Posted by Red Snow Collective
CASTING three East Asian Women for the Premiere Production of Carried by the River, by Diana Tso, directed by William Yong
Audition Date: October 3 and/or October 4, 2024
Submission Deadline: September 22, 2024
Production Name: CARRIED BY THE RIVER, by Diana Tso, directed by William Yong
Production Dates: February 10 to March 23, 2025
Venue: Tarragon Theatre, Toronto
Contract: CAEA INDIE 3.0 (formerly INDIE 2.2)
Submission Email: redsnowcollective@gmail.com
Contact name: Diana Tso
Company website: www.redsnowcollective.ca
Ethnocultural mandate or casting statement:
Red Snow Collective promotes an environment of equity, inclusion, and diversity. Our productions empower BIPOC, LGBTQ+, and women, stories often left out of the ‘classical’ canon. Red Snow Collective acknowledges and are grateful to live and share our stories on this land, Tkaronto, the place where trees stand in water, which is the territory of the Anishinaabe, the Chippewa, the Haundenosaunee, the Huron Wendat, the Mississaugas of the Credit and meeting place of many diverse First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples.
Red Snow Collective creates compelling storytelling through live music and movement to empower the stories of women. Our productions include Red Snow (2012) and Comfort (2016) which are stories about the resilience of women in war, Monkey Queen (2018), a female mythological warrior story.
Synopsis:
CARRIED BY THE RIVER is a drama with voices, songs and movement. After the sudden death of her single mother, a young woman discovers she is adopted and goes to China in her quest for self and family. Through her journey of rage, grief and love she is guided by five animals and crosses paths with three women offering unexpected possibilities to find what she is searching for.
Remaining Characters to be Cast in a Five-Women Ensemble:
ROSE KIT-SUM WONG 潔心 (Clear Heart): plays 40s to 50s,
East Asian woman. She adopted a daughter from China during which her husband left her in their struggle to conceive a baby. She’s an elementary school teacher in Canada.
She’s humble, compassionate, creative, anxious.
DEER played by Rose
MEI SHAN 美 山 (Beautiful Mountain): 40s, East Asian woman, mother of Ting Ting, daughter of Lao Lao. She is migrant worker in a city in Guizhou province of China, leaving her first daughter to be raised by her mother.
She’s fierce, passionate, courageous, tenacious
TIGER played by Mei Shan
TING TING 婷婷 (Graceful/Elegant): 20s, East Asian woman, daughter of Mei Shan. Raised by her grandmother since age 12 and leaves their village life in her 20s to work in the city in Guizhou province.
She’s entrepreneurial, stubborn, energetic, stoic.
MONKEY played by Ting Ting
SUBMISSION Requirements:
Please email the following to redsnowcollective@gmail.com
1. put the character name of which you are submitting to audition for in the subject line of the email
2. send us your photo, resume
3. send one short video briefly introducing yourself with a one-minute monologue
AUDITION Requirements:
If notified for an audition you will be sent the sides for the role. You will need to prepare a 2-minute song to be sung acappella.
Please wear comfortable clothing for movement.
Knowledge of the Chinese language an asset but not mandatory.
Director, William Yong: director of Comfort and Monkey Queen. A Dora Mavor Moore Award winner and his past stage works have also been nominated for eleven Dora Awards. Comfort was nominated for three MyTheatre Awards’ included ‘Outstanding Direction’ by My Entertainment World for William’s direction. Recently he was nominated for a 2024 Dora Award ‘Outstanding Original Choreography’ for “Utopiverse”, a commission for the National Ballet of Canada. www.zataomm.org
Playwright, Diana Tso: Her plays are available at the Playwrights Guild of Canada
https://www.canadianplayoutlet.com/pages/search-results-page?q=diana tso