Theatre Arts & Performance Studies

Writing is Live Auditions

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Auditions: Writing is Live
Featuring new plays in progress by Brown MFA playwrights

Writing is Live is a festival of new plays in progress written by MFA playwriting students and presented in collaboration with students in the Brown/Trinity MFA Program. The festival celebrates the diversity and strength of new theatrical voices while providing the Brown community with a glimpse into the vibrant process of creating new work for theater.

 - AUDITIONS -
Stuart Theatre (75 Waterman Street)
February 2: 6-10pm
February 3: 12pm-4pm
Callbacks:
February 4: 1pm-5pm

- PERFORMANCES -
May 1 - 5
Leeds Theatre | Ashamu Dance Studio

Audition slots will be 10 minutes long. Please arrive 10 minutes early to sign-in at the audition table. Auditions are open to all Brown University and RISD students. 

- SIGN UP FOR AN AUDITION SLOT HERE -

 - FOR AUDITIONS PLEASE PREPARE -

  • A side of your choosing, from the selections given. You may be asked to read an additional side at the audition. There is no need to memorize the side and we will have copies available for use at the audition. 

  • 30-60 seconds of a song to be performed without accompaniment. This is  required to audition for Cold War Choir Play, optional for other shows. 

- CASTING NOTE -
Writing is Live casts will feature a mix of graduate and undergraduate actors working together. As these plays are works in progress, elements of the piece may shift over the course of the process, allowing actors to collaborate with playwrights and directors on the performance.  

- DEIA STATEMENT -
The Writing is Live festival is committed to casting inclusively and thoughtfully across race, gender, ability, culture, and neurodiversity. As these projects engage with many specific stories about identity and experience, we encourage all to audition.

- REHEARSAL TIMES - 
*subject to change

  • Workshop Productions:
    • Rehearsing approx. 75 hours each, March 18-May 1 (no rehearsal during Spring Break)
    • 4 performances each, May 1-5
  • Staged Readings:
    • Rehearsing approx. 40 hours each, April 1-May 1 (no rehearsal during Spring Break)
    • 3 Performances each, May 2-5

For any questions please contact:
Production Director, B Reo, barbara_reo@brown.edu
Creative Producer, Aileen Wen McGroddy, aileen_mcgroddy@alumni.brown.edu

Workshop Productions

Scourge by Harley Elias ‘24 MFA

Plague strikes in a city under siege! Certain people are being blamed; other people are blaming themselves. Is it a chance for revolution, or a chance to put on a great show? A dark comedy for bubonic times. 

  • Casting Note: Looking for an ensemble member to play an oddball, an outsider, someone who doesn’t quite fit in, with a gentle funny bone that aches a little bit too much. If you play an instrument, any instrument, even (especially) badly, bring it.
  • Character Descriptions
    Ensemble: Multiple roles/as cast

Cold War Choir Practice by Ro Reddick ‘24 MFA

It’s twilight in Ronald Reagan’s America and the specter of nuclear war hangs over the country – but rent is still due on the 1st. When a prominent Black conservative brings his mysteriously ill wife home to the family roller rink in Upstate New York for Christmas, everyone is thrown into a bizarre maze of Reaganomics, Cold War espionage, capitalist cult predation, and… choir practice. A dark comedic thriller with original music.

  • Casting Note: In this play, there are the actors playing the family – and then there is The Choir that embodies almost everyone else in America and the Soviet Union! They sing in tight harmonies, speak in Russian, shine in step-out moments that showcase their comedic chops, and disappear inside of a wide range of roles that include cult members, American nationalists, and a beloved 80’s toy. They are fucking awesome. In these auditions, we are seeking to cast roles in The Choir, an ensemble of actor-singers. As stated above, all actors interested in auditioning for this play must present a short unaccompanied song.
  • Character Descriptions:
    The Choir - A shapeshifting clutch of singers with a spooky vibe. These are the only characters in the play who are double cast as other roles. 

STAGED READINGS

Money Shot by Dhari Noel ‘25 MFA

Maximus and Rex could be porn stars if they could just time their orgasms. Aura’s figured it all out and is finally about to win best female performer of the year. Unaware of each other but locked in the same American house of desire and power, all are haunted by Sambo, star of the old stag film we all pretend to not know. Can two teen activists get us out of this mess? Or is a haint doomed to keep fucking its hauntees?

  • Content Note: All the things... References to porn and sex work, gun violence, sexist language, ableist language, racist imagery, reference to bodily fluids, objectification, capitalist dehumanization...
  • Character Descriptions: 
    MAXIMUS: Black, mid 20’s, Queer, Sex Worker, Femme boi
    REX: Black, mid 20’s, Queer, In love with Maximus, Femme boi
    P-Y-T: (pretty young thing): White, Late 20’s, Rocket to fame Porn Star, Femme Woman
    POV: (point of view): White, all ages, Faceless/nameless, Shapeless/shapeshifter, Man
    - This actor also plays: INTERVIEWER, STAR, RUSSIAN, FRENCH, ITALIAN, HOST, WYATT, DIRECTOR.
    TAE: Korean-American, 16yo Boy, High School Student
    BRIT: Black, 16yo Girl, High School Student
    SAMBO: Mid-40’s Black man, performer
    - This actor also plays: MANDINGO #5

Sky Rat Human Rat by Kathy Ng ‘25 MFA

Society wants to fake us out, but Tiff, her nonna, and her f*up friends are gonna put a stop to all that. Part 90s hacker thriller, part slacker makeout dream, rife with hallucinogenic OTC meds, militant pigeons and rats, if you ever had a crush on the entire cast of The Matrix, this play is for you! 

  • Casting Note: All these characters can be played by an actor of any gender/race as long as they feel comfortable/excited embodying the *vibe* that these descriptions are evoking.
  • Character Descriptions: 
    TIFF: the coolest hacker g*rl you’ve never seen, the steel eyes of a hydroelectric turbine, computer brain, also, the last panda in the known universe 
    EDDIE: A utility pole. On a quest for immortality but not really, actually. Hates parks. Hates museums. Loves energy drinks. Loves Tiff. 
    BONESPANTS: Self-taught art school art student. Is always wearing black sweatpants with bones painted on them. What else do you need to know?!
    NONNA: She’s an “Italian” “Grandma”! She’s a “Butternut” “Squash”! 
    HATMAN: Suave. Slick. Shadowy. A salesman but if you don’t look closely you’ll never be able to tell