The South Florida Theatre League’s Annual Unified Auditions are coming up on Monday February 17, 2020 at ArtServe from 3:00 PM to 9:00 PM. Our companion Audition Workshops with Michael Leeds and Caryl Fantel will be held on Monday February 10 at ArtServe.

Our Unified Auditions allow actors the opportunity to audition for multiple theatre companies at once. Actors are limited to a 1-minute monologue and up to sixteen bars of a song.

To participate as an actor, you must be a current individual member of the South Florida Theatre League in good standing. To participate as a producer or freelance director, your organization must be a current organizational member of the South Florida Theatre League in good standing.

To sign up for a timeslot, email your headshot, resume, if you plan on singing, and if you have any time constraints to sftlauditions@gmail.com. Please don’t email Andie Arthur at andie@southfloridatheatre.com, as too many large headshot files will clog her email and cause your emails to bounce. Please make sure that your name is in the FILE NAME of your headshot and resume. Producers will receive electronic copies of your headshots and resumes.

Please note that the sftlauditions@gmail.com email will be checked at least once a day every business day. Audition timeslots are assigned on a first come, first served basis. Once all timeslots are filled a waiting list will start. In the past, the auditions have run fast so that we have been able to see everyone on the waiting list who attended the auditions.

To sign up as a producer, please email Andie Arthur at andie@southfloridatheatre.com.

FAQs for Unified Auditions and Workshops

I’ve let my South Florida Theatre League Membership lapse, but I want to take part in these auditions — what can I do?

You can rejoin today! Our individual membership application is available here! We’re now processing memberships on a year-round basis, so if you join today, you’d be up for membership renewal in January 2021.

I emailed my information. Now what?

Andie Arthur will respond with a timeslot and further instructions. The sftlauditions@gmail.com email will be checked at least once a day every business day.

Where are the auditions?

The Unified Auditions will be held in the auditorium at ArtServe. ArtServe’s address is 1350 E Sunrise Blvd, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33304.

What do I need to prepare?

Prepare a 60-second monologue of your choice. Your 60 seconds will begin with the first word out of your mouth following the announcement of your name and number if you choose to introduce your name and number. You will be asked to stop your audition promptly after 60 seconds – NO EXCEPTIONS.

You will have the option to sing 16 bars of a song of your choice following your monologue. An accompanist will be provided. No taped accompaniment. Please have clear copies of published vocal selection music in plastic sheets in a binder or secured on cardboard or taped together. Your music must be in the key you sing and clearly marked as to dynamics, tempos, articulation, repeats, and endings. DO NOT arrive with no music, ask the accompanist, “Do you know…?”, give arrangements that exist in your head and not on paper, give last minute instructions, or have unwritten transpositions. DO briefly explain your needs to the accompanist upon entering the audition holding area before your monologue.

I’m not singing 16 bars, may I have additional time for a contrasting monologue?

No. Because we want to be able to see as many actors as possible, we must keep to strict time constraints. Because we were running ahead of schedule for the past few Unified Auditions, timeslots have been shortened to three minutes — in order to give the opportunity for as many actors to participate as possible. However, with such short timeslots, we need to keep to the schedule.

I’m not an actor, but I am a designer. Whatever happened to the accompanying designer showcase?

Depending on how much interest we receive, we plan to add a designer showcase to the auditions, where designers have a chance to show off their portfolios for a larger group of member theatres. If you want to be a part of the designer showcase, please email me at andie@southfloridatheatre.com with your basic contact information, a resume, and your design focus – so we can group the set, lighting, and costume designers separately.

Even if we don’t have a sufficient interest from designers to do the full showcase, we are happy to put your resumes and renderings onto our USB drive that we give our producers.

What Theatre Companies are Participating?

Right now, we’re still collecting RSVPs from theatre companies. As we get closer and more theatres sign up, we will provide a list. Traditionally about 30 producing organizations attend. In 2019, we’ve opened sign ups to our producer side to freelance directors and we’ve already had quite a few sign ups. Those names will also be shared once we have a more complete list.

I want to volunteer for the auditions! What can I do?

Thanks for asking! We need at least five volunteers. We need people to do timekeeping, working the registration table, and to help shepherd actors from the holding area and the theatre. Dinner will be provided. If you’re interested in earning Andie’s undying gratitude, please email her at andie@southfloridatheatre.com.

AUDITION WORKSHOP

What can I do to make my audition even better?

The South Florida Theatre League wants you to have the best audition you can possibly have – so we’re hosting a workshop the week before with Michael Leeds and Caryl Fantel on Monday February 10th. The workshop will be split into two sessions — acting and musical theatre. The acting workshop will be from 9:30 AM to 12:30 PM and the musical theatre workshop will be from 1:30 PM to 5:30 PM. Both workshops will also be at ArtServe.

Who are Michael Leeds and Caryl Fantel?

MICHAEL LEEDS: (Director) B’way: Swinging On A Star (Writer/Director Tony Award nomination Best Musical).  Off-B’way: Hello Muddah, Hello Faddah – The Songs of Allan Sherman (Drama Desk Award nom. Best Director/Best Choreographer), Showing Off (starring Donna Murphy), Carmelina  and 70, Girls, 70 (starring Jane Powell & Charlotte Rae) and Terri Girvin’s Last Call. Regional/International:  Arthur Miller’s Playing For Time (Director/Adapted teleplay, Edinburgh Fringe Festival First Award), A Little Night Music (Director/Choreographer, HGO starring Frederica Von Stade & Thomas Allen) and Marc Blitzstein’s Regina (Director/Choreographer, FGO starring Lauren Flanigan). Film:  choreographed End of Summer (starring Jacqueline Bisset & Peter Weller), co-wrote with Linda Yellen The Simian Line (starring William Hurt, Lynn Redgrave, Tyne Daly), The Last Film Festival, (starring Dennis Hopper, Jacqueline Bisset) and Fluidity (starring Nico Tortorella). His plays include The First Step, Who Killed Joan Crawford?, Impressions, The Gift, Starmaker and the revised version of Cole Porter’s Red, Hot And Blue (Director/Writer, Goodspeed Opera/ PaperMill Playhouse) as well as co-writing book, music and lyrics for Mating Habits of the Urban Mammal, (Broward Stage Door Theatre).  In South Florida he’s directed: I’ll Eat You Last for Gable Stage.  The First Step (Empire Stage Theatre), Driving Miss Daisy and Chapter Two (Plaza Theatre). His many productions for Broward Stage Door Theatre include A Little Night Music (Carbonell nom. Best Musical), The Glass Menagerie, Mack And Mabel (Carbonell Best Musical), Steel Magnolias, Twilight of the Golds, Lend Me A Tenor, Butterflies Are Free, My Fair Lady, Evita. Broadway Bound and The Light In The Piazza (Carbonell nom Best Musical, Silver Palm Award for Direction). As Associate Artistic Director for Island City Stage: The Twentieth Century Way (Carbonell nom. Best Ensemble), Body Awareness, the World Premieres of Have I Got A Girl For You,  POZ, Feeding The Bear and his own plays The First Step – Diary of a Sex Addict, Impressions, and Who Killed Joan Crawford? which received the 2016 Award for Best New Work of 2016 by the Broward/Miami New Times.  His production of the South Florida premiere of The Timekeepers garnered 6 Carbonell Awards including Best Director and Best Production of a Play.  Michael teaches a weekly acting class in Delray Beach and Fort Lauderdale. (www.LeedsWorkshop.com)

Caryl Fantel (Music Director/Pianist/Instructor) Awards: Carbonell, Best Music Direction: Passion (Zoetic Stage at the Arsht Center, Miami); Silver Palm: Outstanding work during the 2016-17 and 2015-16 South Florida seasons. Off-Broadway: Theda Bara and the Frontier Rabbi MUFTI (York Theatre, NY); Stars of David (Assoc. MD, Daryl Roth Productions, Florida Tour); Carnegie Hall (Accompanist, Featured Choir, National Youth Choir Concert). Regional: Dozens of productions including Holiday Inn (The 5th Avenue Theatre, Seattle), Assassins (Zoetic Stage, Miami; Carbonell nomination), The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Slow Burn Theatre at the Broward Center, Ft. Lauderdale; Silver Palm Award), Spring Awakening (Slow Burn; Silver Palm Award), Carousel (Actors’ Playhouse, Coral Gables), Beehive (The Wick Theatre, Boca Raton, and Players Theatre, Columbus, OH), Summer Shorts (City Theatre at the Arsht Center, Miami), and five seasons as Resident Music Director of Cohoes Music Hall (Albany, NY). Staged readings: Dreamgirls (Miramar Cultural Center, FL), The Secret Garden (Caldwell Theatre, Boca Raton), Man of La Mancha, Zorba! and Camelot (Palm Beach Dramaworks, West Palm Beach), plus numerous other new works presented at Theatre Lab at Florida Atlantic University (Boca Raton), the Arts Garage (Delray Beach) and other venues. Fantel serves as Music Director for the annual South Florida Carbonell Awards. She has performed with Broadway’s Beth Malone, Liz Callaway, Lorna Luft, Tovah Feldshuh, Lee Roy Reams, Daisy Eagan, Liz Larsen, John Bolton and others. Fantel, a private teacher and adjunct professor, audition and college prep coach, workshop presenter and Broward County Cultural Council member, is also working on multiple pieces currently in development, including La Dottoressa, a new musical about Maria Montessori, written by Emmy-winner Matty Selman.

How do I sign up?

Email Andie Arthur at andie@southfloridatheatre.com. Please let her know if you want to attend the acting session, the musical theatre session or both. Once you’re signed up, Andie Arthur will contact you about payment options.

How much do the workshops cost?

The cost for either workshop individually is $20 or $30 for both workshops.

Where is the workshop?

The workshop will be held at ArtServe in the same location as the auditions.