Spring Semester 2027 Audition Information

ISU Theatre 2026-2027 Auditions

Auditions: Tuesday, December 1st, 6:00 - 9:00 p.m. - Bistline Theatre

Total package not to exceed 4 minutes:

• 60-90 second Shakespeare monologue, preferably in verse
• An art song or aria in English, your selection can be from another Gilbert and Sullivan operetta or from Iolanthe.
  • Bring sheet music as a pianist will be available, no tracks please.
  • Time your song to allow for the monologue, for example, 2 to 2.5-minute song plus 60-second monologue.
  • Your slate is part of your time, total package not to exceed 4 minutes.
  • If you are unsure what to sing, feel free to contact either DLF: lividian@isu.edu or Dr. Geoffrey Friedley: friegeof@isu.edu 
• A comedic monologue, any period. (Use of a British accent is optional!)
  • If you are also auditioning for Romeo and Juliet, that monologue will be sufficient even if it isn't from a comedy.
• Download and fill out this Audition Form
• Complete this Google Form where you must upload the following: 
  • Completed Audition Form
  • Headshot
  • Resume 
• Name your files "Firstname Lastname - Item" (Example: John Smith - Audition Form)

You will not be able to sign up for an audition time until the Google Form is complete.

In-person callbacks: Wednesday, December 2nd, 6:00 - 9:00 p.m.

If you are invited for a callback you will be notified after your initial audition.

• Romeo and Juliet with Hannah Dubner
  • Black Box Theatre
• Iolanthe with Diana Livingston Friedley
  • Bistline Theatre

Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

In a city divided by an ancient feud, two young people fall in love across enemy lines. As violence escalates and loyalties are tested, Romeo and Juliet struggle to forge a future together. Shakespeare’s timeless tragedy explores love, identity, rebellion, and the devastating consequences of hatred and division, asking what happens when the conflicts of one generation become the inheritance of the next.

Characters

The Young Lovers
Romeo 
The son of Lord and Lady Montague. Romantic, passionate, and impulsive, Romeo begins the play pining for Rosaline before unexpectedly falling in love with Juliet, a member of his family’s rival household. 

Juliet
The young daughter of Lord and Lady Capulet. Intelligent, spirited, and perceptive, Juliet is expected to marry Paris but falls in love with Romeo instead.

Team Montague

Benvolio
Romeo’s cousin and close friend. Loyal, observant, and generally peace-seeking, Benvolio frequently attempts to diffuse conflict between the rival households and offers Romeo advice about his romantic troubles.

Mercutio
Romeo’s close friend and a relative of Prince Escalus. Brilliantly witty, irreverent, and provocative, Mercutio will defend his friend at all costs.

Lord Montague
Romeo’s father and head of the Montague household. Involved in the longstanding feud with the Capulets, he is also concerned about Romeo’s melancholy and increasingly troubled behavior.

Lady Montague
Romeo’s mother. Concerned for her son’s well-being, she attempts to protect him from the violence surrounding the two families.

Balthasar
Romeo’s loyal servant and companion. He travels to Mantua to bring Romeo news of Juliet’s apparent death, unaware of the Friar’s plan.

Abraham (Abram)
A servant of the Montague household. He becomes involved in the opening confrontation with the Capulet servants, helping ignite the violence between the families.

Team Capulet

Lord Capulet
Juliet’s father and head of the Capulet household. A prominent figure in Verona, he hosts the celebration where Romeo and Juliet first meet. Affectionate and hospitable at times, he becomes increasingly controlling when Juliet refuses to marry Paris.

Lady Capulet
Juliet’s mother and Lord Capulet’s wife. She encourages Juliet’s marriage to Paris and is closely connected to her nephew Tybalt. Her relationship with Juliet reveals the tensions between parental expectations and a daughter’s growing independence.

Nurse
Juliet’s longtime caretaker, confidante, and surrogate mother. Earthy, talkative, affectionate, and often wonderfully inappropriate, she helps arrange Romeo and Juliet’s secret marriage. 

Tybalt
Juliet’s cousin and Lady Capulet’s nephew. Fiercely protective of his family’s honor, Tybalt recognizes Romeo at the Capulet celebration and later challenges him to a fight. 

Sampson & Gregory
Servants of the Capulet household. Their crude jokes, bravado, and provocations spark the opening street brawl with the Montagues. 

Peter
A servant of the Capulet household who frequently accompanies the Nurse. He is sent to invite guests to the Capulet feast and later finds himself caught up in the household’s activities. 

Beyond The Teams

Prince Escalus
The ruler of Verona and a relative of Mercutio and Paris. Frustrated by the ongoing violence between the Montagues and Capulets, the Prince attempts to restore peace through public warnings and punishment. 

Paris
A nobleman and relative of Prince Escalus who seeks Juliet’s hand in marriage. He approaches Lord Capulet for permission to marry her and later becomes engaged to Juliet without knowing of her secret marriage to Romeo.

Friar Laurence
A Franciscan friar and trusted advisor to Romeo. He secretly marries Romeo and Juliet, hoping their union might reconcile the feuding families. 

Friar John
A fellow Franciscan friar entrusted with delivering an urgent letter to Romeo in Mantua.

Apothecary
An impoverished seller of medicines in Mantua. The Apothecary agrees to sell Romeo a deadly poison despite the law forbidding it.

Paris’s Page
A young attendant who accompanies Paris to Juliet’s tomb who witnesses a confrontation and alerts the authorities.

Chorus / Ensemble
The voices and people of Verona. The Chorus introduces the story and frames its tragic events, while the ensemble brings the city to life through citizens, servants, guests, musicians, and other roles.

Casting Note

All roles are open for audition. We welcome actors of all gender identities and are open to gender-expansive casting across a variety of roles. Some actors will play multiple characters, and ensemble members will be integral to creating the world of the play.

The production includes staged violence, death by suicide, and staged intimacy. Please note on your audition form if there are aspects you are NOT comfortable with. These elements will be approached through a collaborative, consent-based rehearsal process.

Iolanthe by Gilbert and Sullivan

Prior to the action of the opera, the fairy Iolanthe has married a mortal for which she is

banished. In her exile, she gives birth to a son, Strephon.

The opera begins when Strephon is 25 and in love with Phyllis. Phyllis is a ward of the

Lord Chancellor who is head of the House of Lords. The men in the House of Lords all

want to marry fair Phyllis. Strephon and Phyllis plead Iolanthe to help them, but she

cannot.

Mistaken identities and tantalizing trickery lead all lovebirds to their proper partners in

Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe. Oh, and yes, the Faires do take over Parliament.

Characters

The Lord Chancellor- bass/bass-baritone; Guardian of Phyllis; Peer in House of Lords

Lord Mountararat- baritone/bass-baritone; Peer in House of Lords

Lord Tolloller-bari-tenor/tenor; Peer in House of Lords

Private Willis/Sentry- baritone; Member of the Grenadier Guards

Strephon- bari-tenor/tenor; Arcadian Shepherd in love with Phyllis

Queen of the Fairies-mezzo

Iolanthe-lyric soprano; A Fairy; Strephon’s Mother

Celia-soprano I; Fairy

Leila-soprano II/mezzo; Fairy

Fleta-soprano II/mezzo; Fairy

Phyllis-soprano; Arcadian Shepherdess and Ward in Chancery, in love with Strephon

Trainbearer for the Lord Chancellor-any voice type; child/person of slight build

Chorus/Ensemble-Dukes, Marquises, Earls, Viscounts, Barons and Fairies