Ensemble Studio Theatre 2026-27 Season - NYC EPA (11.09.26) & (11.10.26)

DESCRIPTION

Notice: Audition Call Type: EPA

AUDITION DATE

Monday, November 9, 2026

10:00 AM - 6:00 PM (E)

AND

Tuesday, November 10, 2026

10:00 AM - 6:00 PM (E)

BREAKS: 1:00PM - 2:00PM

CONTRACT

LOA-NYC

$700 weekly minimum

SEEKING

Equity actors for roles in Ensemble Studio Theatre's 2026-27 Season (see breakdown).

PREPARATION

Please prepare a brief contemporary monologue. Please bring your headshot, and resume stapled together.

LOCATION

Ensemble Studio Theatre

545 W 52nd St

New York, NY 10019-5012

See breakdown for venue notes.

PERSONNEL

Managing Director: Adriana Borzellino

Company Manager: MJ Lugo

Casting by: Calleri Jensen Davis

BEYOND WORDS

by Laura Maria Censabella

Inspired by the life story of Irene Pepperberg and Alex

Directed by Colette Robert

LUCKY/BIRD

By Audley Puglisi

Directed by: abigail jean-baptiste

EXPECTED TO ATTEND:

Co-Artistic Director(s): Estefania Fadul and Graeme Gillis

EST Director of Play Development and EST/Sloan Project Director: Linsay Firman

Program Director of Youngblood: RJ Tolan

OTHER DATES

BEYOND WORDS:

First Rehearsal: Monday, January 4, 2027

First Preview: Monday, February 8, 2027

Opening: Thursday, February 18, 2027

Closing: Monday, March 7, 2027 LUCKY/BIRD

First Rehearsal: Monday, April 19, 2027

First Preview: Monday, May 17, 2027

Opening: Thursday, May 27, 2027

Closing: Sunday, June 13, 2027

OTHER

https://www.ensemblestudiothea...

EPA Procedures are in effect for this audition.

An Equity Monitor will be provided.

Equity’s contracts prohibit discrimination. Equity is committed to diversity and encourages all its employers to engage in a policy of equal employment opportunity designed to promote a positive model of inclusion. As such, Equity encourages performers of all ethnicities, gender identities, and ages, as well as performers with disabilities, to attend every audition.

Always bring your Equity Membership card to auditions.

Breakdown

Ensemble Studio Theatre 2026-2027 Season

VENUE NOTES:

There are two doors to the building located on either side of the MC Gallery on the 1st floor: The door to the left (closer to 11th Ave.) is unmarked, and has a stairwell that leads up to the EST lobby on the 2nd floor.

For Elevator: The door to the right is marked 545 (closer to 10th Ave.) and is the entrance for the passenger freight elevator. There is a phone number on the elevator door to call the operator, who will pick you up and take you to our second or sixth floor theatres. There is a small movable ramp for the lip at that entrance. Elevator operator takes lunch from 1pm to 2pm.

BEYOND WORDS

SEEKING:

Dr. Irene Pepperberg, white, from late-20s to late-50s. Charismatic, Sensual, Professional, Highly Intelligent. She has a slight hybrid Brooklyn-Queens/Boston accent--more a subtle NYC boroughs’ attitude, actually--despite her MIT and Harvard education. She’s funny and irreverent but low key with dry, wry intelligent humor.

Alex, white. Strong mover. A human portraying an African Grey parrot, Puck-like with a deep reserve of inner life,

Dr. Howard (Howie) Towers/Dr. Rick Pepperberg, white. Dr. Howard Towers (30s to 60s) an Ivy League, Jewish, educated scientist with a strong Bronx accent. Doubles as Dr. Rick Pepperberg (30s to 40s) a preppie Midwestern Ivy League educated Jewish scientist and Irene's husband. NOTE: May double other roles in the chorus if needed

Dr. Lourdes Acevedo and Others, Puerto Rican, 20s to 50s. A dolphin scientist and Irene's best friend. She has almost the same style as Irene--sophisticated and sensual. Funny. Intelligent. Doubles some roles in the chorus as indicated, mostly in Part I.

Chorus 1, 2 & 3 All three chorus tracks will double multiple roles. Chameleonic, with strong movement and comedic skills.

lucky/bird

SEEKING:

LOUISE, black, 60s-70s , 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

NIA, black, 20s, 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.)

SONNY, black, 20s/30s, 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.

MRS CLARKE, black, 60s-70s , 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.)

THE DUKE, black, 60s-70s , 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.

TASHA, black, 40s-50s, 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.)

MR ACKERMAN, nonBlack, 20s-40s, 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.

SALARY

LOA-NYC $700 weekly minimum

• UNION
  AEA