Free Casting Calls and Auditions

“A Free Man of Color” – Equity Principal Auditions
The Public Theater NYC Off-Broadway $719/week minimum.
Author: John Guare
Director: George C. Wolfe
1st rehearsal: December 2, 2008. Runs February 3 – March 7, 2009. May extend to March 28, 2009.

At once a hilarious sex farce, a tale of international intrigue and a radical re-telling of America’s coming of age. The play takes place in New Orleans in 1801 when the city was an international crossroads where businessmen, players, opportunists and dreamers rubbed shoulders.

Theatre’s casting note: “As there are over 60 characters in the play we are seeking an ensemble of skilled, flexible comedic actors as the majority of roles will be multiply cast.”

Men’s roles:
Dr. Toubib: African American man, 50s – 60s. Free man, and the voice of authority in New Orleans. Dignified, distinguished. Serves as our narrator and guide through the complicated social and political worlds of New Orleans.

Toussaint L’Ouverture: 30s. Former slave who leads a violent rebellion against the Spanish in Santo Domingo. Physically and intellectually powerful. Incredibly charismatic and inspiring leader imbued with mythic powers. The mere mention of his name strikes fear in the hearts of white people.

Thomas Jefferson: 40s – 50s. Third President of the United States. Patrician, intellectual. Lover of the fine things in life, exquisite wine, classical music, beautiful women. Shepherd and defender of a fledgling nation.

Meriwether Lewis: Caucasian. 20s – 30s. Of Lewis and Clark fame. Explorer. Romantic and tortured. Embodies great promise, but is ultimately derailed by his own deeply conflicted psyche.

Napoleon: Diminutive ruler of France. Empire builder always on the lookout for the next great deal.

Juan Ventura Morales: Latino, 30s – 50s. Appointed Supreme Intendant of New Orleans by the King of Spain. Like many men who enjoy the good life, he has grown a little corpulent and a little complacent. Small-minded bureaucrat with an appetite for rich food and whores.

Carlos IV: 40s – 50s. King of Spain. Fatuous and very much enamored of his own power. His main vulnerability is that he dotes on his capricious daughter and makes terrible business decisions to keep her happy.

Pincepousse: Caucasian, 40s – 50s. Louisiana plantation owner. He and Jaques have the same father, and he hates him for it. Besotted with Margery, a young slave now his common-law wife, and is convinced that all men are trying to steal her away. Insanely jealous of Jaques.

Achille Creux: 40s. French nobleman. Has fled the slave uprising in Santo Domingo with just the clothes on his back, and is now a refugee in New Orleans. Prissy racist, given to dissolving into tears at the drop of a hat. Unstable and paranoid; thinks every Black person wants to kill him.

Talleyrand: 60s – 70s. Aide to Napoleon. Old and weasely. In the unenviable position of having to be the voice of reason in a room filled with megalomaniac royalty. A visionary of sorts, realizing that greater opportunity lies in the uncharted territories of the Americas than in the mapped and known kingdoms of Europe.

General LeClerc: 30s – 40s. French naval commander. Napoleon’s sidekick and brother in law. Phobic aristocrat without the spirit of an explorer, sent to an outpost appointment on the other side of the world. Not a great traveler.

Men: 20s – 30s. Seeking versatile character actors of all ethnicities, shapes and sizes to play multiple speaking roles including…
Sparks: American explorer bent on finding the Northwest Passage.

Salazar: Sycophantic painter.

Mercure: Grizzled trapper.

Harcourt, Dorilante, Pythagore and Alcibiade: Upscale men of New Orleans. Jaques’ business associates and card-playing buddies. He is sleeping with their wives.

Father Dagobert: Priest with a complicated family life. Jaques’ sometime confessor.

Robert Livingston: Jefferson’s ancient and deaf ambassador to France.

Women’s roles:
Dona Smerelda: 30s. Morales’s wife. In love with Jaques. She is his long-time mistress and comes alive when she’s in his bed.

Mme. Mandragola: 40s – 50s. Originally from Buenos Aires, now the madam of an upscale whorehouse. Elegant. Shrewd businesswoman.

Margery Jolicoeur: African American, 20s – 30s. Common-law wife of Pincepousse. Country girl who yearns to experience more of the world. Beautiful. Innocent and open to all the possibilities life has to offer. Dresses as a boy in order to explore the city without her husband finding out.

Dona Athene: Caucasian, 30s. Jaques’ beleaguered wife. The epitome of a woman scorned. Over the years, she has suffered through Jaques’ myriad infidelities. The constant humiliation has transformed her into a crusader against her own husband, bent on revenge at any cost.

Dona Polissena: 30s. Achille’s wife. A scientist, she is never without her microscope. Has ten times more spine than her husband. Immediately seduced by the lush sensuality of life in New Orleans.

The Infanta: Latina, 20s – 30s. Diva daughter of King Carlos. Ambitious and power-hungry but quick to resort to child-like tantrums when things don’t go her way.

Women: 20s – 50s, all ethnicities, shapes and sizes. Characters include…

Terpsichore, Calliope, Euterpe and Melpomene: Whores in Mme. Mandragola’s brothel. Great roles for versatile comediennes; will be multiply cast with other roles including…

Leda: African American, 20s. Morales’s slave.

Josephine: Napoleon’s wife. Counsels her husband by reading tarot cards. Very spoiled.

Lady Harcourt, Lady Dorilante and Mrs. Sparks: Upscale society ladies of New Orleans who are also Jaques’ clandestine lovers.

The following two roles are cast. Auditioning performers will be considered as possible replacements, should any become necessary.

Jaques Cornet: CAST (Jeffrey Wright). Mulatto free man. Son of a slave and a White plantation owner. A lothario.

Cupidon Murmer: CAST (Mos Def). African American, 30s. Jaques’ slave or personal assistant, depending on whom you ask.

Equity Principal Auditions: Monday, October 6, 2008
10 AM – 5:30 PM
Lunch from 1:30 – 2
@
The Public Theater
425 Lafayette Street

Please prepare a SHORT (preferably no more than two minutes in length), contemporary comedic monologue.

Please bring a picture and resume, stapled together.