Open audition notice for Campaigns, Inc.
A new play by native Daytonian Will Allan

Auditions will be held Mon & Tue, Aug 26 & 27, 2024, starting at 7:00 pm both nights.
Production dates: Oct 11-20, 2024

Directed by K.L.Storer
Produced by Debra Kent

A comedic docudrama based on the actual first American political consulting firm, formed by Leone Baxter and Clem Whitaker, Campaigns, Inc. is a behind‐the‐scenes look at orchestrated political dirty tricks executed through what may be the original “fake news” strategy. With dark humor, the play examines Baxter and Whitaker’s propaganda machine that sabotages novelist Upton Sinclair’s 1934 bid to become the first Democratic governor of California.

Casting Requirements:

• Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script.
• A résumé and headshot are not required but are appreciated.
• Please provide a list of all known conflicts between Aug 28 & Oct 20, 2024.

  • Leone Baxter: 28, Female, Co-founder of Campaigns, Inc. and the brains of the operation. Ambitious and driven, she views things from a practical standpoint and, though not wholly amoral, isn’t oppose to ignoring ethical questions that obstruct her from her goals. She is acutely aware that she is an unwanted woman in a man’s world.
  • Clem Whitaker: 31, Male, The other co-founder of the firm, intelligent in his own right but readily recognizes that his partner is the leader. A little less willing to compromise his ethics but acquiesces to his partner’s lead. Still, he probably has a much stabler moral compass that Leone.
  • Frank Merriam: 69, Male, The current Californian Governor. A pompous blowhard, engulfed in his own ego, and thus quick to anger. He has no charm in his body; most, if not all of those who work with him don’t actually like him; his running mate, Hatfield, at one point calls him a “jackass” and “a fly-covered wheelbarrow of horse dung?” We, however, are not going to paint him two-dimensionally.
  • George Hatfield: 46, Male, The current U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California, running to be Merriam’s Lieutenant Governor. A smart, ambitious politician, tolerating Merriam only to bide his own time to becoming Governor, himself. He placates Merriam, but shows himself to be calculated and ruthless.
  • Franklin Delano Roosevelt: 51, Male
  • Eleanor Roosevelt: 50, Female

*DIRECTOR’S NOTES:
> The ages listed are those the actors can play successfully, not necessarily the actors’ actual ages.

> The following roles will be played by actors in multiples of them. The script suggests the roles be played by the actors playing FDR and Eleanor, but the casting of these roles MAY be altered somewhat, adding to the cast.

  • Louis B. Mayer (male)
  • Kyle Palmer (male)
  • Ty Cobb (male)
  • Reporter (female)
  • Photographer (male)
  • Douglas Fairbanks (male)
  • Mary Pickford (female)
  • Waitress (female)

*Due to preproduction needs, the following roles are precast:

  • Upton Sinclair
  • Charlie Chaplin

Click Here for access to the audition sides.

For more information, please contact Director K.L.Storer.