"Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom" Audition for the Theater
Actors wanted for production of "Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom". ONLY LOCAL TALENT WILL BE CONSIDERED. See the details below. About the project: "It’s 1927 and Ma Rainey, the “Mother of the Blues,” is recording new sides of old favorites in a rundown studio in Chicago. Fiery and determined, Ma Rainey fights to retain control over her music, while her cocky trumpet player Levee dreams of making his own name in the business. More than music goes down in August Wilson’s riveting portrayal of rage, racism, self-hatred and exploitation." Additional info: Rehearsal Schedule: February 28 2026 – April 16, 2026 Saturdays 10 am-2 pm (Saturday March 28 and April 4th rehearsals are 10 am-6 pm) Sundays 1 pm-4 pm Tuesdays – Thursdays 6p-9 pm Performance Dates: April 17 – May 17, 2026 Evenings: Thursdays – Saturdays @ 7:30 pm Matinees: Saturday & Sundays @2 pm If you are interested, please apply.
10 roles
The trumpet player in the band of black musicians that accompanies blues singer Ma Rainey. Not well educated but stylish, flamboyant, brash, energetic, and ambitious, Levee is the youngest of the musicians.
The most popular black blues singer of her day, called the Mother of the Blues. Ma carries herself with a royal air, but, like any black person in Chicago in the 1920’s, she is a second-class citizen. She appears unaware that her style of music is falling out of favor.
The band’s piano player and the only member of the band who can read. In his middle fifties, Toledo is self-taught and the most educated and philosophical of the musicians. He lectures the confused and apathetic band members on African history.
The owner of the recording studio, concerned mainly with profit and insensitive to black performers, preferring to deal with them as little as possible.
Ma Rainey’s manager, tall, corpulent, and proud of his knowledge of and ability to deal with African Americans. Irvin attempts to keep Ma and Sturdyvant satisfied at the same time but usually fails to satisfy either one.
The leader of the band, the guitar and trombone player, and the most sensible of the musicians. In his middle fifties, Cutler is cautious and even unimaginative personally and musically. He is not introspective but tries at all times to defuse hostilities and keep everyone’s attention on the business at hand.
The bass player in the band, in his middle fifties, deceptively intelligent but bored by life. Sporting a large, wicked smile, Slow Drag plays with startling ease, gracefully incorporating underlying African rhythms in his music.
Ma’s lesbian lover, a young, dark-skinned, sensual black woman.
Ma’s nephew, a huge, black Arkansas country boy stutters in almost every sentence he speaks. Ma has brought him to the recording session to do the voice introduction to her song, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom.”
A policeman, who brings Ma to the recording studio to check her identity after the automobile accident and the fight with the taxi driver.
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