Audition Date: Monday, January 13th at 7PM.
Now accepting video submissions for our upcoming productions.
Auditions will be held in-person at The Historic Palace Theatre: 7 Ledgewood Ave. Netcong, NJ.
Please Note: The Growing Stage Theatre is located in northwestern New Jersey. There is no regular mass transportation. We do not provide housing. Reliable transportation is needed.
Seeking:
Adult actors will play various roles in our next two productions: Catching the Moon: The Story of a Young Girl’s Baseball Dream (Musical) and Her Beautiful Sound (World Premiere New Play). Casting will be done on a per show basis, though roles may be offered for both productions. Artists are not required for both. TGS is specifically looking for Black and Hispanic performers for both production. Paid contracts are available. The Growing Stage is a professional company dedicated to presenting quality theatre for the entire family.
About the Show:
Catching the Moon:
Book and Lyrics by Nichole Jackson
Music and Lyrics by Tyrone L. Robinson
Adapted from the book by Crystal Hubbard
Adapted from Catching the Moon: The Story of a Young Girl’s Baseball Dream.
Direction by: Stephen Fredericks
Catching the Moon is a blues musical for young people and their families. The orchestration is a jug band meant to have a 1930’s Depression Era sound. With the crack of a bat, Marcenia Lyle rounds the bases with ease and slides into home. It’s the ballfield she knows and loves best. So when famous baseball manager Gabby Street comes scouting players for summer camp, Marcenia steps up to the plate to compete. She’s determined to pursue her passion and defy the naysayers who discourage her from following her dream because she’s a girl. Catching the Moon tells the spirited true story of the Black girl who grew up to become “Toni Stone,” the first woman to play for an all-male professional baseball team.
Her Beautiful Sound:
Book by Cris Eli Blak
Direction by: Danny Campos
The World Premiere production of our 2024 Laurie Award winning piece from the TGS New Play Reading Festival. After her father, an aspiring rapper, passes away, a teenage girl moves with her mother to her grandmother’s house, where she hears the stories of her ancestors and finds healing and a way to deal with her grief through spoken word poetry.
List of Roles:
Catching the Moon:
Marcenia: All she wants to do is play baseball. She is always trying to prove herself. Her best friend is the moon. Pop/Gospel Soprano. Black Female
Papa Lyle: Marcenia’s father is a hardworking barber. He wants to support his daughter’s dreams but knows how hard it is because of lack of money and societal expectations. Baritone. Black Male
Moon/Mama Lyle/ The actual moon. She is Marcenia’s best friend. She is a source of support. Teacher/Nurse: She would bring an element of magical realism into the show. The actress playing the moon also plays the teacher, the nurse and Mama Lyle. Although Mama is being played by the moon, Mama is real and alive. Pop/Gospel/Blues Mezzo-Soprano. Black Female
Mr. Street: The manager of the St. Louis Cardinals. Once caught a ball thrown off the Washington Monument. He runs a camp for baseball prospects and initially doesn’t think girls should play baseball. Tenor. White Male
Clarence: One of the boys that Marcenia is friends with and plays baseball with. Tenor. Black Male
Harold: One of the boys that Marcenia is friends with and plays baseball with. Baritone. Black Male
Her Beautiful Sound:
Nina: 13, Latina/Black/Afro-Latina female.
Jace: 13-16, any male-identifying person of color.
Linda: Nina’s Grandmother, 60s-80s, Latina/Afro-Latina female.
Carla: Nina’s Moother, 30s-40s, Latina/Afro-Latina female.
Huey: Nina’s Father, 30s-40s, Black/Latino/Afro-Latino female.
*Nina and Jace will be played by Adults.
All roles are Non-Union positions. For adult artists (high school graduates and beyond), we will offer paid positions under our Professional and Emerging Artist contracts. Our Emerging Artist rate is no rehearsal pay and $45 per performance. Our Professional Artist contract is $15/hr for rehearsals and $85 per performance. The number of contracts available are determined individually by each production’s budget. For CATCHING THE MOON and HER BEAUTIFUL SOUND we have a limited number of Professional Artist Contracts and Emerging Artist Contracts available.
Preparation:
Open call. Auditioners looking to audition for Catching the Moon are asked to prepare sixteen measures of a musical theatre song with printed sheet music for the accompanist. There will be a brief dance routine taught by the company choreographer and cold readings from the script.
Auditioners looking to audition for Her Beautiful Sound will be doing cold readings from the script only. Auditioners are encouraged to audition for both productions, but can choose to audition for only one if preferred.
Video Submissions:
Video submissions will be accepted up until Friday, January 10th with the understanding that you may be invited to attend in person. In-person auditions may be requested. We ask that you please submit a song for Catching the Moon and a monologue for Her Beautiful Sound for consideration. Please send all video submissions to mfralley@growingstage.com. Please specify which show you are asking to be considered for. You can also request to audition for both productions.
Rehearsal Schedule:
Rehearsal schedules are generally two or three evenings during the week and a weekend afternoon. All cast members are expected for all performances, with no exception since the company does not cast understudies.
Catching the Moon Tech Dates:
February 8th through February 13th, 2025
Her Beautiful Sound Tech Dates:
March 22nd through March 27th, 2025
Performance Schedule:
Catching the Moon Performances:
February 14th through February 23rd, 2025: Saturdays at 4pm, and Sundays at 2pm with an Opening Night Performance on Friday, February 14th at 7:30pm
*Daytime School Matinees possible
Her Beautiful Sound Performances:
March 28th through April 6th: Saturdays at 4pm, and Sundays at 2pm with an Opening Night Performance on Friday, March 28th at 7:30pm
*Daytime School Matinees possible
Please contact Matthew Clark-Fralley, Production Manager at mfralley@growingstage.com with any questions.
