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Women Playing Hamlet by William Missouri DownsSpecial Arrangements by Playscripts Inc.
February 27 & 28, March 6, 7, 8, 13 & 14 (Auditions January 12 & 13)
Hamlet's a challenge for any actor, but when Jessica is cast as the titular character in a New York production, it sends her into an existential tailspin. It doesn't help that her acting coach is borderline abusive, or that every Starbucks barista with an MFA tells her she's too young for the role. Or that she's somehow managed to make Sir Patrick Stewart her nemesis. Not to mention the fact that she's a woman. How can Jessica figure out "to be or not to be," when she can't even figure out herself? Rated PG-13.
February 27, 28, March 6, 7, 13, 14 @ 7:30 PM; March 8 @ 2:00 PM
Women Playing Hamlet: Character Breakdown
Individual Characters
Jessica Female, late 20s.
An actress—quirky, sharp, anxious, self-aware. Smart but deeply insecure about being cast as Hamlet. The central protagonist whose crisis of identity drives the play.
Gwen Female.
A Tony-nominated acting coach. Intense, theatrical, philosophical. Loves hearing herself speak. Wears long elegant scarves. Brutally honest and frequently unhinged.
Humanities Professor Male (played by a woman).
A pompous, overconfident academic who misinterprets Shakespeare. Lectures the audience with misguided authority.
Ghost (Hamlet’s Father) Male (played by a woman).
Imposing and dramatic. Appears as the classical spirit of Hamlet’s murdered father.
Starbucks Actress (Betty Ashland) Female.
Works at Starbucks; also has an MFA in acting. Dry, sarcastic, unimpressed by Jessica’s dreams.
Priest (Father Jorgensen) Male (played by a woman).
Catholic priest with an MFA from Yale. Earnest, awkwardly philosophical, often quoting Shakespeare.
Bicycle Messenger Male (played by a woman).
Streetwise, hip New York messenger. Oddly profound. Holds an MFA from Juilliard.
Emily Ostergaard Female, age 14.
Jessica’s niece from Minnesota. A tech-obsessed, ice-fishing, pulled-pork-loving, computer-geek teenager with zero theatre etiquette.
Barfly Female.
An alcoholic—sharp, loud, comic relief.
Home Shopping Network Model Female.
Bubbly, upbeat, commercial, exaggerated in her sales pitch persona.
Rosy Female.
A young soap-opera starlet—eager, overly dramatic, and stereotypically naïve.
Lord Derby Male (played by a woman).
A pompous, elitist English Shakespeare scholar. Bombastic, snobbish, and hilariously overwrought in his devotion to the Bard.
Minnesota Mother Female.
Jessica’s mother. Warm, blunt, relentlessly positive. Speaks with a thick Minnesota accent and overshares about personal matters.
Psychiatrist (Dr. Max Feltenberg) Male (played by a woman).
A Freudian psychologist. Deadpan, analytical, overly clinical, often misguided in his interpretations.
Bartender Male (played by a woman).
Rough, tattooed, tough, straightforward New York bar personality.
Home Shopping Network Hostess Female.
Energetic, bright personality similar to the Model—professional infomercial cheerfulness dialed up to 11.
Gilda Female.
A grande dame of the soap-opera world. Dramatic, theatrical, recently survived a stroke. A comic send-up of TV diva tropes.
Gravedigger Male (played by a woman).
Cockney accent. Pun-loving, witty, earthy, grounded. A comedic echo of Shakespeare’s original gravedigger.
Stage Manager Female.
Practical, no-nonsense, grounded—a clear contrast to the chaos of the play’s theatrical personalities.
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