Island Shakespeare Festival 2024 Summer Season

Island Shakespeare Festival

About the project and the company

Island Shakespeare Festival is now casting our 2024 summer season!  Our mission is to ignite the power of accessible classical theatre to build empathy and connection.

We seek company members who are ready and willing to bring a positive and collaborative attitude to the uniquely challenging process of outdoor rotating repertory theatre. ISF is committed to intersectional inclusion and representation, and we are actively working to dismantle systems of oppression in our organization and the work we share. We seek to build an ensemble who will embrace and enhance these values.

Our 2024 season includes William Shakespeare’s King Lear, directed by Terri McMahon (she/her), and Aphra Behns’s  The Lucky Chance, directed by Julie Beckman (she/her). This production is in partnership with Hedgepig Ensemble Theatre’s Expand the Canon program.

  • Scripts, show and director info, casting breakdown, and rehearsal calendar are available here
  • HR policies, info about Whidbey, a sample contract, and info on what it’s like to work with us are available here.
About ISF: ISF is a Pay-What-You-Will company located on rural Whidbey Island, north of Seattle. Whidbey is the ancestral home of Coast Salish peoples including the Swinomish, Snohomish, Suquamish, and Lower Skagit tribes, who were forcibly relocated with the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott.  This video will tell you a little about the ISF ethos and experience. You can view photos from past seasons here, and learn more about who we are on our Facebook page and Instagram.

Housing and Pay: Visiting artistic collaborators are housed locally in home-stays.  Visiting actors will be cast in both productions unless otherwise arranged, and will be paid a pre-tax rate of $442 per week.  The term of the contract is (roughly) 14 weeks, June 5-September 9, 2024. ISF offers a modest travel reimbursement stipend for visiting non-union artists. AEA contracts are negotiated on a case-by-case basis.

Our Casting Ethos: 
We believe classic theatre belongs to everyone, and we strive for inclusion and representation of the scope of humanity in our audiences and in our company.  We recognize that as a classical theatre company founded on Western tradition, we primarily produce plays written from a narrow cultural perspective in a very different historical context from our own. We believe the expanse of humanity available in these plays transcends those contexts and we are determined to define space in these stories for the rich variety of humans and experiences that exist in our world today. Further, we understand that the classical canon is global and we seek to expand our audience’s familiarity with voices and perspectives historically excluded.

We recognize that most characters we encounter in classic theatre are on the binary and are written with he/him or she/her pronouns.  We invite gender non-conforming, gender queer, transgender, and non-binary actors to submit for all roles with which they most identify, and which ignite their creative spirit.  We will specify when directors or playwrights determine characters have specific gender criteria.

We seek to represent all races and ethnicities on our stage and in our company and invite actors of all racial and ethnic identities to submit for all roles that ignite their creative spirit.  We will specify when directors or playwrights determine characters have specific racial/ethnic criteria.

We invite actors who identify as differently abled and/or disabled to submit for all roles which ignite their creative spirit.  We will specify when directors or playwrights determine characters have specific ability criteria.

We believe the characters that exist in these stories may be portrayed by any and everyone, and invite actors of all body shapes and sizes to submit for all roles that ignite their creative spirit.  We will specify when directors or playwrights determine characters have specific physical criteria.

Please let us know if you have any questions or concerns, or if there are any accommodations we can provide.

Inspired by language developed by Kevin Kantor (they/them) and Emily Tarquin (they/them), adapted for our casting process by Olena Hodges (she/her) with contributions from Kyle Haden (he/him), Ada Karamanyan (she/her), Mickey Rowe (he/him), K. Woodzick (they/them), and others.

This audition process is as much an opportunity for you to get to know us as it is for us to get to know you. Please reach out to casting@islandshakespearefest.org at any point if you have questions, need assistance, or want to schedule a call or zoom or meeting.

Location of Audition

Callbacks will be at TPS

Audition requirements

Please fill out the form and include a YouTube or Vimeo link to your video. Your video should include: Slate with your name, pronouns, and piece(s) One short classical verse monologue (under 90 seconds) If singing onstage is within your comfort zone, please include a portion of your favorite karaoke song (backing track can usually be found online) If you are not able to fill out this digital form, please request a PDF version via email from casting@islandshakespearefest.org. Please submit videos by February 25, 2024.  Callbacks (with assigned sides from the plays) will be held in person in Seattle (March 3 & 4) and Langley, WA (March 2), and virtually via video & Zoom through February and March. We will contact you before casting is publicly announced, whether we have roles to offer you or not.  Tips for video: (these are suggestions, not requirements!) Shoot horizontal rather than vertical Find a neutral background Check your lighting - we'd love to see your expressive face! Aim for your torso to be included (avoid extreme close-up) Don't look at the camera--keep your focus just above or to the side No dialects or "Shakespeare Voice" necessary Even though it's video, don't be afraid to use your body and voice - we're looking for you how you'll fill our outdoor space We aren't opposed to pet video-bombs 😻

Additional information
Preferred method of submission

URL

Audition/Interview dates

Callbacks March 2-4

Pay type

Hourly

Audition location

Langley WA

Pay type

$442/week $442/week

Callbacks or second audition/interview?

March 2-4

Submission instructions

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScWdHp6FJ2e2k3-UFXrIZ3gvicLge-a-EaT2xc9Ulctl36YDw/viewform?usp=sf_link

Union Requirements

Open to All

Sides or script location

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1DEfnye1bEr9MJOAPPWb5kFP_X0-cORtpGMF2_lqZ9Po/edit?usp=drive_link

Equity Contract

Non-Union, Equity (AEA)