Looking for opportunities in acting?
Audition for the TAPS Spring Shows
Tuesday, February 21 | 6:30 PM - 10 PM
Wednesday, February 22 | 5 PM - 10 PM
Logan 603
Performances 3rd Week | April 6 - April 8, 2023
What makes an artist tick? What compels them to create? AT YOUR OWN RISK, directed and devised by guest artist Peter Andersen, investigates the life and work of Derek Jarman-queer filmmaker, stage designer, author, and gay rights activist. This devised piece uses live storytelling mixed with video design to crack open his creative process.
CASTING NEEDS: 6 Actors. Open casting! Please bring YOUR SELF to the audition. We are not looking for anyone to "fit the part," but rather this piece will incorporate the specific actors involved. All actors will work with text and movement. No previous experience required. Please prepare the monologue of your choosing from the list below.
Laika’s Coffin, directed by guest artist and TAPS lecturer Seth Bockley, is a miniature epic faux-Soviet opera based on the biography of the doomed first animal in space. Hand-crafted wooden chests open to reveal remarkable miniature Soviet-inspired sets accompanied by operatic sung narration while puppeteers animate the sad but strangely hopeful saga.
CASTING NEEDS: 5-6 Actor/Puppeteers. Open casting! We are not looking for anyone to "fit the part," but rather this piece will incorporate the specific actors involved. Singing is required for some parts. Other parts will be spoken text and puppetry. No puppetry experience required. We encourage you to come to auditions even if you are strictly interested in puppetry work in the show. Please prepare one of the two songs listed below. If you'd prefer to speak it rather than sing it, that is fine as well! We will have the backing track in auditions.
Not an actor? Sign up to work on the shows as a student production staff. (Interest form here). Students will have the opportunity to engage with professional artists working on the productions.
If you have questions, please reach out to the Director of Performance Programs, Devon De Mayo, ddemayo@uchicago.edu
PLEASE NOTE: Regarding ‘preparation,’ our expectation is that you have read through the monologue or song a few times and have a strong familiarity with it. You are not expected to be memorized for auditions. Please wear whatever you are comfortable in. Please consider as part of your preparation, who you are singing or speaking to and what is your motivation is communicating this text. Directors may give notes and ask actors to read/sing again in different ways. Actors are free to ask questions if the direction is unclear to them. Actors are encouraged to audition for both pieces.