Open Auditions for The Gods of Comedy

Written by Ken Ludwig

Directed by Eric Almleaf

AUDITION DATES:

• Friday, November 7 at 6:30 pm 

• Saturday, November 8 at 2 pm 

• Sunday, November 9 at 2 pm

AUDITION EXPECTATIONS:

Looking for women and men from their 20s and up for this comedy about a professor who finds and then loses the greatest discovery of her career. 

This show is what you would get if Mel Brooks and the Marx Brothers fell into a boiling vat of Greek plays. Physical humor, one liners, and puns abound, with a touch of romance.

Auditions will be cold readings from the show as well as some improv. 

CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS:

• ARISTIDE* (Male, any age) - A local Greek salesman of colorfully embellished trinkets on the island of Naxos where he lives with his family. He knows everyone and everything that happens on his island, and serves as an omniscient introductory narrator to the story. * This actor will also portray the role of Ares.

• DAPHNE RAIN** (Female, 20s-30s) - A young and esteemed American Classics professor from a liberal arts university. She is a passionate Hellenic scholar, currently working to mount a production of Euripides’ Medea as part of her tenure folio. Hiding behind her bookishness, hesitation, and self-imposed isolation, Daphne has a fiercely independent spirit and is on the verge of the adventure of her lifetime. **This role may include implied (not actual) nudity; please contact the director for more information if needed.

• DEAN TRICKETT (Female, 40+) - The Dean of the Classics Department at the university where Daphne teaches is a lusty “force of nature.” Hailing from England, her hearty gusto and “full-throated laugh” simply can’t be tamed. She is staunchly passionate about her work and will do whatever it takes to see that the study of Classics is preserved and appreciated by the next generation.

• RALPH SARGENT (Male, 20s-30s) - Hellenistic studies rising star who has just been hired as the new head of the Classics Department with Daphne and the Dean. He is work-obsessed, bursting with energy, and on the hunt for a “lost” Euripides play, a find which could make his career and change the course of theater history.

• ALEKSI (Male, any age) - Loveable university custodian with a deep appreciation for ancient culture and art. He is a jovial Russian émigré with Homeric dreams of learning Greek himself and one day being a Classics professor.

• DIONYSUS (Male, any age) - Celebrated Greek god of wine, fertility, revelry, and misrule incarnated here as a God of Comedy on a mission from his father Zeus. Lover of all things boisterous, anarchic, and ecstatic, Dionysus is particularly thrilled to discover all the indulgences a twenty-first-century college campus has to offer him.

• THALIA (Female, any age) - Ancient Greek muse of comedy and idyllic poetry, now Dionysus’s partner in comedic crime from Mt. Olympus. Thalia is a positivist who doesn’t get caught up in the details. Although she is not exactly “the sharpest sword in the armory,” she makes up for it with self-confidence. She has a happy-go-lucky spirit and an “Achilles heel” of crushing hard and fast on attractive male mortals.

• ARES* (Male, any age) - The Greek god of war who is loud, intimidating, quick to be aggressive, and physically no match for opposing mortals. Brutish and demanding, he does not play around when it comes to satiating himself with whatever his momentary desire might be. *This actor will also portray the role of Aristide

• BROOKLYN DE WOLFE (Female, 20s-30s) - Former grade-A student scholar turned world-class movie star; she is a big deal at her alma mater. Charming and alluring with a smile that “makes you believe in God,” she knows how to smooth-talk herself into the next big movie without missing a beat.

For any questions, you can email the director at: auditioninfoeaa@gmail.com

PERFORMANCE DATES:

January 23, 24, 25, 30, 31, February 1, 2026