2024 Season Submissions

South Dakota Shakespeare Festival and North Dakota Shakespeare Festival announce the auditions for a joint 2024 production!
Production: The Merchant of Venice, by William Shakespeare
Directed by: Rebecca Bailey
Rehearsals: May 13th – June 5th Vermillion, SD: Warren M. Lee Center for Fine Arts & Prentis Park
Performances: June 5-9, 2024, Prentis Park, Vermillion, SD and June 12th-16th, Grand Forks, ND
 

The South Dakota and North Dakota Shakespeare Festivals (SDSF & NDSF) seek a diverse company of
performers for their long-standing offering of free Shakespeare in the Park. The Festivals seek professional actors and teaching artists from the Great Plains region and nationally to form an ensemble-based Shakespeare company for a five-week contract beginning in Vermillion, SD and traveling to Grand Forks, ND. All positions are paid. Actors coming from out of town will be eligible for local housing and a travel stipend. Contracts pay $1200 total for Apprentice Company Members (early career professionals) and $1500 for Professional Company Members.

*All artists will be contracted with both companies and must be available for the duration of the run. This requires availability to travel to both states.

Auditions will be held in the following locations and formats:

University of South Dakota, Department of Theatre, Sunday March 3, 2-5pm, Time and Location TBD
 

KCACTF Region V Festival (callbacks may be in person)

Video Submissions will be accepted through Feb 23rd by midnight. They should be emailed to sdshakespearefestival@gmail.com.

Please prepare two contrasting Shakespeare monologues. If you have any music skills you can share
please include up to two minutes of music. To schedule an audition appointment at the Vermillion
audition please email sdshakespearefestival@gmail.com.
 

Roles being cast include:
ANTONIO
BASSANIO
LORENZO
GRATIANO
SALERIO
SOLANIO
PORTIA
NERISSA
JESSICA
LANCELET GOBO
*The role of Shylock has been cast
Many of these characters will double as other characters during the show.

(Actors of all ages, ethnicities, gender identities and abilities are encouraged to submit. In reference to
the character list above—most characters we encounter currently are on the binary and are written with
he/him or she/her pronouns and you will see that in the descriptions. But, however limiting the
descriptions are, our casting seeks to be as inclusive as possible and we invite gender non-conforming,
genderqueer, transgender and non-binary actors to submit for the roles they most identify with. We will
also list race/ethnicity when specific to the character but are otherwise seeking all races, religions, and
ethnicities. We hope that this process facilitates a space where we all can come together to share a
story filled with meaning, entertainment, and compassion. Please let us know if you have any questions,
concerns, or if there are any accommodations we can provide. ***Language developed by Kevin Kantor
and Emily Tarquin from the Actors Theatre of Louisville).
For more information on North Dakota Shakespeare Festival visit:
www.northdakotashakespeare.com
For more information about the South Dakota Shakespeare Festival visit:
www.sdshakespearefestival.org