Auditions!
Fly North Theatricals is seeking a multi-generational cast of non-union actors of all races, ethnicities, and genders for a new musical set to workshop, record a cast album, and headline St. Lou Fringe Festival in 2024.
The show will be directed by Bradley Rohlf, and music directed by Colin Healy
Video submission link here.
(NOTE: Video submissions will only be seen for actors currently based outside STL. If you are based in STL currently and wish to get on the audition waitlist, click here.)
Dates
- Video submissions accepted December 4-10, 2023 for non-local actors who will be based in STL in Summer 2024.
- STL Auditions - December 11-12, 2023 @ Fly North Theatricals, 3617 Grandel Square, STL.
- STL Callbacks - December 18, 2023 @ Fly North Theatricals, 3617 Grandel Square, STL.
- Workshop will be in Spring TBA. NOTE: Your availability for the workshop is not contingent on being cast in the production.
- Cast album recording TBD but will occur as scheduling allows but before rehearsals begin.
- Rehearsals will begin in late June 2024. Big Machine is set to run August 2-18th, 2024 at the Marcelle Theater in St. Louis.
Audition Details
Please bring 16-32 bars of something loud, including but not limited to rock or contemporary musical theater.
If called back, there will be a dance call in the evening on December 18th.
If cast, all actors will receive a stipend. Additional travel stipend will be given to those who live outside the STL Metro area. Metro defined as STL City, STL County, and St. Charles, Jefferson, St. Clair (IL), Monroe (IL), and Madison Counties (IL).
Show Details
Big Machine was commissioned by the Center Of Creative Arts (COCA) in 2022 and a workshop performance was mounted in April of that year. Since then, the show has changed a lot but still retains it core characters and story about how the American automobile was saved at the cost of the American worker.
Set in the fictional town of Bay of Fortune, New Jersey spanning multiple generations, Big Machine tells the story of a grandfather (Ernest), daughter (Ethel), and estranged granddaughter (Grace) how their lives became inextricably linked to an ill-fated oil refinery and the company that controlled it.
In 1921, Bay of Fortune, New Jersey is booming. Ernest, has moved here with his “remarkable” daughter, Ethel, to fulfill a promise to his late-wife and assure that Ethel's bright future is realized. However, the boom didn't last and the future didn't turn out so bright. Years later, Grace, guided by a letter about her “remarkable” mother that she was left with when given up for adoption as an infant, returns to Bay Of Fortune to find an industrial wasteland and is thrust into unraveling a personal mystery that will give her a first hand look at one of America's greatest sins.
Big Machine is a work of historical fiction that intends to elucidate the stories of those who lived in American cities throughout the 20th century that were financially broken, hollowed out, and poisoned by the real-life decisions of a few powerful men in the automotive industry who chose profit over people. Big Machine is also a musical which lends it that power that only musical theater can provide to be surreal, loud, and even, get this… fun.
Character Breakdown
*This is a new show being workshopped. All elements of these characters are subject to change.
GRACE, 18-25, female, mezzo belter.
ERNEST, 25-35, male, baritenor.
MERRICK, 65+, male, baritone.
ROSIE/LINDY, 25-35, female or non-binary, alto/soprano
GILDA/EARLENE, 25-35 female or non-binary, alto/soprano
METHUSELAH, 45-55, male, baritone/bass
ETHEL, 8-10, female.
JUNIOR, 8-10, male.
CHORUS, must include actors ages 18-65. Many small roles are pulled from chorus.