Delaware Shakespeare is accepting video auditions for general consideration for roles and opportunities in the 2022 Season.
After two years of not holding auditions, we are looking forward to reconnecting with the area acting community, and welcome auditions from any actors who are interested in using classic plays to help a community explore its shared humanity.
Del Shakes normally stages two full productions for its Summer Festival and Community Tour. Our 2022 productions, The Tempest and an original musical adaptation of Twelfth Night by Liz Filios and Tanaquil Márquez, were both scheduled to be produced in 2020 and are mainly cast. (Please CLICK HERE for specific information regarding roles available in Summer Festival production of The Tempest.)
In addition to The Tempest and Twelfth Night, Del Shakes will be producing readings of two classic plays by authors other than Shakespeare (titles/dates TBD).
Del Shakes is committed to and interested in creating opportunities beyond “traditional” casting tropes, in particular when it comes to race and gender. Del Shakes actively casts BIPOC and other non-white identifying actors through color-conscious casting. Del Shakes also looks for chances to practice gender-expansive casting. Anyone is encouraged to audition for whatever role they identify with, regardless of gender prescriptions of the character, or the assigned birth gender of the actor. Del Shakes considers this a collaborative, open conversation.
Del Shakes does not provide housing, and therefore works almost completely with Delaware and Philadelphia-area artists. Del Shakes is a fully vaccinated company.
Dependent on COVID conditions, Del Shakes may be hiring understudies for Prospero in The Tempest and for all roles in Twelfth Night. (Gender descriptions of Twelfth Night reflect original casting or creative vision, but are not binding.)
Prospero – Black, male-presenting character, 40-60 (performance run: July 15-31)
Twelfth Night (September/October commitment)
Violeta – Latinx female or non-binary, 20-30, must speak Spanish
Sebastian – Latinx male, 20-30, must speak Spanish
Feste – Latinx any gender, any age, must speak Spanish (bonus if able to play jarana)
Olivia/Captain – Black female, 30-40
Orsino – Male, any race, 30-40
Sir Toby – Black male, 30-50
Malvolio – Male, any race, 30-60
Curio/Sir Andrew – Male, any race 20-40
Maria/Antonia – Black female, 20-50
No roles or project offers will be made as a result of these auditions. Actors may be contacted at other points throughout the year for further project-specific auditions.
COMPENSATION
Del Shakes typically uses 4-6 Equity contracts spread over its two full productions. Equity actors are employed through a Guest Artist Tier II contract ($487/week, plus health weeks). Non-Equity actors are paid $350/week for the Summer Festival and $500/week for the Community Tour (which involves more hours, schedule flexibility, and challenging performance environments).
Readings and understudies are all compensated, at different rates per projects. All understudies will be non-Equity.
INSTRUCTIONS
Send headshot, resume, and link to a Shakespeare monologue (no more than 2 minutes). If you sing or wish to be considered for Twelfth Night understudies, please also share 16 bars of song. Send material via THIS AUDITION FORM. (A Google account is necessary to access and upload files to the form. If you have troubles or other questions, please email auditions@delshakes.org.)
Audition materials are due by Wednesday, February 9.
Questions can be sent to auditions@delshakes.org.
PERSONNEL
Viewing auditions:
David Stradley, Producing Artistic Director (he/him)
And either
Rachel O’Hanlon-Rodriguez, Artistic Squad (she/they), or
Izzy Sazak, Artistic Squad (they/them)
OTHER
See a video about the Summer Festival HERE.
