Casting Call for "The Piano Lesson" Play
Performers required for "The Piano Lesson" play. See the details below. ONLY LOCAL TALENT WILL BE CONSIDERED. About the project: It is 1936, and Boy Willie arrives in Pittsburgh from the South in a battered truck loaded with watermelons to sell. He has an opportunity to buy some land down home, but he has to come up with the money right quick. He wants to sell a piano that has great importance to his family, but he shares ownership with his sister Berniece, and the piano sits in her living room. Berniece has already rejected several offers because the antique piano is covered with beautiful carvings detailing the family's rise from slavery. Boy Willie argues that the past is past, but Berniece proves to be more formidable than he anticipated. Rate: LORT Non-Rep $850 weekly minimum (LORT D). Additional info: Audition will be run on a First Come / First Served basis. Sign-ups will begin at 8:30 a.m. on the morning of the audition. Please prepare one monologue (preferably from August Wilson) of approximately two minutes in length. Each actor must bring one 8x10 headshot with a resume attached to the back of the photo. First Rehearsal: 8/5/2025; Opening: 9/5/2025; Closing: 9/28/2025. If you are interested, please apply.
7 roles
(Female presenting): A young, urban woman whom Boy Willie and Lymon each try to pick up.
(Male presenting): A washed-up recording star who drifts in and out of his brother Doaker's household whenever he finds himself broke. He functions as one of the play's primary storytellers, recounting anecdotes from his travels.
(Male presenting): A preacher who is trying to build his congregation; he moves north once Berniece's husband dies in an attempt to court Berniece. He is honest, ambitious, and fervently religious. He brings Christian authority to bear in the exorcism of Sutter's ghost.
(Male presenting): Boy Willie's longtime friend who is more taciturn than his partner, speaking with a disarming straightforwardness. Fleeing the law, he plans to stay in the north and begin life anew. An outsider to the family, he functions particularly in the beginning of the play as a sort of listener, eliciting stories from the family's past. Obsessed with women, he will also appear prominently in his seduction of Berniece, where he helps bring her out of her mourning for her dead husband.
CAST/Replacement (Female presenting): Sister of Boy Willie, she is a mother still in mourning for her husband, Crawley. She blames her brother for her husband's death, remaining skeptical of his bravado and chiding him for his rebellious ways.
CAST/Replacement (Male presenting): Berniece and Boy Willie's uncle and the owner of the household in which the play takes place; he has spent his life working for the railroad. He functions as the play's testifier, recounting the piano's history.
CAST/Replacement (Male presenting): Berniece's brash, impulsive, and fast-talking brother; he introduces the central conflict of the play. Coming from Mississippi, he plans to sell the family piano and buy the land his ancestors once worked as slaves. By selling the piano, he avenges his father, Boy Charles, who spent his life property-less.
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