the Penny Seats 2025 General Auditions
The Penny Seats will hold in-person general auditions for non-union actors on Sunday, January 12, 2025 from 6:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. at Cahoots Coworking Event Space, 206 E. Huron St., Ann Arbor, MI 48104. Sign up for an audition slot here. Walk-ins are welcome, although the order of auditions will give preference to those with an appointment.
Video submissions will also be accepted through 9:00 p.m. on January 12. Please email your submissions to thepennyseats@gmail.com, attaching a link to your submission.
Please bring a resume and recent headshot, or submit them alongside a video audition. If auditioning for non-musicals only, please prepare your favorite 1-2 minute monologue. If auditioning for the musical, please prepare one 1-2 minute monologue and one song in the style of the show. (Karaoke accompaniment is fine; songs from the show are fine but not required.) We do not anticipate having live piano accompaniment for general auditions, though we will for Ordinary Days callbacks.
Callbacks will occur seasonally on a rolling basis; see callback dates below. We will reach out regarding callbacks after general auditions have concluded.
All roles are paid. Actor honorarium is set at $500. Although the character descriptions below typically contain binary (male/female) descriptors, our casting seeks to be as inclusive as possible. We encourage gender non-conforming, genderqueer, transgender, and non-binary actors to audition for the roles they most identify with. Further, actors of all races, genders, and ethnicities, as well as actors with disabilities, are exuberantly encouraged to audition. Please do not hesitate to reach out to us at thepennyseats@gmail.com if you have any questions.
THE FOLLOWING 2025 SEASON DATES MAY BE SUBJECT TO CHANGE:
The City in the City in the City by Matthew Capodicasa
Callbacks: Sunday, January 26
Rehearsals begin: Monday, March 3
Performances: April 4 - 19
Synopsis: Two women, each marked by loss and linked together by a strange twist of fate, journey to an ancient city—a storied city without borders—in search of answers and escape. But what they discover there will change their lives in ways neither of them could expect. Two actors play more than thirty characters on this wild ride through a city of doubles, monastic cheese, octogenarian vocalists, dizzying bureaucracy, ancient graves, and lives more expansive and singular and wondrous than found even in myths and legends.
Content Warning: death of a parent.
Character Descriptions:
TESS (18+) - a woman on a mission, any age, any ethnicity
LAURA (18+) - a mysterious woman eager to escape her life, any age, any ethnicity
Ordinary Days, a musical by Adam Gwon
Callbacks: Sunday, March 16
Rehearsals begin: Monday, July 7
Performances: August 8 – 23
Synopsis: In this entirely sung-through musical, four young New Yorkers intersect as they each search for fulfillment, happiness, love and cabs.
Content Warning: death of a loved one; 9-11
Character Descriptions:
CLAIRE (30s) - Embarking on a new stage of her life with her boyfriend Jason. The decision to share an apartment is the catalyst for Claire to face her past. Her cathartic "I'll Be Here" provides the audience the final clue to her arc. Required vocal range: Soprano
JASON (30s) - Claire’s boyfriend. A romantic at heart, he spends the bulk of the musical attempting to further his relationship, at first by moving in ("The Spaces Between") and then by proposing. Claire consistently resists his attempts leading to the central conflict of their story arc ("Fine"). Required vocal range: Tenor
WARREN (20s-30s) - cheerful and sometimes annoyingly optimistic, Warren sees beauty in the simple things in life, delivering the musical's message and final number ("Beautiful"). Required vocal range: Tenor
DEB (20s-30s) - a cynical and defensive grad student who is struggling to find focus in her life. She meets struggling artist Warren when he finds her thesis notes in the street. Required vocal range: Mezzo
The Woman in Black by Stephen Mallatratt & Susan Hill
Callbacks: Sunday, May 4
Rehearsals begin: Tuesday, September 2
Performances October 3 - 18
Synopsis: A lawyer hires an actor to tutor him in recounting to family and friends a story that has long troubled him concerning events that transpired when he attended the funeral of an elderly recluse. There he caught sight of the woman in black, the mere mention of whom terrifies the locals, for she is a specter who haunts the neighborhood where her illegitimate child was accidentally killed. Anyone who sees her dies! The lawyer has invited some friends to watch as he and the actor recreate the events of that dark and stormy night.
Content Warning: death of a child.
Character Descriptions:
THE ACTOR (20s-30s): plays a younger Arthur Kipps
ARTHUR KIPPS (40+): plays all other characters
THE WOMAN: any age, gender, or ethnicity
The Thanksgiving Play by Larissa FastHorse
Callbacks: Sunday, June 8
Rehearsals begin: Monday, October 20
Performances November 21 - December 7
Synopsis: Good intentions collide with absurd assumptions in this wickedly funny satire, as a troupe of terminally woke teaching artists scrambles to create a pageant that somehow manages to celebrate both Turkey Day and Native American Heritage Month.
Content Warning: discussions of anti-Indigenous racism and the genocide of Indigenous Americans; an episode of anti-Indigenous mock violence and suicide.
Character Descriptions:
LOGAN (20+): Female, Caucasian-looking, a high school drama teacher who’s always pushing the envelope in potentially inappropriate ways. Earnest about theater and proving herself.
CADEN (20+): Male, Caucasian-looking, the academic. Awkward elementary school history teacher with dramatic aspirations but no experience.
JAXTON (20+): Male, Caucasian-looking, yoga practitioner/actor. Politically correct to a fault, a big one. He’s that confident guy everyone loves, but his logical PC-thinking takes weird turns.
ALICIA (20+): Female, brunette, Caucasian-looking, but has looks that would have been cast as ethnic in 1950s movies. Without guile. Sexy and attractive, but not bright.