Description:

Theatre L'Acadie is seeking video audition submissions for the upcoming fifth iteration of their new works reading series, In Bloom. We are casting four readings of plays by Chicago playwrights, happening from January to early May.

How do you get people to talk about the ugly? As nurturers of new and under-produced works, Theatre L'acadie is driven to unearth the beauty rooted within chaos. The In Bloom series aims to highlight early-career BIPOC, LGBTQ+, & non-binary artists through intentional script selection, casting, and direction. Each play is carried through a workshop rehearsal process, aided by a dramaturg, culminating in a final reading where playwrights get the chance to hear audience feedback, and bring their work to the broader Chicago Theatre community.

Character & Play Breakdown:
L'Acadie is highly encouraging BIPOC, LGBTQA+, non-binary, and actors of all abilities to apply.
We encourage people of all backgrounds, ages, races, gender identities, sexual orientations, ethnicities, and religions to submit for consideration!

We Pump Your Gas in Jersey by Makeda M. Declet
Roles:
JAY-R - male, early 20's, aimless. Dim but aware of the fact and trying.
STEVIE - female, late 50's, stubborn. A poet and adventurer with a deep fear of change.
CANDY - female, 20's, controlling. Full of energy but tragically directionless.
QUICK - female, 40's, hopeful. Gruff. Butch. A lover with a big heart.

landscape by Emma Durbin
Roles:
RACHEL - Queer woman of color in her mid-twenties, she/her pronouns. Rachel is a former competitive climber with big feelings and bigger secrets. Rachel used to lead climb.
BILLIE - Mid-twenties, they/them pronouns, played by a non-binary actor, any race. Billie is hesitant to reveal their heart. Billie used to lead climb.
AMALIA - A woman of color, early twenties, she/her. She is a college student double majoring in history and women and gender studies at Loyola and is deeply insecure about how others perceive her.
SARAH - A cis white woman in her forties. She is bored in her marriage and lives vicariously through other people's secrets. Sarah is a lead climber.
TAYLOR - Enby in their late twenties or early thirties, they/he pronouns. Taylor can be played by a genderqueer actor of any race with power dynamics considered. You can tell them all your deepest darkest secrets and know they are safe. Taylor tried lead climbing once. They never got certified.
JANE INGLES CLARK - Mrs. Ingles Clark should be played by a middle-aged Black woman. She is caught between her combined love and fear of societal rules and her own ambition.
MABEL INGLES CLARK - Mabel is in her mid-twenties and is preferably played by a non-binary and/or genderqueer person of color. She is unmarried and is running out of time (according to her mother).
LUCY SMITH - Miss Smith is in her 30s, halfway between Jane and Mabel. Lucy can be played by an actor of any race with power dynamics considered.

Ding, Ding! HONK, HONK! by Kevin Blair
Roles:
MAN - 30s. Growing older.
ATTENDANT - 20s-60s. Greedy, but likeable. Lovable, yet grim.
MECHANIC - 20s-60s. The one who makes it all work.
MOTHER RAT - 30s-80s. A Mother, who is Mothering.
TOMMY RAT - Early 20s. Teenage Rat who wants to live their life!
BABY RAT - Open age. Terrible twos, or troublesome threes, you choose, but demonlike in the end. A puppet?

The Kings Are Dead by Curtis Lawrence
Roles:
CHRISTIAN - A Black man in his early 40s.
KID - A Black man in his early 20s.
HAWK - 40's. Artist, Eulipion, urban entrepreneur. (Eulipion is a reference to "Theme for the Eulipions" by Rahsaan Roland Kirk.)
JT - A Black man in his early 60s and the owner of JT's bar.
BONY - A Black woman most people believe is around 50. No one knows for sure and no one has the balls to ask.

Compensation:
Actors will be paid a $50 minimum stipend. Additionally, all profits from patron donations and entry fees will be divided among the artists involved. All actor payments will be received upon the conclusion of the public reading.