The Pajama Game
Initial Auditions Due- 8/20/26 at 6:00 PM (video submissions)
Callbacks 8/30 (1-10 PM…students will not be called the entire window….we are sharing this time with Faustus) and 8/31 (callbacks 5-10 PM…students will not be called the entire window)
Rehearsals begin 9/1 (second day of classes)
Most rehearsals take place Sun-Fri from 6:45-9:45, with occasional weekend rehearsals (that may be a little earlier in the day). Dress rehearsals and rehearsals later in the rehearsal process leading into tech may end between 10 and 1030.
Tech Rehearsals Saturday 10/10 and Sunday 10/11 from 12-5 PM
Dress Rehearsals 10/12 and 10/13 (6-11 PM…call time TBD)
Performances 10/14 to 10/18 (all performances at 7 PM other than 10/18, which is at 2 PM)
Strike to follow final performance around 530
The Pajama Game follows the story of a worker’s strike at a pajama factory in Iowa in the 1950s. The workers’ strike complicates the budding romantic relationship between the superintendent of the factory, Sid Sorokin, and one of the leaders of the union, Babe Williams. The story includes fun, high energy dance numbers like Steam Heat and Hernando’s Hideaway while exploring a romantic love story against the backdrop of a labor battle that is as engaging today as it was when it first premiered in 1955, when it won the Tony Award for Best Musical.
Audition Requirements: Please prepare a video of you performing a 60-second monologue (classical or contemporary) and singing a 16-32 bar cut of a song in the style of the show. You are WELCOME to sing from the show. Please upload your video as an unlisted YouTube link with permissions set to allow anyone with the link to view the material. Format your video in a mid-shot, with the camera framing going from the waist up, with a little space above your head and on either side of you to allow for a bit of movement. Please play your recorded accompaniment out of a different device than the one you are using to record your video, and do a sound check to make sure I can hear BOTH the music and you singing. Please listen back to your video to make sure that is the case AND try sending it to someone to be sure they can click on the link and watch the video. All video auditions are due on 8/20/26 by 6:00 PM. Feel free to submit earlier (it makes our lives much easier). Callbacks will follow for individual roles on 8/30 and 8/31.
More info about the show: https://www.mtishows.com/the-pajama-game
CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE THE AUDITION FORM
DEADLINE: August 20, 2026 at 6:00pm
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The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus
GENERAL INFORMATION: Kit Marlowe wrote this play based on the legend of the historical Johann Georg Faust (a 15th century alchemist and astrologer). Dissatisfied with the limits of human knowledge, Faustus strikes a deal with Lucifer to have 24 years of all-encompassing knowledge and power, in exchange for his soul. The play was first performed in 1594, 5 years after Shakespeare’s first written play, Henry VI Part 1 (Some scholarship suggests Marlowe worked on the Henry VI cycle with Shakespeare.) Doctor Faustus was wildly successful, being performed 23 times by the Admiral’s Men over a three-year period. (A crazy long run for that time). Marlowe is credited by many for perfecting and popularizing blank verse (a largely non-rhyming iambic pentameter poetic form) that Shakespeare also used. The play is a mixture of comedy and tragedy. Our version will be exploring the idea of Faustus as a Sam Altman inspired character who is willing to experiment with AI while letting go with all precautions of what may transpire with this limitless power. Lucifer becomes, essentially, an AI generated demi-god. (We will go into far more detail when we start rehearsals).
We have cut the play to approximately 90 minutes in length (it will be performed without intermission). All the lines with very few exceptions are directly from the 1604 publication of the play, with some lines taken from the 1616 version.
ROLES: No roles are gender specific except for the historical characters Alexander the Great, his Paramour, Princess Roxana, and Helen of Troy. All other roles including Faustus can be played by any actor. Actors playing Faustus, Mephistopheles and Wagner will only play those roles. All others are likely to play multiple roles. We plan to cast a company of up to 12 actors.
Characters (in order of appearance)
Chorus: Observers of the action of the play
Doctor John Faustus: An ambitious scholar
Wagner: Faustus’ student and his assistant (and the primary witness to the action of the play)
Good Angel: A part of Faustus’ psyche
Evil Angel: An opposing force of Faustus’ psyche
Valdes: A magician who instructs Faustus in the art of black magic
Cornelius: Also instructs Faustus in the art of black magic
First Scholar: A companion who has great concern for Faustus
Second Scholar: A companion who also has great concern for Faustus
Third Scholar: A companion who has great concern for Faustus
Mephistopheles: A devil and assistant to Lucifer
Robin: Servant to Wagner (and thus also to Faustus). A wannabe magician
Rafe: A servant and friend of Robin
Lucifer: The Prince of Devils. A fallen Archangel
Beelzebub: A high-ranking demon and lieutenant to Lucifer
Pride: One of the seven deadly sins
Covetousness: One of the seven deadly sins
Envy: One of the seven deadly sins
Wrath: One of the seven deadly sins
Gluttony: One of the seven deadly sins
Sloth: One of the seven deadly sins
Lechery: One of the seven deadly sins
Pope Adrian: An arrogant and abusive Pope
Friar: Attendant to the Pope
Cardinal: Attendant to the Pope
Vinter: A seller of wine and wine goblets
Emperor: Charles V, an admirer of Faustus’ power
Knight: A Duke in the Emperor’s court and a skeptic of Faustus
Alexander the Great: Conjured from the past
Paramor of Alexnader the Great: Conjured from the past
Horse-Courser: A horse trader
Helen: Helen of Troy, Conjured from the past
REHEARSALS: The rehearsals for this play will be a bit more spread out to allow for the time needed to memorize classical text. The overall number of actual rehearsals will be what I usually take for a full length play- approximately 28 rehearsals leading to first tech. Rehearsals are normally 3.5 to 4 hours long. Faustus and Mephistopheles will be called for most rehearsals. Everyone else will be called as needed.
An exact rehearsal schedule will be posted as soon as possible. This is just a starting point so you have a general idea of what the commitment is. Rehearsals are generally MWF from 6:30-10pm, T/TH from 6pm-10pm. Sundays are TBA (1-5pm or 6-10pm). We generally do not rehearse on Saturdays except for tech rehearsal.
START OF REHEARALS: The week of Monday, Sept 21 (This may be pushed forward one week to Sept 28, but best to plan on Sept 21 at this point).
First Tech: Sat Nov 7: 11am-7pm.
Second Tech: Sun Nov 8: 11am-5pm
First Dress: Sun Nov 8: 6pm-11pm.
Second Dress Mon Nov 9, 6pm-11pm
Opening Night: Tuesday, Nov 10, 6pm call
NO PERFORMANCE on WED NOV 11 (Veterans Day)
Performance Thurs Nov 12: 6pm call
Performance Fri Nov 13: 6pm call
Performance Sat Nov 14, 1pm call for 2pm curtain and 6pm call for 7pm curtain
Sun Nov 15: 1pm call.
AUDITION REQUIRMENTS: For those who are also auditioning for The Pajama Game, you don’t need to submit any additional material. (I’ll use the monologue you have submitted for PG).
For those only auditioning for Dr. Faustus, please submit a video of a one-minute blank verse monologue. (Shakespeare, Marlowe or any other Elizabethan/Jacobian playwright). It can be comic or dramatic. A Shakespeare sonnet can be used, but please make sure you use it not as poetry but as a character with an objective. (Yes- those of you who took Acting II, you can use the sonnet you used in class).
Please shoot with the camera in landscape and shoot from the waist up with as little head room as possible.
Submission Deadline: August 20 at 6pm.
CALL BACKS: Call-backs for Doctor Faustus will be held form 1-5pm on Sunday, August 30.
- THDA-Faust-Script..pdf (311.96 KB)
Questions? Please send me an email. djk@unh.edu
CLICK HERE TO COMPLETE THE AUDITION FORM
DEADLINE: August 20, 2026 at 6:00pm
