AUDITION FOR US!

Shakespeare in Action is accepting Actor submissions for our outdoor summer production of 3Tempests; a two-person adaptation of Shakespeare’s Tempest that weaves in first-person stories of local seniors experiencing isolation through the COVID-19 pandemic with accounts from Hurricane Hazel, a local tempest that devastated the Weston community in 1954.

First Day of Rehearsal: August 23rd, 2021
First Day of Performance: September 7th, 2021
Closing: September 12th, 2021

Contract Type: ITA, G House; $700.00 / week

Hiring Statement

SIA is committed to equity, diversity, and inclusion and to building an organization that reflects the communities we serve.

As 3TEMPESTS is centred in Toronto’s Weston community, we strongly encourage applications from folks who reflect our community, including: Black, Indigenous, and racialized communities; Two-Spirit, non-binary, trans, lesbian, gay, bisexual and queer people; disabled people; youth; and members of other equity seeking groups. SIA is also prioritizing candidates that live, work, and/or have a relationship with the diverse communities in northwest Toronto, including but not limited to: Weston, Mount Dennis, Rockcliffe-Smythe, Pelham, and Rexdale.

Application Process

In an effort to minimize unconscious bias in the selection, SIA is experimenting with a new application process that de-centres the importance of headshots and resume credits.

Step One

Applicants are asked to answer four questions that have been formulated by the SIA team. This acts as a more direct kind of cover letter. Actors will be asked to also submit resume and headshot through this form.

We invite, and encourage, you to write your answers in any form comfortable to you: through poem, bullet points, short answers, long answers, run-on sentences, set of words (shaky, unfounded) or simply a word. Answers will not be judged on spelling, grammar, or vocabulary. Answers should be a maximum of 400 words /question, with no minimum word count.

All submissions will be anonymized by a third party SIA staff member, who will forward the answers to these questions (without headshot and resume) to the review panel.

The review panel is made up of:

● Tamara Freeman (Associate Managing Producer at SIA),
● Suchiththa Wickremesooriya (Education Coordinator at SIA and 3Tempests Dramaturge)
● Julia Nish-Lapidus (Director, 3Tempests).

Submissions will close on July 17th , 2021.

Submission Link can be found HERE.

If you require any accommodation, please reach out to us at auditions@shakespeareinaction.org. Applicants who face systemic barriers with the written word can submit their answers through www.vocaroo.com and provide the hyperlink of their answer inside the respective answer box.

Step Two

The review panel will shortlist applicants based on their answers to the questions. 

Shortlisted applicants will be asked to submit a video audition of themselves performing one Shakespeare monologue and one scene from the show (not off-book).

Once applicants have been shortlisted, headshots and resumes will be shared with the panel.

Offers to submit video auditions will be made by July 21st 2021 with a July 27th submission deadline.

Step Three

Upon reviewing video monologues, the panel will invite a few actors to participate in short online chats to answer any questions about the project and provide an opportunity
for all parties to get to know one another. From this step, offers will be made.

Offers for the short chat will be made by July 30th , and will be scheduled on/before August 2nd. Decisions will be made by August 3rd , 2021.

Creative Team

Julia Nish-Lapidus, Director
Pete Smith, Playwright
Suchiththa Wickremesooriya, Dramaturge
Lucy Wong, Designer
Anastasiya Popova, Production Manager

Character Sketches

ARIEL (25-45) – is a nurse/frontline worker at St. Joe’s Hospital in Toronto in 2021. She has a great capacity to learn, something that is driven by her curiosity and energy, and she is passionate about her work. She is coming off an intense 24 hour duty call at the hospital and through her exhaustion and for reasons she doesn’t completely understand finds herself caught in three very different worlds – a participant in three different tempests: the pandemic, Hurricane Hazel in 1954, and playing various parts in Shakespeare’s Tempest. It is discombobulating and as she works through these different worlds her understanding about what is going on becomes our understanding. And it all eventually leads her to understand that a tempest is a tempest no matter the cause – and that a tempest is a time to set aside differences and realize that we are all in this together. Ariel’s grandmother is a Hurricane Hazel survivor.

CAL (25-45) – has a parent of Caribbean descent – is a Covid patient at St. Joes Hospital in Toronto in 2021. Before the virus he was an energetic person – a long distance runner. But at the opening of the play his life hangs in the balance as his body struggles to fight the virus. He is an English schoolteacher by trade at a local highschool with a passion for Shakespeare – especially the Tempest. As he slips in and out of consciousness he latches onto the idea that performing the Tempest is a way for him to stay alive. A true believer in the transformative power of art he sees the play not just as a distraction but something that can actually save his life. He connects with Nurse Ariel, recruits her to play various parts in the Tempest, and in the process falls in love. 

Submission Link can be found again HERE and on the button below.