2019 Season Summer Auditions
Ohio Shakes, located in Akron, will cast a summer company to perform in both outdoor productions of
HAMLET
and
MEASURE FOR MEASURE.
Up to three AEA contracts available for each production. All non union actors paid a stipend determined by size of role, length of commitment, and number of years spent working with the company.
Open Auditions will be held at Greystone Hall (103 S High Street, Akron) on Sunday March 31st, 12:00-3:00pm and Monday April 1, 6:00-10:00pm.
No walk ins, please.
Actors may request an audition time by submitting a headshot and resume to tess@ohioshakespeare.com, and please include in the subject line: Ohio Shakes Summer Season Auditions. Actors may request a particular time frame, and will be scheduled in the closest available slot. Video auditions, though not encouraged, may be submitted to tess@ohioshakespeare.com.
Prepare 2 contracting Shakespeare monologues, no longer than 3 minutes in total length OR a scene to read from HAMLET or MEASURE FOR MEASURE. (Reader provided, scene need not be memorized.)
Invited callbacks will be held April 13 (12-3pm) and 16 (6-10pm)
Ohio Shakespeare Festival operates with an informal resident acting company. Ohio Shakespeare company members who have worked with the Festival within the past two seasons do not need to come to open auditions. All said company members must submit their interest to tess@ohioshakespare.com and their preferred time/date of callback. All company members must email their interest to be invited to callbacks, no exceptions.
When indicating genders of characters in descriptions below, please know that Ohio Shakespeare is open to all the ways a person can identify on the gender spectrum.
HAMLET
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Terry Burgler
Rehearsals begin: June 4, 2019
Performances: June 27 - July 14
Description: Performed outdoors at Stan Hywet Hall & Gardens, Shakespeare’s greatest tragedy.
The role of Hamlet has been cast from our resident acting company.
AVALIABLE ROLES:
- Available roles for women (traditionally male characters will be played as pants roles), all ages and ethnicities:
- Ophelia—daughter to Polonius, sister to Laertes, Hamlet’s love interest
- Queen Gertrude—Hamlet’s mother
- Horatio—Hamlet’s school friend and closest confidant
- Fortinbras—King of Norway
- Player Queen—Leading female player in the play-wtihin-the-play
- Rosencrantz—Hamlet’s childhood friend
- Available roles for men, all ages and ethnicities:
- King Claudius—Hamlet’s uncle, now married to his mother, and the murderer of Hamlet’s father
- Hamlet’s Ghost—Hamlet’s father
- Osric—A foppish courtier
- Laertes—Son of Polonius, brother, to Ophelia, master swordsman
- Polonius—Lord Chamberlain to the King, a bumbling man, father to Ophelia and Laertes
- Seeking all genders, ages, and ethnicities for the following roles.
- Guildenstern—Childhood friend of Hamlet’s
- Player King—An exceptional actor, the leading player in the play-within-the-play
- Marcellus—An officer
- Bernardo—An officer
- Two Clowns—Gravediggers
- Voltemand & Cornelius —ambassadors to Norway
- Francisco—A soldier
- Reynaldo—Servant to Polonius
- Players—for the play-within-a-play
- Assorted courtiers of all ages, genders, and ethnicities.
MEASURE FOR MEASURE
By William Shakespeare
Directed by Terry Burgler
Rehearsals begin: June 29
Performances: July 25 - August 11
Description: Performed outdoors at Stan Hywet Hall & Garden, a less frequently produced Shakespeare tragi-comedy.
AVALIABLE ROLES:
- Available roles for women, all ages, and ethnicities:
- Isabella— A very virtuous and chaste young woman who faces a difficult decision when her brother is sentenced to death for fornication (unlawful sex). Isabella does not approve of her brother's actions at all, but she pleads for his life out of loyalty and sisterly devotion. Isabella is a spiritual person who wants to become a nun.
- The Duke— She spends most of her time dressed as a friar in order to observe what is happening in her absence. The Duke is unfailingly virtuous, good, and kind-hearted. She tends to rule a little softly, which is why she enlists Angelo's help. In our production, The Duke will be re-gendered as a female. However, she will retain the title of The Duke.
- Mariana—Mariana was supposed to marry Angelo, but he called the wedding off when she lost her dowry in a shipwreck that killed her brother.
- Mistress Overdone—runs a brothel
- Juliet—Claudio’s lover and pregnant with his baby
- Available roles for males, all ages, and ethnicities:
- Angelo—the villain of the play, a man who rules strictly and without mercy. He has his own weaknesses, however. He presents Isabella with a disturbing proposition.
- Claudio—Isabella's brother, a young man sentenced to death for impregnating an his fiancé before marriage. He was engaged to her by a common-law agreement, but they had sexual intercourse before the legal marriage took place.
- Elbow—a dim-witted constable who arrests people for misconduct, particularly of the sexual variety. He speaks in malapropisms and provides comic-relief throughout the play.
- Seeking all ages, genders, and ethnicities for the following roles.
- Escalus— a wise lord who advises Angelo to be more merciful. He is loyal to the Duke and seeks to carry out her orders justly, but cannot go against Angelo's will.
- Lucio—a flamboyant bachelor who provides much of the play's comedic content. He is a friend of Claudio's and tries to help him.
- Pompey— a clown who also works for Mistress Overdone.
- The Provost—runs the prison and is responsible for carrying out all of Angelo's orders.
- Barnadine—A long-term prisoner in the jail, Barnadine is sentenced to be executed together with Claudio.
- Assorted courtiers, musicians, and soldiers.