AUDITIONS: RENT: The Musical

AUDITION NOTICE

TITLE: RENT

BOOK, MUSIC & LYRICS BY: Jonathan Larson

DIRECTORS: Meredith Miranda & Russell Malang

MUSICAL DIRECTOR: Stephen Olear

CHOREOGRAPHER: Anthony Tuason

RUN:  Oct. 14th – Nov. 18th, 2023

Fridays & Saturdays 8pm, Sundays at 2pm. Special performances on Thursday and Sunday nights may be added for private parties and special events.

This is a volunteer community theater production.  Non-Equity.  There is no pay.

AUDITION DATES:

Open Call: 

Dates: Tuesday, Aug. 15th & Wednesday, Aug. 16th, 2023.

(Auditioners only need to come to one night of Open Call Auditions. We are accepting only in-person auditioners during audition times for this show.)

Times: 7pm – 9pm

Location: Long Beach Playhouse  

Callbacks: By Invitation Only.

Date: Thursday, Aug. 17th, 2023.

Times: 7pm – 11pm

REHEARSALS:

First Read-Through: Saturday, Aug. 19th, 2023, Noon – 4pm.

Regular Rehearsals: Beginning August 21st, Mondays – Thursdays 7pm – 10pm, Saturdays 10am – 4pm (specific principles and company members will be called at their respective times and released accordingly), and TBD Sunday evening rehearsals, 6pm – 9pm. 

(Please see Beginning Rehearsal Schedule BELOW for specific dates and times.)

Location: Long Beach Playhouse

AUDITION REQUIREMENTS:

Bring headshot and resume. We are only accepting in-person auditioners during audition times for this show – no video submissions.

Open Call:

Please prepare and bring sheet music for 16 bars of a contemporary rock song in the style of the show. An accompanist will be provided. Also be prepared to move.

Callbacks:

For callbacks be prepared to improvise, move, learn some choreography and songs from the show, and read scene sides.

SHORT SYNOPSIS:  

Winner of the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and multiple Tony Awards & Drama Desk Awards, RENT based on Giacomo Puccini’s La Boheme, is a legendary rock opera that chronicles a year in the life of a group of friends living in Alphabet City, a bohemian enclave in the East Village. Set during the height of the Aids Epidemic in NYC in 1989, the physical and emotional complications of the disease permeate the lives of this group of artists and musicians while they experience desperation, loneliness, loss, lust, and love all while coping with survival. Together they discover how to fight for salvation and redemption all while striving to maintain the inner ever-kindling flame of what it means to be an artist, to live for the moment, and to build a life of their dreams. 

CASTING THE FOLLOWING ROLES:

NOTES: Performers of all ethnic, racial, sexual and gender identities and backgrounds are encouraged, needed and welcomed. 

Transgender, Gender-Nonconforming, Non-Binary Actors are welcomed and encouraged to submit for any and all of the roles below with the understanding that there are individual characters that may identify as a woman or man.

RENT features many adult themes, including sex, drug use, profanity, and same-sex intimacy. Due to the adult nature of RENT, all actors must be over 18 at the time of auditions.

THE PRINCIPLES:

ROGER DAVIS (M, 20-35, A4-F2, OPEN TO ALL) A musician/singer-songwriter who is a recovering drug addict living with HIV. Roger has mourned members of his community and is grieving the loss of his deceased former girlfriend. Roger longs for connection and meaning through his music. He is roommates with Mark in an abandoned loft space. (*Actively seeking actors with the ability to play/learn to play, some guitar.)

MARK COHEN (M, 20-35, G4-A2, OPEN TO ALL) A filmmaker and video artist who constantly seeks validation. He connects deeply with his roommate Roger and longs for the days when his group of friends were closer. In his struggles to find his place in the world, he often finds himself on the outside looking in. Mark comes from privilege but desires to understand his responsibility to himself and his community.

TOM COLLINS (M, 25-40, A4-F#2, OPEN TO ALL) A professor of technology at NYU that is grounded in anarchy and liberation, Tom Collins is smart, caring, and the backbone of his friend group. His chosen family is lifted by his positive and nurturing spirit. His warmth and empathic presence allows him to invite his friends to examine personal accountability. Tom used to be a roommate in the loft with Mark and Roger. He is also living with HIV. (*This role requires comfortability with learning and performing intimacy choreography including same-sex kissing and physical contact.)

BENJAMIN COFFIN III (M, 25-40, F#4-Bb2, OPEN TO ALL) Mark and Roger’s landlord and former roommate. Benny struggles to find connection with his former chosen family. He is constantly battling being a friend while pleasing his new in-laws. In spite of being seen as a sell out, Benny longs to know who he is and where he fits in his community.

JOANNE JEFFERSON (F, 25-40, E5-G3, BIPOC) A public interest lawyer who always fights for the underdog, Joanne comes from a conservative upper-class family. As an out and proud lesbian, she demands her own liberation. She is smart, purposeful, and grounded. She is dating Maureen Johnson. Joanne’s connection to Maureen brings her into an established chosen family where she discovers the power of being celebrated in your own community. (*This role requires comfortability with learning and performing intimacy choreography including same-sex kissing and  physical contact.)

ANGEL DUMOTT SCHUNARD (20-35, A4-3C, OPEN TO ALL) A vibrant street musician who radiates light, Angel moves through the world as a gender nonconforming human who is also living with HIV. Angel has an incredible spirit with a gift for inspiring human connection all while being a street fashion Icon and drag queen. Angel is magnetic and rooted in living for the moment. Angel meets and swiftly becomes Tom Collins’ partner, a connection that brings Angel into the chosen family group. Angel is the heart of the piece. (*Transgender, gender-nonconforming, non-binary actors are strongly encouraged to submit for this role with the understanding that the character identifies/moves within multiple gender representations. This role requires comfortability with learning and performing intimacy choreography including same-sex kissing and  physical contact.)

MIMI MARQUEZ (F, 18-35, E5-Eb3, LATINX/AFRO-LATINX/BIPOC) A dancer and sex worker. Mimi is a proud Latina woman determined to live in the moment She is a drug addict who is living with HIV. A young woman on a journey to find who she is and what she is fighting for. Mimi’s addiction and intentions are often at odds. She desperately tries to make the best of life in whatever way she can. Living in the same building as Roger and Mark, Mimi meets the friend group through her unexpected romantic connection to Roger and is forever changed by this chosen family. Her artistry is connected to her body and movement. 

MAUREEN JOHNSON (F, 20-35, F5-C4, OPEN TO ALL) A performance artist who is constantly raging and ready to fight. Maureen is full of well-intended passion and anarchist energies of which she pours into her art no matter the medium. She’s a former roommate of Roger, Mark, Collins and Benny. She completes the chosen family rounding out the space with intoxicating energy dripping with sexualized vigor. Maureen is queer and openly dating Joanne after recently breaking up with Mark. Bursting with confidence and a vivacious spirit, Maureen navigates how to be a less self-centered human that is accountable for their actions. Artistically speaking she is a radical and unexpected arts advocate. (*This role requires comfortability with learning intimacy choreography including same-sex kissing and  physical contact.)

THE ENSEMBLE:

MEMBERS OF EAST VILLAGE NEIGHBORHOOD (Any, 18+, all vocal ranges, OPEN TO ALL) The Ensemble of this world will be omnipresent on stage and is incredibly valuable and provides the foundation and full structure that holds and supports the stories RENT has to share. The auditions will be conducted with room for growth and adjustments as we meet the individuals who encompass our need to build a core family to tell this tale.

Seeking a diverse company of all ages, ethnicities, orientations, shapes, and sizes of seven core company members plus one possible swing/company member. Must be strong singers/movers, and all will likely play multiple characters(backups, dancers and party people of the Cat Scratch club, inhabitants of Alphabet City, carolers, police officers, homeless people, parents of Mark, Roger, Mimi, Joanne etc., the angel-ghost of April/Mark’s dead lover, vendors, support group, junkies, The Man, Alexi-Darling, Mr.Grey, Restaurant Man, Waiter, bohemians, Pastor.

BEGINNING REHEARSAL SCHEDULE: