Audition

DUENDE DRAMA AND LITERATURE
Theatre
NON-UNION

Artistic Director: Thomas F. Maguire
Playwright: Rick Foster
Artistic Associate: John C. Brown
Audition Date(s): Immediate Virtual Submissions
Callback Date(s): August 2024 (Remote or in-person)
Rehearsal dates: TBD September 2024
Production Dates: TBD October 2024
Rate of Pay: $1000 for initial rehearsal/performances, $300 per touring performance.
Location: Sonora, CA

For 30 years, Duende Drama and Literature has been bringing plays about our rich California history to schools and communities across the Sierra Nevada Foothills. We are currently casting good storytellers for staged performances in the fall of 2024 and possible touring performances in schools and public venues during the 2024-2025 school year. Each show runs approximately 45 minutes and is performed by only one actor.

Self Tape Instructions

Audition sides can be found linked below.
You may self tape for more than one role. Please include a slate stating your name, location, pronouns and anything else you might like to share with us. Upload the completed self tape to your preferred file sharing platform (YouTube, Vimeo, Google Drive, Dropbox, etc.) and send the link to info@duendedrama.org.

THE 49ER (“Friendly Fire”)
18+, White, male, an energetic character, he’s been challenged and changed by his experiences with the Native Americans, moves well.

NANCY KELSEY (“The Betsy Ross of the Bears”)
18-40, White, female, tested but never broken, after the adventure of a lifetime to reach the west, she’s determined to establish her family in California. Role requires some simple singing.

LITTLE TIGER (“Gunpowder Man”)
18+, East Asian, Filipino, Mixed Ethnicity, Pacific Islander, South Asian, Southeast Asian, female, quiet strength with a controlled intensity.

Storylines

“Friendly Fire” tells the story of miner Jeff Blake and his life with the Me-Wuk people of California’s Mother Lode during the Gold Rush. He returns home to Missouri only to leave again, finding he’s caught between two worlds. He tells his story from the wharf as he waits to board the paddle wheeler.

“The Betsy Ross of the Bears” is a moving play that presents a complex woman surviving in a harsh world. California pioneer Nancy Kelsey was the first U.S. woman to cross the Sierra Nevada. She must deal with living in a world where woman had few rights, with a husband whose restlessness is at odds with her own needs, and with the memory of a disapproving mother.

“Gunpowder Man” is the story of Little Tiger, a Chinese immigrant to California in the 1800s. More than just the story of immigration and its prejudices, the play gives equal weight to the forces in China that pushed Little Tiger out and to indigenous Chinese values that made the United States so attractive to some.

Download Sides

Download Full Scripts