Theatre Auditions

Spring 2027 Theatre Auditions: 10/21/26

The Bobbi Biron Theatre Program invites all students and community members to audition for its upcoming productions of Murder Ballad and Rhinoceros on Wednesday, October 21, 2026 from 7-11 p.m. in the Fulton Hall Black Box Theatre!

We always seek casts embodying our program’s commitment to diversity of identity, artistry, and ideas. The Bobbi Biron Theatre Program’s values include casting that embraces diversity in race, culture, gender identity, sexuality, varying physical abilities, neurodivergence, socio-economic background, and age. You do not have to be an SU theatre student to audition; auditions are open to all.

Audition Information

Audition Date: Wednesday, October 21, 7-11 p.m.

Audition Requirements:

• Sign up for an audition timeslot outside of the Fulton Hall Box Office (FH100).
• Click the button below to fill out the audition form.
• What to prepare
  • For Murder Ballad, please prepare a post-1950 monologue from a play, no longer than two minutes, and 16 bars of pop rock song or a song from a pop or rock musical post-1970.
  • For Rhinoceros, please prepare a monologue from a play, no longer than two minutes, written between the 1950s and present day. We also need to hear your best rhinoceros sound!
• If you need help finding audition material, feel free to reach out to Prof. Jamie McKittrick at jlmckittrick@salisbury.edu or Prof. Jess Shoemaker at jmshoemaker@salisbury.edu.

Please complete the audition form by 6:00 p.m. on Wednesday, 10/21.

AUDITION FORM

Note for Performance Track Theatre Majors: All current SU Theatre Majors in the Performance Track are required to audition. Please indicate on your audition form if you cannot commit to being cast. For these auditions, you must prepare a song and a monologue for your audition regardless of whether you’d like to be considered for the musical or the semester productions. Just mark on your audition form what casting you’d like to be considered for.

Callbacks:

• If you receive a callback, stage management will send you callback materials to prepare.
• Rhinoceros: Thursday, October 22nd, from 7 to 11 p.m. Murder Ballad: Friday, October 23rd, from 7 to 11 p.m.

Show Information

• Murder Ballad: Like an episode of Dateline if it were entirely sung to an onstage rock band, Murder Ballad is a contemporary pop rock opera in keeping with the traditional folk murder ballad form.  From the start, the performers tell the audience, “Someone’s gonna die.”  The story then, guided by the narrator, recounts the loves, lies, deferred dreams, and betrayals that led to the murder. 
  • Cast of Characters
    • Narrator- The storyteller of this murderous tale that happened in NYC.
    • Sarah- Conflicted and full of longing, a former musician who leaves her downtown life to move up town with her steady husband and become a stay at home mom.
    • Michael- Constant, practical, and kind, Sarah’s husband who has a PhD in poetry but went into finance once they had a kid and moved uptown to support the life he wants to give his family. 
    • Tom- Passionate, volatile, and intense, Sarah’s ex-boyfriend who is a failed actor turned bar owner.
  • Intimacy and Fight Requirements: We will have an intimacy director and a fight director to stage moments of intimacy and violence necessary to tell the story.  This means we will follow best practices regarding consent in order to create highly physicalized moments that best tell the story.
    • Intimacy
      • Sarah-  Multiple moments of kissing, touching, hand holding, caressing, and embracing with the actor playing Tom.  2-3 kisses, hand holding, and embracing with the actor playing Michael.
      • Tom- Multiple moments of kissing, touching, hand holding, caressing, and embracing with the actor playing Sarah.
      • Michael- 2-3 kisses, hand holding, and embracing with the actor playing Sarah.
    • Fight:
      • All characters engage in moments of violence.
    • Schedule
      • Intensive- THIS IS THE WEEK BEFORE CLASSES START AND YOU MUST BE AVAILABLE FOR THIS WEEK IN ORDER TO BE CAST.
        • 1/19/27-1/23/27 every day from 10 a.m. -1 p.m. & 2-5 p m. 
      • Rehearsals
        • 1/25/27-2/25/27, Sunday-Friday, 7-11 p.m.
      • Technical/Dress Rehearsals, Performances, and Strike: ATTENDANCE IS REQUIRED AT ALL TECH AND DRESS REHEARSALS IN ADDITION TO PERFORMANCES.
        • Tech and Dress Rehearsals: 2/26/27-3/1/27 and 3/8/27-3/10/27
        • Performances:
          • 3/11/27 at 7:30pm
          • 3/12/27 at 7:30pm
          • 3/13/27 at 1 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
        •  
      • Rhinoceros: Rhinoceros is an absurdist play about a town of people who turn, quite suddenly and mysteriously, into Rhinoceroses! The play is also about conformity in the face of sweeping fascism during and following World War II. Funny and frightening, the play asks us to confront our own humanity and principles in the face of staggering political upheaval.
        • Cast of Characters
          • Berenger – Our hapless hero, slovenly and prone to drink
          • Jean – Berenger’s best friend, fastidious and principled
          • Daisy – Berenger’s love interest, bright and eager
          • Dudard – Berenger’s coworker
          • Botard – Berenger’s coworker
          • Papillon – Berenger’s boss
          • Boeuf – The wife of Berenger’s coworker
          • Ensemble Roles to be assigned this spring: The ensemble is an absolutely essential piece of this show. Not only will they be responsible for creating a herd of Rhinoceroses: there are a variety of speaking roles to be cast out of the ensemble. However, these roles will not be assigned until rehearsals next spring. Keep in mind that being cast in the ensemble does not mean you won’t be speaking: it just means your specific role is TBD.
            • Waitress
            • Grocer
            • Grocer’s Wife
            • Housewife
            • The Old Gentleman
            • The Logician
            • Proprietor
            • A Fireman
          • Intimacy Requirements
            • Berenger and Daisy will share a stage kiss and some foundational intimacy that includes things like touching, holding hands, hugging, etc.
            • Please let us know about any boundaries that we should be aware of.
          • Schedule
            • Rehearsals
              • 3/22/27-4/28/27, Sunday-Friday, 7-11 p.m.
            • Technical/Dress Rehearsals, Performances, and Strike: ATTENDANCE IS REQUIRED AT ALL TECH AND DRESS REHEARSALS AND STRIKE IN ADDITION TO PERFORMANCES.
              • Tech and Dress Rehearsals: 4/29/27-5/5/27
              • Performances:
                • 5/6/27 – 05/08/27 at 7:30 p.m.
                • 5/9/27 at 2 p.m.
              • Strike: 5/9/27 immediately following performance

THEA 125

All students cast in a Bobbi Biron Theatre Program production are required to enroll in a one-credit THEA 125 Theatre Practicum during the semester of the show. This will be done automatically unless it causes the student to be enrolled in more than 19 credits for that semester. In that case, the student should inform the director immediately so appropriate steps may be taken.

Questions?

Email FultonBoxOffice@salisbury.edu.