Casting Performers for Upcoming Theatre Season

"Zora Neale Hurston's SPUNK" Strong singer. Gospel inflections. Big Belt/ Strong sense of rhythm. Comfortable with Rhythm Instruments. Most importantly a large voice that can command the room/community. Mrs. Watson is an Elder of the town. She teases and challenges the young folk freely, incites the partying, and commands respect. Open to vocal part. Most important a large voice that can command and lead the community.

"Zora Neale Hurston's SPUNK" Townsperson and part of the railroad crew. One of the youngest. Not the sharpest tool in the shed. Needs to sing and to harmonize, ideally a multi-instrumentalist. Strong mover including tap. May also understudy.

"Zora Neale Hurston's SPUNK" Identifies as a Black Male. Inger, dancer (including tap) who can play an instrument (Banjo, Violin/Fiddle, Upright Bass/Washtub Bass, Harmonica, Hand Drums (Cajon/Box Drum/Djembe), and auxiliary Percussion (Washboard, Spoons). Covers WILLIE JOE: He is a bit of a ladies man. Riles up Jim; ADMIRAL: Townsperson who owns a leaky boat he tries to sell rides in. A bit of a hustler; JIM BISHOP: Evalina’s husband and Hodge Bishop’s son.

"HEDDA GABLER" A former school friend of Hedda, who left an unhappy marriage to follow Løvborg south and continue her collaboration with him.

"HEDDA GABLER" Jørgen Tesman’s aunt. Devoted to Tesman since his youth.

"HEDDA GABLER" Tesman household maid of long standing, moving from Aunt Julle’s to Jørgen’s home. Fear, joy, anger, every expression of every feeling in human existence is 1000%.

"RHINOCEROS" A shambolic man in late middle age, who suffers from a vague un-nameable anguish. He drifts along in a mild alcoholic haze, wondering if he actually exists, avoiding work and dreaming of life with the charming young Daisy. When the town is overrun by rhinoceroses and his friends have joined the herd, Berenger is suddenly aroused from his lethargy to stand alone.

"RHINOCEROS" Berenger’s friend, a meticulously dressed man with a smattering of culture and a great fondness for the sound of his own voice. Fond of Berenger in a condescending way, Gene seizes every opportunity to improve his friend’s attitude and behavior. Genial, self-centered, pedantic. At first incredulous at the arrival of the rhinos in town, Gene eventually joins their ranks, transforming, right before Berenger’s eyes and ours, into a snorting, charging rhino.

"RHINOCEROS" A charming young office assistant, who pities Berenger for his haplessness and covers for him when he makes mistakes. She is clever, practical, and direct, always ready to give people the benefit of the doubt, even when they seem to be shedding their humanity for the raw animal power of life as a rhinoceros.

"RHINOCEROS" An inexhaustible blowhard with the obtuse stubbornness of a full-grown rhino. A fatuous petty bureaucrat whose slender command of facts has never shaken his conviction that his views are invariably correct.

"RHINOCEROS" A bright, ambitious young man with a law degree who works in the office with Berenger, Daisy, and Botard. Honest and diligent. Believes facts exist and stoutly sticks to them even when ridiculed. Resists the pull of the rhinoceroses, but eventually joins them, believing it wiser to “criticize the movement from within.”

"RHINOCEROS" Papillion is the boss at Berenger’s office. He’s been there forever and struggles to keep his office staff in line. He never undertakes a task himself when he can order a subordinate to do it for him. Enjoys exercising his little power and authority. The Café Owner lords his authority over the Waiter with the zeal of a tyrant but treats his customers with avuncular charm. Hale, hearty, proud of his establishment.

"RHINOCEROS" Aka Marcel. Still an apprentice, he has not quite learned the art of balancing a tray, but he’s already good at ignoring customers.

"RHINOCEROS" A prosperous, respectable matron with a cat into whom she pours all her maternal love. When her cat is crushed by the first stampeding rhino, she is operatic in her grief.

"RHINOCEROS" Stout and surprisingly light on her feet. Passionately devoted to her husband, stopping at nothing to save him when he metamorphoses into a raging rhinoceros. She eventually leaps down a stairwell to remain with him, even as he rampages on.

"RHINOCEROS" Ordinary citizens of an ordinary small town somewhere in France.

"FURLOUGH’S PARADISE" Whose name means ‘love,’ an only child, a cousin, shaped in childhood by Y2K, moves with the illusion of having everything under control, radical — grasping things at the root, the responsible one, has forgotten the sound of her own laugh, feels where she’s been under her skin; has learned to bury, edit and suppress, a visionary and listener who cares deeply for her people

"FURLOUGH’S PARADISE" Whose name means ‘honor earns a crown’ or ‘rain,’ Mina calls her ‘de,’ an only child, a cousin, shaped in childhood by Y2K, quick-wit, infinite sense of humor and self, cares deeply for her communities, a dreamer, logical and calculating, has a very clear map to freedom, seemingly unshakable & infinitely tender, rocked in instances of injustice, feels where she’s been with every breath, has learned to be very loud when she can, unyielding in conflict.