Auditions
Livestream Conversation with the We Won’t Sleep Team
Signature Theatre would like to invite interested actors to attend a livestream conversation with the creative team behind the innovative new musical, We Won’t Sleep, which will make its world premiere this coming season at Signature.
JOIN US: July 27th at 7:30pm EST via YouTube
SIGNATURE THEATRE 2021-22 Season
We Won’t Sleep Audition and Breakdown
We Won’t Sleep: A New Musical
The MAX Theatre: LORT B scale
Music and Lyrics by Ari Afsar
Book by Lauren Gunderson
Director: Erin Ortman
Choreographer: Yusha-Marie Sorzano
First Rehearsal: May 3, 2022
Opens: May 31, 2022
Closes: July 3, 2022
Possible Extension to July 10, 2022
All parts to be understudied.
We Won’t Sleep The Musical electrifies the life and history of suffrage activist, Montanan, and the first woman to be elected to high office in the United States, Jeannette Rankin. With a radical idea that “women are half the people, we should be half the congress,” Jeannette convinces her family – brother Wellington, a successful lawyer; younger sister Edna, housewife and mother; and the matriarch Olive. When an East Coast Suffragist Greenwich comes to town, Jeannette discovers a shared mind and heart. After a hard campaign, Jeannette—incredibly and improbably—wins. Elected to Congress in 1916—three years before women are granted the right to vote—Jeannette finds herself to be the only female voice within the halls of power to vote on women’s suffrage. Written by America’s most produced playwright Lauren M. Gunderson and pop sensation Ari Afsar, We Won’t Sleep heralds one person’s radical voice in America’s ongoing journey toward equal rights for all.
The We Won’t Sleep team seeks 14 people who are passionate about the power of voting and the power of performance to change systems and policy. We are interested in advancing the field of musical theatre as well as our society, beginning with centering and uplifting the voices of the artists creating the piece. Equity and non-Equity performers may audition.
Performers of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, gender identities and expressions, and performers living with visible and/or invisible disabilities are encouraged to audition. Please include information regarding any accommodations you need in an audition, rehearsal or performance space.
AUDITIONS:
Due to Covid-19, this season we are accepting video submissions submitted via audition form. Self-taped video auditions will be reviewed by members of the We Won’t Sleep creative team and casting department at Signature Theatre. Please submit your audition within the window of July 28th at 9am – August 1st at 11:59pm. Each and every video audition that is submitted within that time period and via the form will be reviewed.
- Slate with your name, pronouns if you wish, and the pieces you are performing, or slate your name and go directly into your performance. In addition, if you are interested in being considered for a specific role, please include that in your slate.
- Performance of a song in the style of the show (not to exceed one minute in length- You may use a track to sing with or sing acapella. Improv dance can be performed to a song of your choosing.)
- A dance improv piece (not to exceed one minute in length- The team is looking to get an idea of how you move organically.)
Please upload your headshot or photo, resume, and a video link to the Signature audition form.
- If you have already submitted an audition for We Won’t Sleep (formerly titled Jeannette) via Signature Theatre’s AEA EPA, ECC, or Non-Union Open virtual calls for our 2021-22 season, your audition tapes and materials are already being shared with the team for their review. There is no need to resubmit and if you are right for the project we will be in touch regarding callbacks. Duplicate audition submissions will not be reviewed.
- Callbacks will be granted based off of the video auditions. You will be notified if you are called back. Please be sure to provide correct contact info on your headshot and resume so that we can reach you.
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN:
The character breakdown includes gender specifications that reflect that identity of the characters as written. However, we explicitly encourage and affirm all gender non-conforming, gender queer, transgender, and non-binary actors to submit for all roles with which they most identify and find joy in.
[JEANNETTE RANKIN] – 30s, female/femme of center, ambitious, smart, strong, socially intelligent, queer (but not out.) She has an unstoppable energy in everything she does, hopeful, headstrong. A damned good politician. Intimacy is required for this role.
[WELLINGTON RANKIN] – 30’s, male/masculine of center, Jeannette’s younger brother, a powerful local lawyer, entitled, takes over any room he’s in, the favorite son in a family of women, overconfident, ambitious, a boxer, loves his sisters but also loves being rich and influential.
[EDNA RANKIN] – 20s, female/femme of center, Jeannette’s younger sister, smart, funny, keen, married, young mother, most comfortable in a domestic sphere, in many ways the opposite of Jeannette. But they share dedication and unflappable faith in family.
[GREENWICH MARTIN] – 30s/40s, female/femme of center, a queer woman from New York, practical, savvy and thoughtful, emotional, a people person, a leader, a strategist, a suffragist. Intimacy is required for this role.
[OLIVE RANKIN / FEBB] – 60’s female/femme of center, Jeannette’s Mother, a stalwart strong woman with a contentious relationship with Jeannette, a worrier, powerful and refined but reserved, not easily comfortable being vulnerable or outwardly loving / late 50s, female/femme of center, a chipper, warm, proud mother of a large Tennessee family.
[FIORELLO LAGUARDIA] – 30s, male/masculine of center, charming, boisterous New York Congressman. Emotionally open, straightforward, full of agency and feeling, but also likes to be at the center, in power and in the spotlight.
[8 COMPANY MEMBERS] – all ages and gender identities, energetic movers, both in body and spirit. Eleanor, Suffragists, Anna, Anti-Suffrage, Competitor 1, Competitor 2, Page, Little Girl, Male Voices/Congressmen, Chief of Staff, Aide, Leader of the House, Congressman, Reporter, Reporter 2, Maria, Army Nurse, Harry T Burn.