Written by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen

Directed by Karina Balfour

Audition Information

Virtual Audition Dates

Video submissions must be received by Monday, November 23rd. A secondary round of auditions may be held in January if necessary.

Callbacks

Callbacks materials for video callback will be emailed out by Wednesday, November 25th.

Audition Process

Please send a 1-2 minute video of you performing a contemporary comedic or dramatic monologue. YouTube links to your self-tape can be sent to: Karina Balfour

If you have a headshot or resume please attach these to your email. If you do not have a prepared monologue, please contact me for sides that you can use for your audition.

Course: TA40-40777

If you are cast you will need to enroll in TA40-40777 (3 units) which is the performance class. An add code will be provided for this class and the work on this project gives you the credit hours for this course. 

Play Information

The Story

The Line is a new play by Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen created in the award-winning documentary style that brought you The Exonerated, Aftermath, and Coal Country. Crafted from firsthand interviews with New York City medical first responders during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Line cuts through the media and political noise to reveal the lived experiences of frontline medical workers in New York and their battle to save lives in a system built to serve the bottom line.

“In spring 2020, we conducted anonymous interviews with NYC frontline medical workers battling the COVID-19 virus. Through these interviews, we began to see care as a radical response to institutionalized violence and the systems that perpetuate it. Created from quarantine in ‘rapid response’ to this national emergency,The Line presents a fundamental redefinition of what it means to protect and serve, examining the fault lines in our system through the words of the brave people who show up every day to care for us all.”- Jessica Blank and Erik Jensen

Virtual Production/Rehearsal Process

This show built around interwoven monologues written from Zoom interviews that the playwrights conducted. It is written to be done as a virtual production and actors will be recording their own performances from home which will be edited together to be presented as a pre-recorded, streaming show available only during the performance dates. This production will also be included in the Fresno Rogue Festival.

All rehearsals will be done virtually through Zoom. Rehearsal schedule will be flexible based upon actor and director availability. All actors who are cast are expected to enroll in TA40-40777 for Spring 2021.

Character Breakdown

• Oscar - 40s, Dominican. EMT. Natural storyteller, great sense of humor, Bronx born and Queens raised. A deeply solid guy.
• Sharon - 60, African-American. A nurse’s nurse. The boss. Fierce, uncompromising, tolerates no bullshit—all in service of her residents, whom she adores.
• David - 30s, Caucasian/Jewish. Nurse. Brainy, a little nerdy, a little sensitive, originally an actor, upper middle class Long Island roots, cares a lot.
• Vikram - 30s, Indian-American doctor. Sharp, laser-like and confident, with a fierce integrity. Comfortable in intensity and emergency.
• Ed - late 50s, Caucasian/Italian-American, 26-year veteran paramedic. No BS, straight talker and a consummate old school New Yorker, with the adrenaline-junkie vibe of a war photographer.
• Dwight - 50, Trinidadian, nurse. Deeply caring, steady, a little philosophical. Kind. Believer in what is right.
• Jennifer - 20s, First year resident. Caucasian; headstrong, resourceful, willful, combination of headstrong and pissed off

Please email Karina Balfour with any questions or further inquiries.