2026-2027 General Auditions
Audition Dates:
Thursday, May 28th, 2026
9:00 AM – 5:00PM
Break: 12:00 – 1:00PM
Friday, May 29th, 2026
10:00AM – 6:00PM
Break 1:00 – 2:00PM
CONTRACT
Our base compensation for Non-Equity actors is $590/week (40-hour weeks).
Our base compensation for AEA actors is $784/week through January 3, 2027, and $807/week starting January 4, 2027, through the rest of the 26-27 Season (38 hour weeks, compensation for overtime).
SEEKING
Actors who would like to present a general audition to our Casting Artistic Producer for consideration in our season as a principal actor, an understudy, or a reading actor.
PREPARATION
You will have a six-minute slot. Please prepare two contrasting monologues—no Shakespeare please! We like him, we just don’t regularly produce him. You may also perform a song if you are so inclined, but we will NOT have accompaniment provided, so it will either be a capella or self-accompaniment with an instrument (no piano will be available).
LOCATION
The Broadway Theatre Center
158 N. Broadway
Milwaukee, WI 53202
5th Floor – Rehearsal Hall B
Please enter under the smaller marquee and take the elevator to our 5th floor. There will be signs to guide you once you are on the 5th floor.
PERSONNEL
Artistic Producer: Josie Trettin
Executive Artistic Director: Brent Hazelton
EXPECTED TO ATTEND
Josie Trettin (Artistic Producer)
Brent Hazelton (Executive Artistic Director)
To sign up for a slot, please use the linked forms below.
Please direct any questions to Artistic Producer Josie Trettin at josie@milwaukeechambertheatre.org.
MAYBE WE’LL FLY by Marie Kohler
Music by Josh Schmidt
Director: Elizabeth Margolius
Roles:
Spring (PRECAST)
Character Description:
10 to 14 years old; all ethnicities; girl. Young Performer. We meet her during early creative life on the beach of Lake Michigan in front of the modest lakeside family home she adores. She’s the younger sibling of a brother with whom she feels she needs to vie for attention. The family is prosperous middle-class, but not materialistic. Father is patriarchal and economical (to the extreme) and emotionally distant. Mother is emotionally unavailable – spending time in her room alone, mourning the traumatic death of her first-born infant. She was once a musician but has succumbed to a depressed existence. Spring’s friends are mostly outside: Beach, Heron and Lake. She loves to collect treasures on beach and at the Dump and making statues out of them. Must be a strong singer and comfortable with movement. Vocal notes: Child-like sound but exhibits pitch control. Comfortable with shifting meters and can sing against solo accompaniment (cello). Ability to sing in harmony with others. -a below middle c —> 2 d’s above middle C
Summer (PRECAST)
Character Description:
Artist in her 20s – 30s.
Artist in the process of figuring out how to reconcile her passion and creativity with the realities of adult life in an era unconducive to women with independent dreams. Conformity is boring! Her former childlike wonder comes in direct conflict with different losses. She first studies at Art School, at which she does not feel entirely comfortable, then begins a ceramics business with her father’s financial help – it ultimately fails. What’s next for her? She's unmarried, with no taste to return to teaching or commercial art. Must be a strong singer and comfortable with movement. Vocally: lyrical and polished and technically solid sound of the group. Comfortable with shifting meters and can sing against solo accompaniment (cello). May utilize pop and Broadway sensibilities, but this is NOT either of those, nor should the sound be ripe with vibrato or overtly operatic. Ability to sing in harmony with others. Range: -a below middle c —> 2 d’s above middle C without strain.
Autumn (PRECAST)
Character Description:
40 to 50 years old; all ethnicities; woman. Artist whose experiences as a young woman have fortified her and inform the way she combatively interacts with the outside world. She has returned to her childhood home and has financial independence from parent’s inheritance. She has a new freedom in this stage of her life and is able to return to her early creative impulses without having to answer to anyone else, at least until the outside world attempts to creep back in to control her. Must be a strong singer and comfortable with movement. Vocally: May introduce more of a character edge (typifying age) but NONETHELESS comfortable with shifting meters and can sing against solo accompaniment (cello). May utilize pop and Broadway sensibilities but this is NOT either of those, nor should the sound be ripe with vibrato or overtly operatic. Ability to sing in harmony with others. Range: -e below middle c —> 2 d’s above middle C
Winter (PRECAST)
Character Description:
60 to 80 years old; all ethnicities; woman. The artist has retreated within herself and her home. She has few friends and no family. She can no longer work “big” and is worried about preservation of her art in future. She needs her younger selves to help her sift through the past and use that information to journey forward. She has reached out to an old friend for answers about her life questions at the start of the play… but she ultimately discovers they can only be answered by various aspects of herself… Must be a strong singer and comfortable with movement. Vocally: A more mature voice. May introduce more of a character edge (typifying age) but NONETHELESS comfortable with shifting meters and can sing against solo accompaniment (cello). May utilize pop and Broadway sensibilities but this is NOT either of those, nor should the sound be ripe with vibrato or overtly operatic. Ability to sing in harmony with others. Range: -e below middle c —> 2 d’s above middle C
Understudy Tracks Open
Dates:
First Rehearsal: Tuesday, August 18, 2026
Designer Run: Saturday, September 12, 2026
Load-in: Saturday, September 12 and Sunday, September 13, 2026
Focus: Monday, September 14, 2026
Tech: Tuesday, September 15, 2026
Preview: Friday, September 18, 2026
Opening: Saturday, September 19, 2026
Closing and Strike: Sunday, October 11, 2026
Show Description:
From renowned Milwaukee artists—award-winning playwright Marie Kohler (BOSWELL, MIDNIGHT AND MOLL FLANDERS) and Tony-nominated composer Josh Schmidt (The End, THE ADDING MACHINE, THE MINISTER’S WIFE)—comes this wildly theatrical and richly poetic world premiere play with music exploring the life and work of legendary Wisconsin outsider artist Mary Nohl. Propelled by an evocative score for solo cello as well as a contemporary approach to movement from award-winning director Elizabeth Margolius, MAYBE WE’LL FLY will captivate and inspire as it celebrates outsiders everywhere.
A GIFT OF THE MAGI
A musical inspired by the short story By O. HENRY
Music by Josh Schmidt
Lyrics by James DeVita and Josh Schmidt
Book by James DeVita
Director to be announced
Roles:
O. Henry
Character Description: 40-50s plus actor, all ethnicities, all genders. The quintessential storyteller. The actor playing O. Henry inhabits all other characters in the play (other than Jim and Della). A gifted storyteller with a subtle point-of-view; they are not so much a cynic (at times), as a realist. But, as often happens with writers and storytellers, the endings of their stories can sometimes surprise themselves as much as anyone else
Jim (PRECAST)
Character Description:
20s – 30s, all ethnicities, man. Jim is a kind and good-natured young man who takes his duty to provide for his wife very seriously. This is made difficult by a recent drop in his already meager income. He is a devoted and loving husband, which leads him to sacrifice his one treasure (a gold watch he inherited from his father), to buy Della a Christmas gift. Must be a strong singer.
Della (PRECAST)
Character Description:
20s – 30s, all ethnicities, woman. Della is a virtuous, selfless young housewife who is deeply in love with her hardworking husband, Jim. Despite her best efforts, she has only been able to save a small amount for Jim’s Christmas gift. She sacrifices her one prideful possession, her long, beautiful hair to use the funds to secure a more expensive gift. Must be a strong singer.
Understudy Tracks Open
Dates:
First Rehearsal: Tuesday, October 19, 2026
Designer Run: Saturday, November 7, 2026
Load-in: Saturday, November 7 and Sunday, November 8, 2026
Focus: Monday, November 9, 2026
Tech: Tuesday, November 10, 2026
Preview: Friday, November 13, 2026
Opening: Saturday, November 14, 2026
Closing and Strike: Sunday, December 6, 2026
Potential Extension Closing and Strike: Sunday, December 13
Show Description: Hailed as “a Christmas delight” (The Isthmus), James DeVita and Josh Schimdt’s original musical based on O. Henry’s classic tale of love and generosity rings in the holidays in its Milwaukee debut. Newlyweds Della and Jim—accompanied by a beautiful live violin and cello score—search turn-of-the-20th-Century New York with full hearts and empty pockets for the perfect gift for one another.
SONGS WITHOUT WORDS
(Or, The Mendelssohn Play)
By Jennifer Vosters
Directed by Brent Hazelton
Roles: Fanny Hensel, née Mendelssohn (PRECAST)
Character Description:
Fanny Hensel, née Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1805-1847). The host.
The elder sister. A genius. Her age ranges from early 20s to 41.
FELIX: Felix Mendelssohn-Bartholdy (1809-1847). The entertainment.
The younger brother. A genius. His age ranges from 17 to 38.
Note: FANNY and FELIX must be played by the same actor. That actor can be of any gender, race, ethnicity, ability, or age.
Understudy Track Open
First Rehearsal: Tuesday, January 11, 2027
Designer Run: Saturday, January 16, 2027
Load-in: Saturday, January 16 and Sunday, January 17, 2027
Focus: Monday, January 18, 2027
Tech begins: Tuesday, January 19, 2027
Preview: Friday, January 22, 2027
Opening: Saturday, January 23, 2027
Closing and Strike: Sunday, February 7, 2027
Potential Extension Closing and Strike: Sunday, February 14, 2027
Show Description:
Musical genius siblings Fanny and Felix Mendelssohn were each other’s chief supporters, deepest inspirations, and best friends—but an unforgiving world allowed only one to be great. Featuring a tour de force solo performance from Jennifer Vosters (A DOLL’S HOUSE) and presented for the first time with live music, SONGS WITHOUT WORDS wrestles enduring questions of gender and genius, family and fame, and siblinghood and the power of art.
SKELETON CREW
By Dominique Morisseau
Directed by Dimonte Henning
Roles:
Faye
Character Description: Black woman, mid-to-late fifties. Working-class woman. Tough and a lifetime of dirt beneath her nails. Somewhere, deep compassion.
Shanita
Character Description: Black woman, mid-to-late twenties. Working-class young woman. Pretty but not ruled by it. Hard-working. By-the-books. Believes in the work she does. Also, pregnant. Somewhere, a beautiful dreamer.
Reggie (PRECAST)
Character Description: Black man, late thirties. White-collar man. Studious. Dedicated. Compassionate. The Foreman. Somewhere, a fire brims.
Dez
Character Description: Black man, mid-to-late twenties. Working-class young man. Young hustler, playful, street-savy, and flirtatious. Somewhere, deeply sensitive.
Understudy Tracks Open
Dates:
First Rehearsal: Tuesday, February 23, 2027
Designer Run: Saturday, March 13, 2027
Load-in: Saturday, March 13 and Sunday, March 14, 2027
Focus: Monday, March 15, 2027
Tech begins: Tuesday, March 16, 2027
Preview: Friday, March 19, 2027
Opening: Saturday, March 20, 2027
Show Description: One of Detroit’s last auto stamping plants stands on shaky ground, and a close-knit crew of four factory workers must face a future without the steadiest employment they’ve ever known. Milwaukee’s own Dimonte Henning—Director of MCT smash hits THE MOUNTAINTOP and CLYDE’S—brings to life this poetic, powerful, and profoundly American play described by The Financial Times as “not so much state-of-the-nation as state-of-the-world.”
LIBERATION
By Bess Wohl
Director to be announced
Roles:
Lizzie
Character Description:
Woman. Flexible age. White. Vulnerable and honest. Lizzie is trying to understand her mother, who Lizzie knew as a very traditional stay at home mom, but was also a radical feminist who ran a liberation group in the 1970s. Lizzie serves as both the audience’s narrator and plays her mother in the seventies.
This role includes full onstage nudity.
Margie
Character Description:
Woman. 50’s-60’s. White.
The oldest member of the group. Margie has been married for most of her life to a very uninvolved husband. She carries all the emotional and domestic labor in the relationship and is just beginning to understand how deeply angry that makes her.
This role includes full onstage nudity.
Susan (PRECAST)
Character Description:
Woman. Early 20’s. White.
Kooky and delightful. A radical feminist who pushes the boundaries of what feminism could be. Super over men. Lives out of her car. Has a relationship with Celeste.
This role includes full onstage nudity.
Celeste
Character Description:
Woman. Late 30’s. Black.
An intellectual. She has returned from Ohio to take care of her mother. Celeste is worn down from caretaking. Queer but not out. Has a relationship with Susan.
This role includes full onstage nudity.
Isidora
Character Description:
Woman. Late 30’s-40. White.
A Sicilian woman who represents an immigrant point of view. She’s all about actionable steps. Fuel to the fire and full of contradictions.
This role includes full onstage nudity.
Dora
Character Description:
Woman. Mid 20’s. White.
Somewhat naive, comes into the group relatively unsuspecting. She is engaged to be married and working a demanding job where she is continually undervalued. Dora has been raised to believe that being pretty and compliant are her best assets. Deep inside, she wants to be seen as more.
This role includes full onstage nudity.
Joanne
Character Description:
Woman. Early 30’s. Black.
The mother of four boys. A realist and vocal about how she feels. The audience sees her journey through being an activist and a housewife. She does not have time for the antics of the rest of the group.
Bill
Character Description:
Man. Late 20’s- early 30’s. White.
Lizzie’s father. A lawyer. Charming. Knows what he wants but is respectful about it.
Understudy Tracks Open
First Rehearsal: Tuesday, April 13, 2027
Designer Run: Saturday, May 1, 2027
Load-in and Focus: Tuesday, May 4 and first half of Wednesday, May 5, 2027
Tech begins: second half of Wednesday, May 5, 2027
Preview: Friday, May 7, 2027
Opening: Saturday, May 8, 2027
Closing: Sunday, May 23, 2027
Show Description:
1970. Ohio. Six women determined to shake up their lives and change the world form a consciousness-raising group in a community center gym. Fifty years later, one of their daughters tries to understand where things fell apart. Fresh from a celebrated 2025 Broadway run, this provocative, funny, refreshingly irreverent, and intensely relevant powerhouse of a production poses vital questions about what we inherit, what we forget, and what we’re still fighting to understand.
