OpenStage Theatre & Company’s
2026-2027 SEASON AUDITIONS
Audition announcement for the third show in our 54th Season:
In the Next Room (Or the Vibrator Play)
By Sarah Ruhl
Directed by Jacob Offen and Jennifer R. Bray
Performs March 20 – April 17, 2027 | Rehearsals start late January 2027
Auditions for our final show of the season, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, will happen later in the season.
All roles receive a $400 stipend.
OpenStage is a non-equity theatre. No equity contracts are available at this time. OpenStage uses Standards and Practices in accordance with the Colorado Theatre Standards.
OpenStage is committed to providing a fair, professional, and welcoming environment.
We invite submissions from actors with a wide range of backgrounds and experience levels. Persons of all races, ethnicities, religions, creed, gender identity, sexual orientation, and abilities are highly encouraged to audition. Casting and participation decisions are made thoughtfully, with the goal of supporting the artistic needs of each production and fostering a respectful, supportive creative process.
Diversity, Equity, Inclusion & Belonging
Our Commitment
OpenStage Theatre & Company believes that theatre has the power to bring people together, challenge assumptions, and deepen our understanding of one another. We also recognize that the arts have not always been equitable or accessible to everyone.
We denounce racism, discrimination, and all forms of systemic oppression. We are committed to building an organization where people of all races, ethnicities, genders, sexual orientations, abilities, ages, backgrounds, and lived experiences are welcomed, respected, and given meaningful opportunities to participate and lead.
We recognize that equity requires more than good intentions. It requires ongoing learning, honest reflection, and action.
Values into Action
OpenStage is committed to:
- Elevating diverse voices and perspectives on our stages, creative teams, staff, board, and throughout our organization.
- Creating equitable opportunities for artists, volunteers, employees, and community members to participate in and shape our work.
- Expanding access and belonging so that our theatre is welcoming and accessible to audiences and artists across Colorado.
- Examining our practices and decisions through an equity and inclusion lens, recognizing that change is an ongoing process.
- Listening to our community and remaining open to feedback, accountability, and opportunities to do better.
- We know we will not always get it right. Our responsibility is to listen, learn, acknowledge when we fall short, and continue moving forward.
OpenStage is committed to making theatre that reflects the full breadth of our community, and to building a community where everyone has a place in the room, on the stage, and in the audience.
OPEN AUDITIONS (if you have not worked with OpenStage previously, or are not current associate or company member):
Please submit your headshot, resume, and audition video to auditions@openstage.com. Audition requirements: a pair of contrasting monologues not to exceed a combined length of 2 minutes. Please send audition videos as a Google Drive video or video file attachment, resumes in PDF format, and headshots as a .jpg or .png. Include in your email which shows you would like to be considered for. If you have conflicts of any kind with callbacks, please note those when submitting your audition.
All audition submissions are due by Friday, November 6th by midnight.
Callbacks will be posted to the OpenStage website by November 9th at 5pm. Please check the website to see if you got a callback.
Callbacks/Company Auditions are located at the Backstage Arts Warehouse, 720 East Vine Drive in Fort Collins. Please park on the East side of the building or across the street on the dirt lot.
OPENSTAGE COMPANY & ASSOCIATE MEMBERS
Company and associate members will be emailed a link to sign up for a five minute audition slot for each show they wish to audition for. Open auditioners who receive a callback will be emailed a link to sign up for a 5 minute slot for the callbacks on November 14th.
Perusal Scripts are available for current and former Company and Associate Members, and for those invited to callbacks. Please contact jacob@openstage.com to request access.
Auditioners called back should be prepared to attend Callbacks/Company Auditions and Final Callbacks (by invitation). See Schedule Below
AUDITION SCHEDULE
Friday, November 6, by Midnight: Audition submissions are due for actors who are not current associate or company members.
Saturday, November 14– Callbacks/Company Auditions
1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Sunday, Novmeber 15 – Final Callbacks (By Invitation Only)
12:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Callbacks/Company Auditions are located at the Backstage Arts Warehouse, 720 East Vine Drive in Fort Collins. Free parking is available on the east side of the building or in the dirt lot across the street.
DIRECTOR’S NOTES / CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS
CATHERINE GIVINGS — Woman, late 20s
Bright, curious, outspoken, and eager for connection. A new mother and Dr. Givings’ wife, Catherine feels excluded from both her husband’s work and the bond between her baby and the wet nurse. Her playful energy and impulsive curiosity conceal profound loneliness and a longing to be understood.
GIVINGS — Man, 40s
An earnest physician with tremendous faith in science, progress, and electricity. Courteous and methodical, he approaches his patients with confidence but struggles to recognize his wife’s emotional needs. Beneath his professional reserve is a loving man learning how to make himself vulnerable.
SABRINA DALDRY — Woman, early 30s
Sensitive, reserved, and constrained by the expectations of her marriage. Sabrina arrives seeking relief from distress she cannot fully articulate. Through treatment and unexpected connection, she begins to discover pleasure, confidence, and desires that challenge her understanding of herself.
ANNIE — Woman, 30 – 40’s
Dr. Givings’ capable assistant and a trained midwife. Practical, observant, and quietly compassionate, Annie brings assurance to the treatment room. Her composed exterior holds a rich emotional life, and her growing connection with Sabrina opens possibilities she has kept carefully guarded.
LEO IRVING — Man, 20s–30s; English
An artist and patient of Dr. Givings. Expressive, romantic, and emotionally expansive, Leo brings a different energy into the household. He sees beauty readily and pursues connection passionately, though his idealized view of others can prevent him from understanding their actual experiences.
ELIZABETH — Black/African American woman, 20s – 30s
A mother grieving the loss of her infant son who becomes the wet nurse for the Givings’ baby. Perceptive, grounded, and emotionally direct, Elizabeth navigates the household’s racial and class divisions with dignity. Her understanding of love, grief, and intimacy challenges the assumptions of those around her.
DALDRY — Man, 40s–50s
Sabrina’s husband, a conventional gentleman who values propriety and believes he understands what his wife needs. Often oblivious to her inner life, he can be patronizing without recognizing it. His social confidence and interest in Catherine reveal his own desire for attention and companionship.
DIRECTOR’S NOTES
In the Next Room (Or the Vibrator Play) explores the wild and unbridled human heart, bound by the corsets of high society and the strictures of gender. The play reaches beneath the surface to reveal a world that treats the symptoms of malady without confronting its causes. It is honest, grounded, delicate, eager, and very, very funny. Its humor emerges naturally from the inexplicable and inescapable circumstances in which its characters find themselves: dry, witty, sharp, and revealing. Opposition lives at the heart of the play. Its characters contain contradictions, and allowing those opposing impulses to coexist is crucial. Everyone here desperately wants something – even if they cannot quite put their finger on it. The need to change, to burst free of expectation, is raw and palpable. The love among these people is human, true, complicated, and unyielding.
