"Lucky/Bird" Audition for the Theater

Matriarch of the Evans family, mother to Tasha, grandmother to Nia; raises peacocks and other tropical birds on her front porch; a bit of a pariah, a bit reclusive; a three-time widow, sometimes bitter, a chain smoker; an "Everything Happens to Me" attitude towards life.

Louise’s granddaughter, Tasha’s daughter. Often glued to her phone; in a rebellious phase of life; stubborn; surprisingly, has more in common with her grandmother than her mother. Unhappy, at first, to be visiting her grandmother. Feigns youthful disinterest and apathy to hide her true feelings. (May double with The Stranger.)

Louise’s neighbor, feeds her birds for her. Incredibly sweet, earnest, sometimes a little naive; both parents are deceased, lives alone, often lonely; very close with THE DUKE. NIA’s suitor.

Louise’s neighbor and occasional nemesis; the town crier, always in everybody’s business; loves to start and spread gossip, rumors. Often very nice and sweet on the surface, not always kind. The eyes and ears of the block. Also a widow; sometimes feels she's in competition with Louise, although very one-sided. (May double with The Stranger.)

A flirtatious smooth-talker, old school charm, a little fast-talking, a dandy; often the life of the party, a bacchus-figure, a trickster-figure; used to slick back his hair and wear alligator shoes back in the day; a jazz man with no instrument. Behind his laughing mask is a lonely man, a misunderstood man, which has led him to drinking.

A butch lesbian, very cosmopolitan, left the community as a teenager, educated, informed; looks out of place in the world of this town, feels disconnected from her mother and her mother’s community and the culture she was raised in; “listens to NPR and lives with her white wife and their daughter, Nia, in a nearby major city”; a little uptight, a little type-A. (May double with The Stranger.)

An official, should represent the outside world: bureaucracy, order, modernity, comedic timing/straight man. Will also represent THE MAN, who is more serious, stoic, mythic. Doesn’t have many lines (might not speak at all) but has a strong, ominous presence whenever on stage.