The University of Iowa Department of Theatre Arts will hold open auditions from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, March 7, and from 4 to 8 p.m. Sunday, March 8, for the Iowa New Play Festival 2015.

Callbacks will be held between 6 and 11 p.m. Monday-Thursday, March 9-12.

Auditions for University of Iowa theatre productions are open to everyone. For academic considerations, priority is given to theatre majors first, and then all other students of the University of Iowa. Members of the greater Iowa City community are also strongly encouraged to audition. There are many excellent roles available throughout the year and many nonmajors and actors from the surrounding community are cast each season. Occasionally, professional guest actors will also be employed.

In all disciplines and areas of theatrical production, the Department of Theatre Arts seeks to include persons of every race, color, culture, age, gender, creed, physical disability, and sexual orientation. The department is committed to nontraditional casting to expand opportunities for women, actors of color, and actors with disabilities in roles where race, gender, or the presence or absence of a disability is not germane.

Productions and readings participating in the auditions

Four productions:

• Sean David DeMers, Faculty Portrait
• Sam Collier, Silo Tree
• Sarah Cho, Trich
• Ryan Oliveira, Below the Pacific

Six readings:

• Theresa Giacopasi, Hunting BigFoot
• Sam Lahne, Right
• Guadalupe Flores, Binary Star
• Alysha Oravetz, A Quiet Violence
• Michael Tisdale, Meloman (A Music Lover)
• Eric Holmes, Cut & Run

For more information, including synopses and quotes from the plays, visit www.uiauditions.com or contact the Iowa New Play Festival Production Stage Manager Alison Kochman at alison-kochman@uiowa.edu.

Specific needs

In addition to the number of open roles to be cast, the production teams have the following specific needs:

Faculty Portrait: Seeking an actor to play a male teacher in his 40s.

Silo Tree: Seeking an actor to play a male in his 60s.

Meloman (A Music Lover): Seeking an actor to a play an ageless male who seems to be around 40. Self-possessed, charming, and impulsive. Passionate one minute and subtly terrifying the next—no matter what he looks like—has the swagger of one of the Rat Pack or a young Marlon Brando. Must speak with a convincing Russian accent.