The Chatham Players will hold auditions for “Stage Kiss”, a play by Sarah Ruhl on Sunday, July 27th and Monday, July 28th at The Chatham Playhouse 23 North Passaic Ave. Chatham, NJ at 7pm. Actors must check in to the auditions by 7:30pm. If necessary, Callbacks are scheduled for Wednesday, July 30th at 7pm. Production dates are October 10 – October 25, 2025 with rehearsals to begin early/mid August. Gabrielle Wagner Mann of Summit directs.
Art imitates Life. Life imitates Art. When two actors with a passionate history are thrown together as romantic leads in a forgotten 1930s melodrama, they quickly lose touch with reality as the lines between offstage and onstage begin to blur. “Stage Kiss” is meta-theatre at its best, following the casting, rehearsal and production of a play within a play (well actually, two plays within a play) - bringing to life all of the hilarity and drama and playfulness and joy and insecurity and frustration and confusion that seems to be inherent in a theatrical production. It's a charming, funny and poignant tale about what happens when lovers share a stage kiss—or when actors share a real one.
Director Gabrielle Wagner Mann seeks 7 actors. Actors will be asked to read from sides provided at the audition, these are available below on this web page.
Actors that are unable to attend the auditions on July 27th or 28th can submit a video file of their audition. Please refer and use the sides for that specific character. Please be aware that video files over 20 MB may be blocked by some email mailboxes. If you have a link to your video, we ask that you send the link using Dropbox, Google Drive or similar way. Please email video file to gabwagmann@gmail.com and CC: casting@chathamplayers.org with “Stage Kiss Audition Video” in the Subject Line.
Character Breakdown
(Ethnicity open for all roles)
NOTE: While there is some broad comedy in this show and we welcome some large character choices, all choices should be grounded in reality. Play. Have fun. It's fun.
SHE - female presenting - mid 40s. An actress who plays the romantic lead role of Ada Wilcox "onstage." She is smart, charming, beautiful, witty, self-deprecating, but has an inner confidence even if it doesn't always lead. Married to and deeply loves Harrison and her 16 YO daughter, Angela, but is also swayed by her strong connections and a craving to revisit her youthful passions and loses touch with what is real. Ability to sing/move well a plus. Ability to do a Mid-Atlantic accent and Brooklyn accent a plus. Will kiss HE many times, KEVIN a few times, HARRISON at least once and MILLICENT once. Pucker up.
HE - male presenting - mid 40s. An actor who plays the romantic lead role of Johnny Lowell "onstage." He is smart, charming, handsome, sexy, witty, a bit ungrounded and has consistently given in to his passions. Has usually got what he wants, but is still living a bit of a scrappy pay check to pay check life. Perhaps hasn't fully grown up because he's never really had to. Ability to sing/move well a plus. Ability to do a Northern Irish accent a plus. Will kiss SHE many times.
The DIRECTOR – male presenting, non-binary. or possible female presenting (I'm open) - age flexible - late 20s-60s. Plays Adrian Schwalbach, the director of the play within a play. Maybe a dilettante? Maybe brilliant? (Probably not.) Patient, oftentimes oblivious to the drama around them. (Perhaps that's a conscious choice.) Maybe takes themselves a little too seriously. Will kiss KEVIN once.
KEVIN - male presenting - 20s-40s, the reader for the "play," also the understudy for Johnny, the doctor, the butler and the pimp, so versatility and ability to create very different characters. Facile with physical comedy. Very funny but not always because he's trying to be. People pleaser. Wants to do a good job at all costs. He's gay. Will kiss both SHE and the DIRECTOR.
The HUSBAND / HARRISON - male presenting - 30s-50s. Will play both the Husband "onstage" and HARRISON, SHE's real-life husband offstage. Solid. Patient. Kind. Loves her both "on" and "off" stage. But has a limit to what he'll put up with. Ability to sing/move a plus. Will kiss SHE at least once.
MILLIE/MAID/ANGELA - female presenting - early 20s (to believably play a teenager), pretty and she knows it. In Act 1, plays a young actress portraying MILLIE and the MAID "onstage" and in Act 2, plays ANGELA, SHE's daughter IRL. Typical young person in that she thinks she knows more than the others around her, and well, sometimes she does.
MILLICENT/LAURIE - female presenting - late 20s-late 30s. In Act 1 plays an actress portraying MILLICENT "onstage" and in Act 2 plays LAURIE, HE's real-life girlfriend, a schoolteacher who initially presents as a people pleasing, naïve mid-westerner. Ability to sing/move a plus. Will kiss SHE once.
The Chatham Players have an open call casting policy. ALL roles are open, none are precast, and everyone is encouraged to audition. Any questions, please call Gus Ibranyi at (201)-563-0362 or email casting@chathamplayers.org. For directions or additional information, please visit www.chathamplayers.org