Ensemble Theatre Announces 25/26 Season Auditions!

*When: August 28th from 6-9:30. *Callbacks: August 30th from 10am-2pm
Where: Marinello Little Theatre, in the newly renovated Lombardo Student Center.
Click Here for Directions to the theatre.
What to prepare: Two Monologues. Contrasting if possible. No longer than 3 minutes (total).

*If you are unable to make auditions in person please feel free to send a virtual audition as an unlisted You Tube Video.
If called back, you will not be called for the entire time. Include in audition form if you need special time considerations.

:: Show Information ::

PROOF :: By David Auburn
Winner of the 2001 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.

Directed by August Scarpelli
Please Note: This show has been PRE-CAST.

Please feel free to add if you are interested in a possible understudy role for this production in the notes portion of your audition form.

On the eve of her birthday, Catherine, a troubled young woman, has spent years caring for her brilliant but unstable father, a famous mathematician. Now, following his death, she must deal with her own volatile emotions; the arrival of her estranged sister, Claire; and the attentions of Hal, a former student of her father’s who hopes to find valuable work in the 103 notebooks that her father left behind. Over the long weekend that follows, a burgeoning romance and the discovery of a mysterious notebook draw Catherine into the most difficult problem of all:
How much of her father’s madness—or genius—will she inherit?

“…combines elements of mystery and surprise with old-fashioned storytelling to provide a compelling evening of theatre…[PROOF is a] smart and compassionate play of ideas.”-New York Daily News.

LONG DAY’S JOURNEY INTO NIGHT :: By Eugene O’Neill
Co-Directed by Ian Wolfgang Hinz & Rebecca Moseley
Winner of the 1957 Pulitzer Prize in Drama.
Rehearsal Start: On/Around January 5th, 2026. Show runs February 6th-22, 2026
Performances: Fridays & Saturdays @7:30. Sundays @2:00.
Rehearsals are weekday evenings and weekend daytime.
Ensemble attempts to give 2 days off per week.
Ensemble uses a Single Engagement Agreement , Category 1 with AEA
Non Equity Actors are paid a stipend.

Roles: James Tyrone :: Mary Tyrone :: James (Jamie) Tyrone:: Edmund Tryone :: Cathleen.
Click Here for character descriptions.
Please Note: The role of James (Jamie) Tryone has been cast.

At their summer home in Connecticut, each member of the Tyrone family harbors a personal tragedy while maintaining a complicated balance of love and resentment for the others. Father James’s alcoholism, mother Mary’s morphine addiction, younger son Edmund’s advancing illness and elder son Jamie’s bitterness at being a lesser version of his father... these are all just aspects of their daily lives that they must face despite their deep desire
to bury and ignore them. Eugene O’Neill’s autobiographical play is widely regarded as his finest work. First published by Yale University Press in 1956, his powerful exploration of addiction and familial dysfunction won the Pulitzer Prize in 1957, sold more than one million copies, and became a template for many other notable playwrights.

“…a magnificent and shattering play.”—New York Post.
“It is a stunning theatrical experience.”—New York Herald-Tribune.
“This is O’Neill’s most beautiful play.”—New York Daily News.

EXIT STRATEGY :: By Ike Holter
Cleveland Premiere :: Directed by Jeannine Gaskin
Rehearsal Start: On/Around April 20, 2026. Show Runs May 22-June 7, 2026.
Performances: Fridays & Saturdays @7:30. Sundays @2:00.
Rehearsals are weekday evenings and weekend daytime.
Ensemble attempts to give 2 days off per week.

Ensemble uses a Single Engagement Agreement , Category 1 with AEA
Non Equity Actors are paid a stipend.

Roles: Ricky, Pam, Arnold, Luce, Sadie, Jania, & Donnie. Click Here for Character Descriptions.
Please Note: The role of Donnie has been cast.

They bring mouse traps from home, they make the toilet paper last, and they show up for the kids nobody else shows up for. So when the school is slated for closure at the end of the year, and the weight of the inevitable bears down on the community, students and teachers alike discover their breaking points. Ricky, the vice principal, has stayed firmly on the sidelines for all of the teachers’ previous battles, but now in the eleventh hour, he’s compelled to step up with a plan to save the school. Some risk their futures to follow his lead-- But does he actually have any idea what he’s doing? Spiked with humor and brimming with fury, EXIT STRATEGY is an exhilarating call to arms about what we owe each other.

“Each character in EXIT STRATEGY comes quickly into clear focus. And while the play serves as a stinging indictment of the state of public schools in Chicago and, more broadly, the country, Mr. Holter deftly embeds his finger-pointing in the drama itself. We see beyond the surface dysfunction to the toll it takes on the lives, and careers, of the teachers, whose dedication to their students comes across movingly,
even when they are complaining about them.” —The New York Times.

We encourages actors from all of our diverse communities and experience levels to audition.
Stay Tuned for additional audition information for productions and programs throughout the season!

Ensemble Theatre Mission Statement:
Ensemble Theatre is dedicated to the responsible production of works that celebrate the human spirit drawn from the rich canon of modern American classics as well as other significant contemporary plays. Ensemble serves greater Cleveland and the Midwest region by reintroducing the classics, examining them with new eyes,
and supporting the development of new works for the American theater.

• Education and outreach activities, engage youth and community residents through
  on site programming, residencies, and touring performances.

• Ensemble Theatre believes that the arts are an essential and meaningful part of life. The theatre offers an important forum for stimulating and provoking thought about the issues of contemporary life, and it is a place for communal experience. Introducing future generations to the arts will enlighten them about the human condition and provide them with a resource to nourish them throughout their lives. All art, including theatre, should be a celebration of diversity and human dignity. The theatre provides the highest possible level of professionalism in all areas to nurture new talent, and to be ever mindful of the power of art to entertain and move the audience.  

If you have any questions or require any accommodations, please contact us at:
auditions@ensemble-theatre.org or call 216-321-2930.