Auditions

by Charles Mee
Directed by Eleni Papaleonardos
Presented in Honor of Cynthia Anderson
@ Riffe Center Studio One
Approximate start of first rehearsal: late Aug/early Sept, 2026
Performances: Oct 29 - Nov 14, 2026

A beloved play from AVLT’s first decade returns for the 20th Anniversary season. Written by the most influential playwright of the 21st century (about the dynamic American artist Robert Rauschenberg), bobrauschenberg-america is a play made as one of America's greatest artists might have conceived it if he had been a playwright instead of a painter. Traveling easily through time, the play's kaleidoscopic images take us from Rauschenberg's childhood home to a New York café to the open road. bobrauschen-bergamerica is a colláge of people and places and music and dancing, of love stories and picnics and business schemes and shootings and chicken jokes and golfing, and of the sheer exhilaration and anxiety of living in a country where people make up their lives as they go. It’s a play about freedom in art, art in America, and it reckons with the implications.

RIYL: John Cage 101, Robert Rauschenberg, colláge, Neo-Dada, Jasper Johns, early Adrienne Kennedy plays, Black Mountain College, art for social change, Frank Ocean’s Channel Orange, Dear Memory by Victoria Chang

Roles available: 

• Bob’s Mom - (female, any age, race, ethnicity) The only character who speaks to the audience and does not directly interact with other characters. 
• Carl - (male, any age, race, ethnicity) art curator. Partners with scientist Allen
• Roller Skater - (any gender, age, race, ethnicity) roller skater
• Phil - (male, any age, race, ethnicity) Trucker, in a relationship with Phil’s Girl
• Susan - (female, any age, race, ethnicity) Center of the love triangle between boyfriend Wilson and the derelict Becker, (intimacy note - some kissing, will work within actors boundaries)
• A marching band

an AVLT original
Directed by Drew Eberly
Sponsored by Robin and Peter Hersha
@ Riffe Center Studio Two
Retreat at Denison July 10-12
Approximate start of first rehearsal: Dec 1, 2026
Performances: Feb 4 - 20, 2027

• If you would like to be considered for Winterlong, please be prepared to sing 30 seconds from a folk song of your choosing (a cappella or accompanied with your own instrument.) No accompanist will be provided.

Perhaps you know what it feels like to crawl under the blankets in February and rot, waiting for a spring you can’t quite believe in. For the past two years the musicians and theatre artists of Winterlong (originating from AVLT’s Ghost Quartet rehearsal process), reached out to grasp that feeling, creating an original song cycle that takes an audience deep into the long, lonely nights of winter and heartbreak and back out again. Structured around the work of stalwart Columbus performer and songwriter Drew Eberly, aided by a collection of local musicians, Winterlong grasps at the experience of “stuckness, anxiety, lost love, and the long, lonely nights of winter.” The artists will sing their way through the dark winter through a chamber folk theatre performance including lush harmonies, a three piece band, poetry, and movement. Winterlong expresses the deep yearning for connection that all humans must cope with throughout their lives.

RIYL: Sara Teasdale, mint tea, Duncan Sheik, bedroom folk, The Shirelles, Wild Strawberries, Dear Piqua, Ghost Quartet

Roles available:

• Winterlong is a theatrical song cycle that acknowledges, challenges, and even celebrates the long, dark, Ohio winter. Director Drew Eberly is looking specifically for actor/singer/movers/storytellers who are excited to be a part of an original work.
• The cast will be invited to a July weekend retreat to work on original music, movement, and additional text for this February 2027 production.
• In addition to a monologue, please be prepared to sing 30 seconds from a folk song of your choosing (a cappella or accompanied with your own instrument).

by Jordan E. Cooper
Directed by Aviva Neff
@ Riffe Center Studio One
Approximate start of first rehearsal: March 16, 2027
Performances: May 6 - May 22, 2027

Roles available:

PASSENGER 1 - Black woman (late 20’s) plays: Church Folk, Trisha, Kendra, Marie, LaKeisha

Female, early to mid-20s. Has humor and emotional range. Doubles as Trisha: A young woman, pregnant, and recently widowed as a result of police brutality. She may be young, but tragedy has forced her to grow up quickly. Pragmatic. Resilient but exhausted. Marie: The eldest child of a wealthy, conservative family. Poised, elegant, restrained. Regal. Able to keep her siblings in line without appearing to exert the slightest effort. Keisha: An inmate in a maximum-security prison. Young, sincere, direct, and somehow still hopeful. Naïve and open, she’s excited and curious to learn more about the outside world. Kendra: A cast member on the “Real Baby Mamas of the South Side.” Young, pretty, privileged, and clueless. No filter. Over the top. Think Portia from The Real Housewives of Atlanta. Ethnicity: Black / African Descent

PASSENGER 2 - Black man (20’s-30’s) plays: Pastor Freeman, Damien, Tony, Jonathan, Clerk

Male, late 20s-30s. Has strong language skills, and access to humor and dramatic range. Able to communicate presence, authority, and youthful vulnerability. Doubles as Pastor Freeman: A fire and brimstone preacher. Hopeful. Energetic, charismatic, adept at rallying a crowd. A natural showman. Could talk anyone into anything. Damien: A young man cut down in the prime of his life. Stuck between this world and the next, he is desperate to not be erased and forgotten. Full of love, anger, and untapped potential he’ll never be able to explore. Jonathan: Wealthy, privileged. Educated in the best schools. The child of immigrants, he believes in hard work and the American Dream. Ethnicity: Black / African Descent

PASSENGER 3 - Fair-skinned Black woman (20s-30s) plays: Church Folk, Zamanta, Rachonda, Susan, Judah

This track includes a number of characters, some of which may be of various ethnicities. Female, 20s-30s. Has humor and emotional range. Doubles as Zamata: An activist. Passionate, outspoken. Fed up with the inequality of the status quo, and unafraid to resort to the most difficult and radical forms of protest to make her voice heard. Rachonda: The first “transracial” cast member of “The Real Baby Mamas of the South Side.” A white woman who believes that she is black. Excited to explore her new identity. Loud, outspoken, takes up space. Not a bashful bone in her body. Susan: A wealthy, conservative woman, who has dealt with her unhappy marriage and her boredom with her life by repressing her darker feelings. When a bad dinner party unearths hidden grievances, she begins to find some freedom in watching the carefully constructed world around her crumble.

PASSENGER 4 - Black woman (30s) plays: Church Folk, Women, Tracy, Katie, Officer Brown

Female, 30s. Has impeccable comic timing, strong language skills and emotional range. Doubles as Woman: A woman waiting in line at an abortion clinic. Frank, she tells it like it is, with a take-no-prisoners sense of humor. Chatty, and not one to bother about personal space, she’ll talk to anyone for as long as she wants. Although her stories are ones of trauma and violence, to her they’re unremarkable. Not one to dwell, she delivers them with humor and candor. Officer Brown: A prison warden. Empathetic & maternal, but in no way a pushover. Treats the inmates under her watch with patience and dignity. Katie: The youngest sibling in a wealthy and privileged family. Sweet, bright and bubbly. A bit naïve. Happy to let others take the lead in situations, and a bit sheepish when it comes to owning her own voice. Ethnicity: Black / African Descent

PASSENGER 5 - Black woman (30s) plays: Church Folk, Newswoman, Karen, Blue

Female, mid- to late 30s. Has strong physical and language skills. Doubles as Black: A spirit that has been imprisoned for decades, recently released. A ball of unbridled energy and power. Ravenous, sensual, vibrant, alive. Devours all the air and energy in the room, and spits poetry with passion and velocity. Blue: An inmate in a maximum-security prison. She’s seen unimaginable pain and suffering, and the weight of everything she’s experienced is evident in her very being. Weary and broken, she’s hanging on but only by the slimmest of threads. Newscaster: Professional, put together. Conservative. Dedicated to telling stories with fairness and compassion. Thinks of herself as the voice of reason in a crazy world. Ethnicity: Black / African Descent