LOCAL AUDITIONS

THE ARKANSAS REPERTORY THEATRE EMPLOYS GUEST AND LOCAL ARTISTS TO PRODUCE WORKS – CREATED, REHEARSED, AND BUILT IN DOWNTOWN LITTLE ROCK.

The Rep is an equal opportunity employer and seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce of artists, technicians, and administrators; particularly one that reflects its community in Central Arkansas.

2022/23 SEASON LOCAL, IN-PERSON AUDITIONS – UNION AND NON-UNION

AEA contract TBD; 2021/22 contract was an LOA ref. to LORT-D ($667/week minimum salary for AEA members)

Looking for virtual Equity Principal Auditions for Actors’ Equity members? Click here.

The Arkansas Repertory Theatre will hold the Spring 2022 Season local union and non-union auditions on Saturday, May 21 and Sunday, May 22 at the Arkansas Repertory Theatre located at 601 Main St., Little Rock, AR 72201. The holding room is located in the rehearsal hall on the 3rd Floor.

Performers of all ethnic and racial backgrounds are encouraged to audition.

TO SCHEDULE AN APPOINTMENT

To schedule an appointment, email casting@therep.org and use “2022/23 Season Local Auditions” in the subject line. Appointments will be scheduled between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Stage Managers should submit resumes to jobs@therep.org.

WHAT TO PREPARE

  • For Laughter on the 23rd Floor: one contemporary monologue that showcases humor.

  • For Guys & Dolls: one contemporary monologue that showcases humor, plus 16 bars of a classic or legit music theatre song.

  • For Little Shop of Horrors: one contemporary monologue that showcases humor plus 16 bars of a pop or rock song.

  • For Clyde’s: one contemporary monologue that showcases humor.

Laughter on the 23rd Floor

By Neil Simon
Directed by Ari Edelson

Production Dates

Rehearsals begin September 6, 2022
Performances begin September 30 through October 16, 2022
Possible extension to October 23, 2022

The Play

Max Prince is the star of The Max Prince Show, a popular comedy-variety series that is a major hit on the East Coast, but network executive insists that it’s too sophisticated for the Midwest, and urges Prince to dumb down his act. Between the tensions of producing an hour of top-quality comedy each week and being pestered and his ratings, Prince is beginning to unravel. His last line of defense against both the network and the ratings is his writing staff, which spends its days coming up with business for the show while hurling humorous invective at each other and anyone else within earshot.

The Roles

This role has been cast.

Lead, Male, 20-39 – the freshman writer; sensible and sincere.

Lead, Male, 44-47 – the flamboyant “gag” man; a joke a minute wholesaler who deals in fast-paced patter.

Lead, Male, 44-47 – a senior member of the staff; the most politically aware of all the writers; a Russian immigrant, he should still carry a strong accent.

Lead, Male, 35-45 – An Irish-American with a biting sense of humor and acerbic outlook on life; a heavy smoker, heavy cougher, and heavy drinker.

Lead, Male, 34-37 – considered the “boy genius” of the group, but also the most sophisticated of the writers.

Lead, Female, 34-37 – the only woman writer on the show; has a strong and quick defense system.

Lead, Female, 20-29, Max’s female secretary; attractive in a quirky way; completely out of her element in the writer’s room.

Lead, Male, 35-43 – a hypochondriac who comes in late every day with a new ailment; his humor is wrapped around despair.

Guys & Dolls

Music and Lyrics by Frank Loesser
Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows
Directed by Gustavo Zajac
Music Directed by Michael Rice

Production Dates

Rehearsals begin November 1, 2022
Performances begin December 2 through December 31, 2022
Possible extension to January 8, 2023

The Play

Set in Depression-era Times Square, Guys & Dolls is about a couple of big city gamblers and the women who love them. It tells the overlapping stories of high-roller Sky Masterson, who falls in love with mission worker Sarah Brown, and lovable rapscallion Nathan Detroit, engaged for 14 years to Miss Adelaide, a headliner at the Hot Box Club. Nathan runs a famous floating crap game, and an ongoing plotline involves his quest for a safe place for the game as Adelaide continues her quest to convince him to marry her. Meanwhile, Sarah, mistakenly believing that Sky set up an illegal game at the mission, tries to fight her affection for the charismatic crapshooter.

The Roles

Just like his name suggests, he is the nicest and cheeriest of the gambling crooks. High-spirited and a bit naïve, but sincere and genuine. Nathan’s loyal friend and lackey.

Nathan’s right-hand man and a gambler himself. Smart, slick, always moving and shaking, but with what he thinks are Nathan’s best interest at heart.

He is a gambler and one of Nathan’s primary friends and associates.

An idealistic but sheltered missionary, Sarah is kind-hearted but too categorical in her view of the world. She learns she has an adventurous side and goes through character changes over the course of the show. Must feel comfortable with classic musical theatre singing as well as jazz.

A member of the Save-a-Soul mission, Arvide is Sarah’s grandfather. He is a seasoned old man with a warm heart that harbors only the kindest intentions, even if he tends to be a little gullible.

A crook and gambler. He is a tough guy with dollar signs as his bottom line. Brings Big Jule into Nathan’s craps game and backs his cheating, but is also a man of his word in the gambling community.

A New York police officer who is on to Nathan’s illegal craps games and is dead-set on catching him. A tough, no-nonsense character. This is primarily an acting role. Comic timing and acting ability are essential.

A feckless and humorous manipulator, Nathan is the facilitator of illegal gambling in town. He maintains a distance by acting only as a broker; seldom a gambler. A consummate businessman with divided loyalties; he pacifies his fiancé Adelaide with vague promises of marriage ‘some time’ in the future. A good-hearted gambler and craps game organizer who could never hit the bigtime. He loves Adelaide, but cannot quit his gambling ways. A broke schemer with unwitting ways.

As a lead performer at the Hot Box nightclub, she is a strong comic and classic showgirl, who loves Nathan more than anything in the world and desperately wants to get married. Nathan’s longsuffering fiancée, Adelaide is not always the brightest. Weary of the disruption Nathan’s involvement in the craps game causes to their relationship, she longs for quiet family life away from New York. Pretty, outspoken, stubborn.

Charming, but self-assured high-stakes gambler whose luck never seems to run out, and a wild card who surprises himself when he falls in love with missionary Sarah Brown. Suave, smart, handsome. Sky is able to adapt to any situation but ready to reel off prepared anecdotes regarding his view of the world. Despite his failings, Sky is immensely likable and oozes style.

The regional director of the Save-a-Soul mission, Matilda is authoritative through necessity but motivated by charity.

He is temperamental and a sore loser. Although not necessarily a large man, stage presence and acting ability are the main requirements for this role. A big-time craps player from Chicago who uses a gun and his own pair of rigged dice to bully his way into never losing. Tough looking. A bit of an oaf.

Sightseers, Mission Band (Agatha, Calvin, Martha), Master of Ceremonies, Crap Shooters (Liver Lips Louie, Angie The Ox, Rusty Charlie), Joey Biltmore, Hot Box Girls (Allison, Ferguson, Vernon), Waiters, Cuban Dancers, Drunk.

Little Shop of Horrors

Book & Lyrics by Howard Ashman
Music by Alan Menken
Based on the film by Roger Corman, Screenplay by Charles Griffith
Directed by Stephanie Klemons

Production Dates

Rehearsals begin March 7, 2023
Performances begin April 7 through April 30, 2023
Possible extension to May 7, 2023

The Play

A sci-fi horror musical with an electrifying 1960s pop/rock score. Seymour Krelborn is a meek and dejected assistant at a floral shop who happens upon a strange plant, which he affectionately names “Audrey II” after his crush at the shop. Little does he know that this strange and unusual plant will develop an R&B voice, a potty mouth, and an unquenchable thirst for HUMAN BLOOD. As Audrey II grows bigger and meaner, the carnivorous plant promises limitless fame and fortune to Seymour, as long as he continues providing a fresh supply of blood. Just when it’s too late, Seymour discovers Audrey II’s extra-terrestrial origins and his true drive for world domination.

The Roles

Age: 25 to 35 – An insecure put-upon florist’s clerk and menial laborer at Mushnik’s Flower Shop. He is a genuine, well-meaning man who is taken for granted
because of his clumsy ways and poor social skills. Nerdy, awkward, dorky, well-meaning, romantic.

Age: 25 to 35 – The gum-snapping, bleached-blond, Billie-Dawn-like, secret love of Seymour’s life. She has poor self-worth and education, but incredibly good looks and a sweet and vulnerable demeanor. Romantic, abused, ditzy, hopeless, submissive.

Age: 55 to 65 – The opportunistic owner of a failing Skid Row Flower Shop. He seldom smiles but often sweats. He is profit-driven, greedy, grumpy, and manipulative.

Age: 30 to 50 – Audrey’s boyfriend. An egotistical, maniacal, motorcycle-riding, dark, handsome dentist with a passion for leather and abusive, dominant, and sadistic tendencies.

An anthropomorphic cross between a Venus flytrap and an avocado. Conniving, street-mart ‘villain”.

Age: 20 to 35 – Three female street urchins who function as participants in the action and a Greek Chorus outside it. They are young, hip, smart, and the only people in the whole cast who really know what’s going on. In their “Greek Chorus” capacity, they occasionally sing to the audience directly. And when they do, it’s often with a “secret smile” that says: “We know something you don’t know.”

Reporters (Orin, Bernstein, Luce) street urchins, homeless people, shoppers

Clyde’s

By Lynn Nottage
Directed by Josiah Davis

Production Dates

Rehearsals begin May 16, 2023
Performances begin June 9 through June 25, 2023

The Play

A truck stop sandwich shop frequented by truckers making the long journey across Pennsylvania. The kitchen is staffed exclusively by formerly individuals looking for their shot at redemption. Even as the shop’s callous owner, Clyde, tries to keep them under her thumb, the staff members are given purpose and permission to dream through their shared quest to create the perfect sandwich.

The Roles

Age: 30 to 50: Female Ex-convict, Great comedic chops. Able to change the temperature of a room with an entrance. Dominatrix. Loves to expose vulnerabilities. Seductive. Brash. Controls the room. Delights in humiliating others. Wicked. Runs truck stop.

Age: 40 to 50: Served many years in prison. Interested in healing. Kind. Working-class. Sensitive and caring, particularly to the younger generation. Uses cooking as a means of meditation. Funny, Mindful.

Mid-late 20’s: Formerly incarcerated. A romantic. Loves food. In love with Letitia. Funny. Fun. Playful. Recovering. Working to find a more spiritual path. Full of charm. Terrified of his boss. Actor should have great comedic timing.

20’s: Recently released from prison, she is trying to build her life up again. Mother to a daughter with health issues, her job is important to her even when the atmosphere is toxic. A romantic, she is looking to find a genuine partner. She is a survivor and has life skills. She is working towards building a mindful path. Very funny. Actor needs to have great comedic timing.

Age: 20’s to 30’s: Working class. Funny. Served 8 years in prison. White supremacist affiliation. Goes from being seen as a threat to being open and vulnerable. Actor with comedic chops.

QUESTIONS? | Email casting@therep.org

AUDITIONS

The Arkansas Rep regularly holds auditions in Little Rock throughout the year. Auditions are announced here on our website as well as in local newspapers, and on our Facebook page.

Season EPAs are scheduled once a year and take place in Chicago or New York City, with Chorus calls scheduled for each chorus musical. These EPAs and Chorus Calls are announced on www.actorequity.org and in Backstage Magazine, www.backstage.com.

For the latest news and updates – such as when we’re hiring – join our newsletter and follow our social channels today.