonia Smith Square in London, Dec, 2024, and is headed back for a command performance in 2025.
*******
Play: AMSTERDAM
Playwright: MARGIE CASTLEMAN
Performed: Friday, Oct 3 at 8pm
About: POLLY is shocked to hear of her son’s plan to pull an ex-pat move with his family to Amsterdam, to escape what he perceives as a fascist machine emerging in the U.S.
Character Descriptions:
POLLY, F, 50+; a widowed mother and grandmother, strong in her liberal, democratic convictions
TOBIAS, M, 30+; Polly’s son; comes to tell her he is moving to the Netherlands, a political refugee
View AMSTERDAM Auditions Sides HERE: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1138-dTYkQ6a6t0v_f0OxtR0csKrVdZW1?usp=drive_link
AUTHOR’S BIO:
In her adult life time (a long one) Margie has worked as a professional dancer, actor, choreographer, director, playwright in Europe, New York and regionally. Credits include: Circle in The Square, (NY); Hampstead Theatre, London; Bucharest, Romania; Actor’s Theater, Louisville; Portland Stage, Maine. Chosen three times (not a charm) for semi-finalist at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference. Local readings at Round The Bend Theatre and HOWL playwrights, where she continues to develop plays, most recently, Homeboy Arts.
*******
Play: FIFTH HORSEPERSON
Playwright: DEAN TEMPLE
Performed: Saturday, Oct 4 at 8pm
About: Taking your kid to work day can be such a distraction, but how else are they going to learn how the world works
Characters:
Bill He’s a dad. He’s an air traffic controller. He wants his daughter to discover interests beyond her phone.
Lorraine An easy-going and supportive supervisor with a considerable capacity for distraction and celebrity obsession.
Distraction Bill’s daughter. Ambitious. Modern. Utterly lacking any moral compass and ready to seize any opportunity to advance herself.
Toktease A gender fluid succubus and fashion icon. You will never meet their standards. Don’t even try.
Tykbyte If malware were a gender fluid cybernaut. Always looks good ruining your life.
Pilot 1 (VoiceOver) An airline pilot.
Pilot 2 (VoiceOver) An airline pilot.
View FIFTH HORSEPERSON Auditions Sides HERE: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13Caep3JIJL7HiXO_wVcDFDRAEIEoND7-?usp=drive_link
AUTHOR’S BIO:
Dean is a Ukrainian American writer, actor, and director based in Millbrook, NY, and NYC. His one-act solo show Voice of Authority won Best of Fest at Pittsburgh Fringe before going on to successful runs at 59E59 Theaters in NYC and Edinburgh Fringe where it was named a “Hidden Gem” by Fringe Review. He has also written, animated and directed a series of award-winning short documentaries for the FDR Presidential Library and Museum including Everyone Has the Right: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and We Dare Not Fail: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen. His latest film for FDR can be seen as the centerpiece of their Signature Moments special exhibit at the Museum, and features the voice talents of multiple CENTER regulars.
*******
Play: APOCOLLAPSE!
Playwright: DEAN TEMPLE
Performed: Sunday, Oct 5 at 3pm (Full length; Sunday matinee)
About: Jerahmeel’s family is a mess. Her dad’s losing control, she barely knows her mom, and her brother is from Hell. If she can’t get them in line, her world will end. And so will ours.
Characters:
JERAHMEEL Jerahmeel An Archangel, and the only angel who stayed in Heaven, Jerahmeel has a strong point of view and would like it to be heard once in a while. A thank you would be nice. After taking care of her aging, grumpy father for millennia, just the tiniest bit of appreciation would do.
FATHER/GENERAL BEAST Father. In the past he was known as God Almighty, although these days he mostly stews that no one listens to him. He’s never been the most creative type, an apocalypse is more his speed. General Beast The Beast of the Apocalypse. He’s a ruthless and self-loving dictator used to hearing yes from everyone so often he knows he can do no wrong. A master strategist.
LUCIFER/PUNDIT 1/HOST 1
Lucifer, Lord of Hell. A misunderstood optimist with a quick mind for problem solving, he’s spent an eternity in maximum security planning for the day he breaks out as a major international producer and personality. He will absolutely debase himself if that’s what it takes.
Pundit 1 is a propaganda media pundit.
Host 1 is a propaganda media host.
BEREHYNIA/POET/PUNDIT 2/HOST 2/LUCIFER’S ASSISTANT
Berehynia. The Mother of all Creation, the most prolific creator ever to have existed. She is filled with wonder and possibility and whatever she’s about to give birth to. She has a positive word for everyone, but it doesn’t always come out that way. Poet The Beast of the Revelations, Poet is Jerahmeel’s answer to Beast of the Apocalypse, a charismatic icon come to end General Beast’s corrupt paternalism as painfully as she can manage.
Pundit 2 is a propaganda media pundit.
Host 2 is a propaganda media host. Lucifer’s Assistant has the thankless job of trying to hold back the legions of Hell and protect her boss.
View APOCOLLAPSE Audition Sides HERE: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1o4SIUVS3gLQeorNbtL73tafpCEgGuiCY
AUTHOR’S BIO:
Dean is a Ukrainian American writer, actor, and director based in Millbrook, NY, and NYC. His one-act solo show Voice of Authority won Best of Fest at Pittsburgh Fringe before going on to successful runs at 59E59 Theaters in NYC and Edinburgh Fringe where it was named a “Hidden Gem” by Fringe Review. He has also written, animated and directed a series of award-winning short documentaries for the FDR Presidential Library and Museum including Everyone Has the Right: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and We Dare Not Fail: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen. His latest film for FDR can be seen as the centerpiece of their Signature Moments special exhibit at the Museum, and features the voice talents of multiple CENTER regulars.
Howl in the Black Box
Saturday, August 9 at 7:00 PM
Sunday, August 10 at 7:00 PM
Howl Playwrights, a local collective dedicated to developing bold, socially engaged new work, is seeking actors for a series of short plays to be performed in The CENTER’s black box space. These one-acts (and one full-length play) explore timely themes with humor, heart, and a willingness to take risks.
Location: The CENTER for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck Black Box, 661 Route 308, Rhinebeck, NY
Performance Dates: October 3-5, 2025. Friday and Saturday at 8PM, Sunday at 3PM
Questions: Please contact aG93bCAhIHBsYXl3cmlnaHRzIHwgZ21haWwgISBjb20=
Prepare: Please visit HERE: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1GFGrh3hwHQg-T9j9nVnzca9p-Bb3ZQdb?usp=drive_link to view and select a side to prepare. Full scripts are also available in this folder for your reference. Additional information about the plays and roles can be found below. You're welcome to prepare sides from any piece that interests you. Please note that all auditionees will be considered for multiple roles across all plays. Memorization is not required. You may prepare multiple sides if you wish. Auditions will likely take place in small groups.
AUDITION INFO
Play: BEAR
Playwright: MOLLY PARKER MYERS
Performed: Friday, Oct 3 at 8pm
About: A child army is formed when a preschool class encounters an enemy at their door.
Character Descriptions:
CHILDREN: PLAYED BY ADULTS
A - Curious
B - Follower
C - Clever
D - Brave
E - Magical
F - Timid
AUDITION NOTES:
The children should be played by adults, but there is no need to use small voices or impersonate children vocally. An effort should be made to study the physicality of small children and move as they do.
The children should overlap their lines and feel free to improvise vocalizations at appropriate times.
The children should function as a group, and move and speak with deep awareness of each other, despite their individuation
View BEAR Audition Sides HERE: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1Qw5rn21Tp_CKLBh31i4YpuE55Y3GdeFJ
Author’s Bio:
Molly Parker Myers is an actor, artist and writer based in Kingston NY. Recent regional acting projects include The Thanksgiving Play (WAM Theatre), The Moors (Bridge Street Theatre) Papermaker (Shadowland Stages), Emilie, House of Blue Leaves (Wellesley Rep) Mamma Mia!, The Graduate, The Norman Conquests Trilogy and Lost in Yonkers (Winnipesaukee Playhouse). Molly’s original cabaret (COMEBACK!) was part of the 2014 NYC United Solo Festival, her play KITTY will be part of the 2025 O+ Festival, and she is a member of HOWL playwrights. As both an actor and playwright, Molly is interested in exploring themes of intimacy, bravery, connection and particularly, complicated and flawed humans of all ages. www.mollyparkermyers.com
*******
Play: A SHORT(ER) VIEW…
Playwright: DWIGHT WATSON
Performed: Friday, Oct 3 at 8pm
About: Mosley and Olive, long-time custodians at the Kennedy Center, anticipate an inspection of the Center by the President. Meanwhile, on another stage and in another time, Mr. Coll lectures on the harmful effects of the theater.
Character Descriptions:
MR. COLL – male, middle age (or older), a pompous fop from the 17th century
MOSLEY – male, middle age (or older), a custodian at the Kennedy Center
OLIVE – female, middle age (or older), a custodian at the Kennedy Center
View A SHORT(ER) VIEW Auditions Sides HERE: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1c-Uw5Nf2qvfgIXOmkoodFCfFZ6pRDpDe?usp=drive_link
AUTHOR’S BIO:
After thirty-six years of teaching at Wabash College in Indiana, I moved to the Hudson Valley. The journey to New York was preceded by childhood in North Carolina, theater tours in the South, marriage in Alabama, life in Los Angeles, and then tenure at Wabash. Today, time is shared with my spouse, my grandchildren, sons and family, with essay and play writing, fly fishing, drumming, and collecting LPs. In 2017, I completed by tenure at Wabash as Emeritus Professor of Theater and Charles D. and Elisabeth S. LaFollette Distinguished Professor of the Humanities.
*******
Play: GRETAL AND HANSEL
Playwright: DAVID SIMPATICO
Performed: Saturday, Oct 4 at 8pm
About: An innocent brother and sister struggle to escape the hunger and pain of their dilapidated trailer park in Scrotum, Pennsylvania. A modern-day grand guignol!
Character Descriptions:
Hansel, M, 15-20; an innocent lad in hardship; starving*(can be in 20s)
Gretal, F, 13-18, an innocent lass in hardship; starving* (can be in 20s)
Traci, F, 35+, a furious, starving harpy
Gordon, M, 40+ , a widowed dad; also, a strung-out junkie
Sheriff Billy, M, 35+, a morally repugnant ‘morality enforcer’
Alexa, M/F; a Home Computer
Stage Directions reader; M/F; a real storytelling energy, set the scene as we play it out
View GRETAL AND HANSEL Audition Sides HERE: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1UFo84SdXtBIKxgvz5omcleA2ubet2aPj?usp=drive_link
AUTHOR’S BIO:
David Simpatico’s career highlights include: the book/stage adaptation of Disney’s High School Musical; The Screams of Kitty Genovese (Jonathan Larson Award; music by Will Todd); Garden of Light, libretto for choral symphony, with composer Aaron Jay Kernis. His musical adaptation of Twelve Angry Men, music and lyrics by Michael Holland, received its world premiere production in June, 2022 at Theater Latte Da in Minneapolis, directed by Peter Rothstein. His grand opera, The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing, with music by Justine F. Chen, received its world premiere at Chicago Opera Theater in March, 2023, also directed by Peter Rothstein. He is currently adapting Wally Lamb’s She’s Come Undone, with co-bookwriter Darrah Cloud, and composer/lyricist, Michael Holland. He is also working on That Hellbound Train, a new jazz opera with composer Lisa DeSpain, based on the short story by Robert Bloch. His play, Ex-Gay Bar, was named Honorable Mention in the Carlo Annoni International Playwriting Award, as well as receiving the inaugural Voices For Change Action Grant by ArtsWestchester. He wrote Cruel Shoes, the backstage murder mystery musical comedy, with Ross Patterson. Most recently, his oratorio adaptation of Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, with score by Will Todd, received its first production with Opera Holland Park at Sinfonia Smith Square in London, Dec, 2024, and is headed back for a command performance in 2025.
*******
Play: AMSTERDAM
Playwright: MARGIE CASTLEMAN
Performed: Friday, Oct 3 at 8pm
About: POLLY is shocked to hear of her son’s plan to pull an ex-pat move with his family to Amsterdam, to escape what he perceives as a fascist machine emerging in the U.S.
Character Descriptions:
POLLY, F, 50+; a widowed mother and grandmother, strong in her liberal, democratic convictions
TOBIAS, M, 30+; Polly’s son; comes to tell her he is moving to the Netherlands, a political refugee
View AMSTERDAM Auditions Sides HERE: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1138-dTYkQ6a6t0v_f0OxtR0csKrVdZW1?usp=drive_link
AUTHOR’S BIO:
In her adult life time (a long one) Margie has worked as a professional dancer, actor, choreographer, director, playwright in Europe, New York and regionally. Credits include: Circle in The Square, (NY); Hampstead Theatre, London; Bucharest, Romania; Actor’s Theater, Louisville; Portland Stage, Maine. Chosen three times (not a charm) for semi-finalist at the O’Neill Playwrights Conference. Local readings at Round The Bend Theatre and HOWL playwrights, where she continues to develop plays, most recently, Homeboy Arts.
*******
Play: FIFTH HORSEPERSON
Playwright: DEAN TEMPLE
Performed: Saturday, Oct 4 at 8pm
About: Taking your kid to work day can be such a distraction, but how else are they going to learn how the world works
Characters:
Bill He’s a dad. He’s an air traffic controller. He wants his daughter to discover interests beyond her phone.
Lorraine An easy-going and supportive supervisor with a considerable capacity for distraction and celebrity obsession.
Distraction Bill’s daughter. Ambitious. Modern. Utterly lacking any moral compass and ready to seize any opportunity to advance herself.
Toktease A gender fluid succubus and fashion icon. You will never meet their standards. Don’t even try.
Tykbyte If malware were a gender fluid cybernaut. Always looks good ruining your life.
Pilot 1 (VoiceOver) An airline pilot.
Pilot 2 (VoiceOver) An airline pilot.
View FIFTH HORSEPERSON Auditions Sides HERE: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/13Caep3JIJL7HiXO_wVcDFDRAEIEoND7-?usp=drive_link
AUTHOR’S BIO:
Dean is a Ukrainian American writer, actor, and director based in Millbrook, NY, and NYC. His one-act solo show Voice of Authority won Best of Fest at Pittsburgh Fringe before going on to successful runs at 59E59 Theaters in NYC and Edinburgh Fringe where it was named a “Hidden Gem” by Fringe Review. He has also written, animated and directed a series of award-winning short documentaries for the FDR Presidential Library and Museum including Everyone Has the Right: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and We Dare Not Fail: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen. His latest film for FDR can be seen as the centerpiece of their Signature Moments special exhibit at the Museum, and features the voice talents of multiple CENTER regulars.
*******
Play: APOCOLLAPSE!
Playwright: DEAN TEMPLE
Performed: Sunday, Oct 5 at 3pm (Full length; Sunday matinee)
About: Jerahmeel’s family is a mess. Her dad’s losing control, she barely knows her mom, and her brother is from Hell. If she can’t get them in line, her world will end. And so will ours.
Characters:
JERAHMEEL Jerahmeel An Archangel, and the only angel who stayed in Heaven, Jerahmeel has a strong point of view and would like it to be heard once in a while. A thank you would be nice. After taking care of her aging, grumpy father for millennia, just the tiniest bit of appreciation would do.
FATHER/GENERAL BEAST Father. In the past he was known as God Almighty, although these days he mostly stews that no one listens to him. He’s never been the most creative type, an apocalypse is more his speed. General Beast The Beast of the Apocalypse. He’s a ruthless and self-loving dictator used to hearing yes from everyone so often he knows he can do no wrong. A master strategist.
LUCIFER/PUNDIT 1/HOST 1
Lucifer, Lord of Hell. A misunderstood optimist with a quick mind for problem solving, he’s spent an eternity in maximum security planning for the day he breaks out as a major international producer and personality. He will absolutely debase himself if that’s what it takes.
Pundit 1 is a propaganda media pundit.
Host 1 is a propaganda media host.
BEREHYNIA/POET/PUNDIT 2/HOST 2/LUCIFER’S ASSISTANT
Berehynia. The Mother of all Creation, the most prolific creator ever to have existed. She is filled with wonder and possibility and whatever she’s about to give birth to. She has a positive word for everyone, but it doesn’t always come out that way. Poet The Beast of the Revelations, Poet is Jerahmeel’s answer to Beast of the Apocalypse, a charismatic icon come to end General Beast’s corrupt paternalism as painfully as she can manage.
Pundit 2 is a propaganda media pundit.
Host 2 is a propaganda media host. Lucifer’s Assistant has the thankless job of trying to hold back the legions of Hell and protect her boss.
View APOCOLLAPSE Audition Sides HERE: https://drive.google.com/drive/u/2/folders/1o4SIUVS3gLQeorNbtL73tafpCEgGuiCY
AUTHOR’S BIO:
Dean is a Ukrainian American writer, actor, and director based in Millbrook, NY, and NYC. His one-act solo show Voice of Authority won Best of Fest at Pittsburgh Fringe before going on to successful runs at 59E59 Theaters in NYC and Edinburgh Fringe where it was named a “Hidden Gem” by Fringe Review. He has also written, animated and directed a series of award-winning short documentaries for the FDR Presidential Library and Museum including Everyone Has the Right: Eleanor Roosevelt and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and We Dare Not Fail: The Story of the Tuskegee Airmen. His latest film for FDR can be seen as the centerpiece of their Signature Moments special exhibit at the Museum, and features the voice talents of multiple CENTER regulars.
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