Audition for our next Co-Created Project!
Theatre of Eternal Values – America is seeking submissions for our next co-created project on the theme of sisterhood and women’s empowerment. The untitled play, which we are calling “The Sisterhood Project” for now, is based on a real historical meeting between Harriet Tubman, the famed African American freedom fighter, and Pandita Ramabai, the ardent Indian women’s rights activist. The story connects their meeting with a group of Indigenous Alaskan girls, who reached across a continent to support Tubman’s cause. We want to turn the meeting of their minds, hearts and cultures into story woven out of the unique voices of the performers we work with! Read on to learn more, and sign up to audition.
The Roles:
We are seeking three performers with experience as either actors, writers, musicians, dancers or who otherwise have experience with performing, and are excited about a collaborative process. The creation process is just as important to us as the product!
Harriet Tubman (mid 60s) – Please note this role has now been cast: Seeking a Black woman, who can portray abolitionist, freedom-fighter, and human-rights worker, Harriet Tubman. She draws strength from a deep faith in God, love for her found family, and a continued commitment to the life, joy and future of her people. Though she has already begun to be mythologized in her lifetime, our portrayal will focus on Harriet, the person – her wants, interests, humor, opinions, her story of herself.
Pandita Ramabai (27): Seeking an East-Indian woman, who can portray women’s rights and education activist, author, and speaker Pandita Ramabai Saraswati (born as Ramabai Dongre). At the age of 27, Ramabai is already renowned in Maharashtra and through out India for her extraordinary learning and for her outspoken defense of the rights of women. Ramabai is a woman of deep and searching intelligence, and quirky humor, who finds herself fascinated by what she is learning of American society and culture.
Chena (17): Seeking an Indigenous woman, who can portray Chena, a Tlingit student who led the effort to raise money to support Harriet Tubman. This character is not based on a specific historical figure, but on a group of young women who we have some limited historical knowledge about. The performer will have a lot of freedom in co-creating the backstory of this character, exploring what motivated her to support Harriet Tubman’s work, and how her thoughts, feelings and world view might meet these other two women.
Dates, Pay & Covid Policies:
There will be an initial devising period spread across winter of 2022, culminating in two workshop performances. Performance dates will be set based on actor availability. In spring / summer of 2022, we hope to mount a fully produced production, pending performer availability. Final production and rehearsal dates will take into consideration the schedules of the actors, and will be confirmed shortly after casting. We will rehearse in either Boston or NY or a combination – we are looking for performers who are located near one of these two cities.
We commit to paying artists respectfully for their work. Performers will receive a stipend of $1600 for the initial devising period, and $300 per week for rehearsals & shows for the fully mounted production. Performers will also receive a contract acknowledging their rights as co-authors and co-creators of the finished play.
We value the physical, mental and emotional safety of everyone involved in our productions, and will follow state, local and federal guidelines with regard to Covid safety. Rehearsals will be partially over Zoom, and partially in person. Performances will be in person, with audiences adhering to mask and vaccination mandates.
How to Submit:
We are requesting initial video submissions, and will likely schedule call-backs over zoom after these are received!
In your video, please introduce yourself and share a little about yourself as an artist, and present a short performance piece of no more than 3 minutes; it may be a monologue, song, story, poem, puppetry or movement piece – or some combination of these – that demonstrates your skills and interests as a performer. This can be an original piece, if you wish!
To submit, please email your headshot, resume and video submission link to Poornima & Tyrone at tevamerica@gmail.com.
Submissions may be links to unlisted youtube videos, Vimeo links or a video download (through .wetransfer). Please avoid sending very large files. If creating a video submission does not work for you, please reach out to tevamerica@gmail.com and we will schedule an appointment via Zoom. We are accepting submissions on a rolling basis until all roles are cast. We will update this page as casting proceeds.
Thank you for taking the time to submit for this project! We are so excited to see your work.