Seeking Actors, Dancers, and Puppeteers for "Fifty Boxes of Earth"

FIFTY BOXES OF EARTH AUDITIONS
by ANKITA RATURI
directed by KT SHORB
choreo by ANANYA CHATTERJEA

Acting Auditions: Sept 8 & 9
Dance Call: Sept 8
Callbacks TBA

SEEKING
Seeking actors and dancers/puppeteers for the world premiere of Fifty Boxes of Earth. While the actors will not have heavy choreography roles, they may have to interact seamlessly with those who do. For the dancers/puppeteers, they are looking for artists who can move with grounded movement vocabulary, non-mainstream aesthetics, improv, and rhythm.

AEA minimum is $550 per week, and non-AEA actors will be paid a minimum of $15 per hour, or equivalent rate. All roles are local contracts.

SYNOPSIS
In this world premiere, Q just moved to the neighborhood, but instead of a bed, they brought fifty boxes of earth for the community garden. When Q starts cultivating fantastical, improbable plants, one man’s distrust grows even as his young daughter reaches out in friendship. A creative response to Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Fifty Boxes of Earth weaves in choreography and puppetry to consider the heavy costs of leaving a home and putting down new roots.

REHEARSAL & PERFORMANCE DATES
First Rehearsal: Jan 27, 2025
Tech Rehearsals: Feb 19-Mar 1, 2025
Previews: Mar 27 & 28, 2025
Opening Night: Mar 1, 2025
Closing Performance: Mar 16, 2025

Rehearsals will take place at the Mu Studio (755 Prior Ave. N, #107, Saint Paul), Ananya Dance Theatre (1197 University Ave. W, Saint Paul), or Park Square Theatre (408 Saint Peter St., Saint Paul), with tech rehearsals and performances at Park Square Theatre.

CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS
Q - an immigrant, they/them. Asian. Identifies as nonbinary or trans. A parent who leaves their child in their own country to start a new life in a new land. They start by planting their own plot in a community garden.

Mina Harker - a local, 11-year-old, she/her. Asian American/Black/Latine/Indigenous. Befriends Q.

Jon Harker - a local, Harker’s father, he/him. Any race. Suspicious of Q and has concerns that Mina is befriending them.

Nature Ensemble - Any race, any gender. An ensemble of up to five dancers and/or puppeteers from non-Western movement traditions work together to make the plants grow and the weather shift. They represent nature, the environment, locality, intentions, roots, land, wind, rain. Femme artists and queer, nonbinary, and trans performers are encouraged to audition.

Application Instructions

WHAT TO SUBMIT & PREPARE
Interested in only the acting roles?

1. Fill out the audition form, which will also ask you to send over your headshot and resume to info@theatermu.org.
2. Sign up for in-person auditions at SignUpGenius. In-person auditions are Sept 8 from 10 am-3 pm CT and Sept 9 from 4-9 pm at the Mu Studio (755 Prior Ave. N, #107, Saint Paul).
3. If you cannot make it in person, please submit a video to info@theatermu.org with the recorded acting sides by Sept 9 at 9 pm CT.

Note: Sides will be uploaded to this web page no later than three weeks before Sept 8.

Interested in only the dancer/puppeteer ensemble?

1. Fill out the audition form, which will also ask you to send over your headshot and resume to info@theatermu.org.
2. Sign up for the in-person dance call at SignUpGenius. The dance call will take place from Sept 8 from 5-8 pm CT at Ananya Dance Theatre (1197 University Ave. W, Saint Paul). Expect to stay all three hours.
3. At the dance call, wear comfortable clothes you can move in and expect to dance using bare feet. Choreographer Ananya Chatterjea will be teaching you a short routine on site.

If you cannot make the dance call, Ananya will send a tape recording of the routine after the dance call is complete for dancers to learn and submit at a later time. More information to come!

Interested in both the acting and dance/puppet ensemble roles?

1. Fill out the audition form, which will also ask you to send over your headshot and resume to info@theatermu.org.
2. Sign up for both an in-person acting audition slot and the dance call slot at SignUpGenius.
3. Acting auditions will take place on Sept 8 from 10 am-3 pm CT and Sept 9 from 4-9 pm CT at the Mu Studio (755 Prior Ave. N, #107, Saint Paul).

The dance call will take place on Sept 8 from 5-8 pm CT at Ananya Dance Theatre (1197 University Ave. W, Saint Paul). Expect to stay all three hours. At the dance call, wear comfortable clothes you can move in and expect to dance using bare feet. Choreographer Ananya Chatterjea will be teaching you a short routine on site.

If you cannot make it in person to an acting audition and/or the dance call, they will be accepting video submissions as well.

Acting video submission: If you cannot make it in person, please submit a video to info@theatermu.org with the recorded acting sides by Sept 9 at 9 pm CT.

Dance video submission: More information to come, but you can expect a recorded version of the dance call routine after Sept 8.

Questions? Email info@theatermu.org or call (651) 789-1012.