Showing posts with label Stray Cat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Stray Cat. Show all posts

Thursday, July 30, 2026

Auditions for EUREKA DAY and INFINITE LIFE at Stray Cat Theatre announced for August 17

 
EUREKA DAY
by Jonathan Spector
directed by Louis Farber
Tempe Center for the Arts Studio Theatre
October 9 - 17, 2026
TWO WEEKEND ENGAGEMENT ONLY

AND

INFINITE LIFE
by Annie Baker
directed by Jodie Weiss
Tempe Center for the Arts Studio Theatre
December 11 - 19, 2026
TWO WEEKEND ENGAGEMENT ONLY

WHEN/WHERE:

Monday, August 17th, 2026 - 6pm - 10pm

MAIN STREET CREATIVE ARTS CENTER
933 E Main St
Mesa, AZ 85203

Callbacks will be on Tuesday the 18th in the evening for EUREKA DAY and on Wednesday the 19th in the evening for INFINITE LIFE

ROLES AVAILABLE:

EUREKA DAY
2-3M, 3-4F

DON: Late 50s, early 60s. White. Head of the school. A calming presence.
SUZANNE: Mid 50s. White. Warm and gracious.
CARINA: Early 40s. Black or biracial. A joiner. Grew up overseas. 
MEIKO: Mid 30s. Asian or biracial. Berkley native. Wry sense of humor.
ELI: Mid 30s. White. Jewish. Oblivious but well-meaning.
WINTER: Open age, Black or biracial. A parent. New to the school.

NOTE: All ages and ethnicities are suggested by the script to reflect the diversity that defines the school.

INFINITE LIFE
5F, 1M

SOFI: 40s, lives in Los Angeles, California. The play's fulcrum. She is separated, extraordinarily vulnerable, and highly neurotic.
EILEEN: 70s, lives in Wichita, Kansas. A deeply warm and somewhat supernatural presence. Provides moments of physical comfort and spiritual healing to the other characters. 
ELAINE: 60s, lives in Dublin, New Hampshire. A veteran of the clinic who navigates the agonizing reality of the physical body. 
GINNIE: 60s, lives in Rio Vista, California. Witty and outspoken, she actively engages in the philosophical debates about physical trauma and relationships.
YVETTE: 60s, 70s, lives in Midland, Michigan. A poised and grounding figure who provides wisdom to the younger Sofi and balances the group's discussions. 
NELSON: 40s, lives in San Francisco., California. The sole man in the group. A finance bro with colon cancer. In an open marriage. Acts as a confessor and object of desire.

PLEASE PREPARE: 
Prepared sides from the script - will be emailed to you upon scheduling your audition.

TO SCHEDULE AN AUDITION:

PLEASE SEND AN EMAIL TO rmay@straycattheatre.org WITH THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION:
1. NAME 
2. PHONE NUMBER
3. CHARACTER(S) YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE CONSIDERED FOR
4. A WINDOW OF TIME YOU WOULD PREFER. PLEASE KEEP IN MIND ALL AUDITIONS ARE ON A FIRST COME, FIRST SCHEDULED BASIS IN 5 MINUTE INCREMENTS. WE WILL DO OUR BEST TO ADHERE TO YOUR WISHES.

YOU WILL RECEIVE A CONFIRMATION EMAIL WITH:
1. IMPORTANT INFORMATION
2. SIDE(S) TO PREPARE FOR YOUR AUDITION
3. A LINK TO AN AUDITION FORM TO COMPLETE BEFORE ARRIVAL
4. AN AUDITION TIME SLOT 


PAY: There is a stipend for all actors cast as well as for understudies.

ABOUT THE SHOWS:

EUREKA DAY

Winner of the 2025 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play! 

The Eureka Day School in Berkeley, California, is a bastion of progressive ideals: representation, acceptance, social justice. But when a mumps outbreak threatens the Eureka community, facts become subjective and every solution divisive, leaving the school’s leadership to confront the central question of our time: How do you build consensus when no one can agree on truth?

“…Critic’s Pick! “[A] lively portrait... The perfect play for our age of disagreement.” – The New York Times

INFINITE LIFE

The newest play from the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of Stray Cat favorites THE FLICK, JOHN, and THE ANTIPODES. 

INFINITE LIFE focuses on five women – four of them in their 60s, one 47 – and one middle aged man - staying at a health retreat in northern California. This surprisingly funny new play is an inquiry into the complex experience of pain - our own and each other’s - and how we collectively and independently navigate suffering.

“An undeniably important and timely work... often mesmerizing and undeniably audacious.” – The Guardian See less

Sunday, July 19, 2026

EUREKA DAY - Stray Cat Theatre - October 9 - 17, 2026

   
by Jonathan Spector
directed by Louis Farber

Tempe Center for the Arts Studio Theatre

TWO WEEKEND ENGAGEMENT ONLY

Winner of the 2025 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play! 

The Eureka Day School in Berkeley, California, is a bastion of progressive ideals: representation, acceptance, social justice. But when a mumps outbreak threatens the Eureka community, facts become subjective and every solution divisive, leaving the school’s leadership to confront the central question of our time: How do you build consensus when no one can agree on truth?

“…Critic’s Pick! “[A] lively portrait... The perfect play for our age of disagreement.” – The New York Times

INFINITE LIFE - Stray Cat Theatre - December 11 - 19, 2026


by Annie Baker
directed by Jodie Weiss

Tempe Center for the Arts Studio Theatre

TWO WEEKEND ENGAGEMENT ONLY

The newest play from the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of Stray Cat favorites THE FLICK, JOHN, and THE ANTIPODES. INFINITE LIFE focuses on five women – four of them in their 60s, one 47 – and one middle aged man - staying at a health retreat in northern California. This surprisingly funny new play is an inquiry into the complex experience of pain - our own and each other’s - and how we collectively and independently navigate suffering.

“An undeniably important and timely work... often mesmerizing and undeniably audacious.” – The Guardian

DOWNSTATE - Stray Cat Theatre - February 12 - 20, 2027



by Bruce Norris
directed by Ron May

TWO WEEKEND ENGAGEMENT ONLY

In downstate Illinois, at a group home for registered sex offenders, four men are living with the realities of post-incarcerated life when a man shows up to confront the piano teacher convicted of abusing him as a child. Question is, does he want closure or retribution? The New York Times hailed DOWNSTATE as, “…the kind of play that takes over your body gradually. Its tension seeps into your limbs, settles tautly in your solar plexus and does not leave.”

“[DOWNSTATE is] a stunning demonstration of the power of narrative art to tackle a taboo, to compel us to look at a controversial topic from novel perspectives. …proof positive that you can love a play that turns you inside out." - The Washington Post

TEETH - Stray Cat Theatre - April 30 - May 15, 2027


book and music by Anna K. Jacobs
book and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson
directed by Ron May
Tempe Center for the Arts Studio Theatre

The new coming of rage musical comedy.

Based on the cult classic film of the same name, this savagely entertaining new musical conjures the legend of Dawn O’Keefe - an evangelical Christian teen with a powerful secret not even she understands – when men violate her, her body bites back. Literally. Michael R. Jackson (A STRANGE LOOP) and Anna K. Jacobs’ “brilliant and incendiary” theatrical adaptation explores teenage sexual desire, the dangers of an oppressive purity culture and what happens when myth becomes reality.

“A gory blast! A bloody, bawdy musical... with banging songs.” – Vulture


Tuesday, May 5, 2026

Review Highlights: ANGELS IN AMERICA: MILLENIUM APPROACHES - Stray Cat Theatre

Marshall Glass and Nathan Spector
Photo by John Groseclose
 
highlights from local critics reviews - (click link at bottom of each review to read complete review)

Click here for more information on this production that runs through May 16

"One of the most epic and impressive plays of the 20th century, Tony Kushner's two-part opus, Angels in America, won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama as well as two Best Play Tony Awards. Set in 1990s America as the new millennium approaches, Kushner's drama focuses on a small group of interconnected individuals living in New York City as the AIDS epidemic rages. It's an engaging drama full of intriguing yet flawed characters but also, at over six hours long and in two parts, it's a bear of a piece for any theatre company to take on. Based on the first part of Kushner's piece, Millennium Approaches, which opened this weekend, Stray Cat Theatre is more than up to the task of presenting both pieces (the second part opens this coming week), with a superb production that features a fantastic cast and succinct direction delivering a moving, immersive, and intimate exploration of this theatrical masterpiece."   - Gil Benbrook, TalkinBroadway.com (click here to read the complete review)

"Tony Kushner’s 1991 “Angels in America” is a massive two-part masterpiece that brilliantly describes the AIDS crisis that plagued the world before medications controlled the disease.  It views AIDS’s effects on a very diverse population.  Staging the work is a huge undertaking for any theater company so it is rarely performed....The Stray Cat Theatre’s marvelous version is a superlative staging in the gifted hands of director Ron May and a perfect cast of marvelous local performers who rise to the play’s tremendous challenges artfully. "    -Chris Curcio, Curtain Up Phoenix (click here to read the complete review)

Monday, April 27, 2026

Cast announced for ANGELS IN AMERICA at Stray Cat Theatre

 
Prior Walter - Marshall Glass
Louis Ironson - Nathan Spector
Joe Pitt - Devon Mahon
Harper Pitt - Courtney Weir
Hannah Pitt - Nina Miller
Roy Cohn - Louis Farber
Belize - Michael Thompson
Angel - Megan Holcomb


Friday, March 27, 2026

Stray Cat Theatre announces 2026-2027 Silver Anniversary Season


 

EUREKA DAY

by Jonathan Spector
directed by Louis Farber

Tempe Center for the Arts Studio Theatre
October 9 - 17, 2026

TWO WEEKEND ENGAGEMENT ONLY

Winner of the 2025 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play! 

The Eureka Day School in Berkeley, California, is a bastion of progressive ideals: representation, acceptance, social justice. But when a mumps outbreak threatens the Eureka community, facts become subjective and every solution divisive, leaving the school’s leadership to confront the central question of our time: How do you build consensus when no one can agree on truth?

“…Critic’s Pick! “[A] lively portrait... The perfect play for our age of disagreement.” – The New York Times


INFINITE LIFE

by Annie Baker
directed by Jodie Weiss

Tempe Center for the Arts Studio Theatre
December 11 - 19, 2026

TWO WEEKEND ENGAGEMENT ONLY

The newest play from the Pulitzer Prize-winning writer of Stray Cat favorites THE FLICK, JOHN, and THE ANTIPODES. INFINITE LIFE focuses on five women – four of them in their 60s, one 47 – and one middle aged man - staying at a health retreat in northern California. This surprisingly funny new play is an inquiry into the complex experience of pain - our own and each other’s - and how we collectively and independently navigate suffering.


“An undeniably important and timely work... often mesmerizing and undeniably audacious.” – The Guardian


DOWNSTATE

by Bruce Norris
directed by Ron May

February 12 - 20, 2027

TWO WEEKEND ENGAGEMENT ONLY

In downstate Illinois, at a group home for registered sex offenders, four men are living with the realities of post-incarcerated life when a man shows up to confront the piano teacher convicted of abusing him as a child. Question is, does he want closure or retribution? The New York Times hailed DOWNSTATE as, “…the kind of play that takes over your body gradually. Its tension seeps into your limbs, settles tautly in your solar plexus and does not leave.”

“[DOWNSTATE is] a stunning demonstration of the power of narrative art to tackle a taboo, to compel us to look at a controversial topic from novel perspectives. …proof positive that you can love a play that turns you inside out." - The Washington Post


TEETH

book and music by Anna K. Jacobs
book and lyrics by Michael R. Jackson
directed by Ron May
Tempe Center for the Arts Studio Theatre

April 30 - May 15, 2027

The new coming of rage musical comedy.

Based on the cult classic film of the same name, this savagely entertaining new musical conjures the legend of Dawn O’Keefe - an evangelical Christian teen with a powerful secret not even she understands – when men violate her, her body bites back. Literally. Michael R. Jackson (A STRANGE LOOP) and Anna K. Jacobs’ “brilliant and incendiary” theatrical adaptation explores teenage sexual desire, the dangers of an oppressive purity culture and what happens when myth becomes reality.

“A gory blast! A bloody, bawdy musical... with banging songs.” – Vulture


Please note: Titles and Dates subject to change

Wednesday, February 18, 2026

Review Highlights: HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF - Stray Cat Theatre

Angelica Saario, Meghan Ramos, Payten Christopher McLeod,
Hanna Nur, Christine Ward, Griffin Slivka, and Mantra Rostami
Photo by John Groseclose

highlights from local critics reviews - (click link at bottom of each review to read complete review)

Click here for more information on this production that runs through February 28

"Stray Cat Theatre's thoughtfully cast production of Liliana Padilla's sometimes uncomfortable drama How to Defend Yourself grabs you with its emotional honesty. Set at a college self-defense class, the play brings together a group of young women and two male allies grappling with fear, anger, confusion, and resilience in the aftermath of a sexual assault on their campus. While I have a few small issues with the play, the ensemble approaches the difficult material with sensitivity and commitment in a smartly directed production that feels both intimate and unsettling."   - Gil Benbrook, TalkinBroadway.com (click here to read the complete review)

"probes a serious issue confronting our society – raping women.  Liliana Padilla’s 2019 play that premiered off-Broadway in 2023 deals with the shame of confronting such a violation as it challenges a recipient to resolve such a fate and move on with life....Christine Ward handles the instructor Brandi’s perspective with insightful directness.  Meghan Ramos tackles gun obsessed Diana with explosive dynamics, Mantra Rostami is the more introspective Mojdeh while Angelica Saario’s Nikki and Hanna Nur’s Kara are both inward and outward directed.  As the two men in the class, Payten Christopher McLeod’s Eggo and Griffin Slivka’s Andy expose the male perspective in candid discussions about forced and consensual sex."    -Chris Curcio, Curtain Up Phoenix (click here to read the complete review)

"The show’s physicality is its own kind of poetry: combative, well-choreographed, and unrelenting. Director Elizabeth Broeder creates a space where every gesture counts, where each sparring session risks tipping into revelation. Maren Maclean Mascarelli’s fight and intimacy coordination bring startling immediacy even to the most comic moments, including the hip-thrust maneuver that transforms assault into escape in a single muscular beat. It’s funny, yes, but it’s also an act of survival....not a play to dismiss. Its humor is sharp, its empathy genuine, and its refusal to package trauma into a neat moral lesson feels like a form of integrity."   - David Appleford, Broadway World (click here to read the complete review)

Monday, February 9, 2026

Cast announced for HOW TO DEFEND YOURSELF at Stray Cat Theatre

 
BRANDI - Christine Ward
KARA - Hanna Nur 
MOJDEH - Mantra Rostami
DIANA - Meghan Ramos
NIKKI - Angelica Saario
ANDY - Griffin Slivka
EGGO - Payten McLeod

Monday, December 8, 2025

Review Highlights: REYKJAVÍK - Stray Cat Theatre

Ty Klassen and Aaron Cammack
Photo by John Groseclose
 
highlights from local critics reviews - (click link at bottom of each review to read complete review)

Click here for more information on this production that runs through December 20

"Steve Yockey's Reykjavík is an intriguing and often unsettling play set in Iceland's capital that presents a haunting collage of somewhat connected stories that are often shocking and also comical at times. The play is steeped in supernatural tension and Icelandic folklore, filled with eerie encounters, simmering dread, and moments that feel lifted from a dream, or actually a nightmare. Yockey's hallmark blend of dark humor, fantastical elements, and emotional unease are on full display and while it is disturbing at times and sometimes sexually graphic, with moments of violence, it is always fascinating. With an excellent cast and crisp direction, Stray Cat Theatre's production pulls the audience into the icy shadows of a city where myth and reality seem to merge and you never know what horror is waiting around the corner....While the play's stark sexual moments and persistent sense of foreboding may not appeal to everyone, Stray Cat's production of Reykjavík offers an experience that is chilling, mesmerizing, and deeply engaging. For fans of Yockey or for those who appreciate theatre that challenges, disturbs, and keeps you leaning forward in your seat, it is an intriguing work brought to life with admirable boldness."   - Gil Benbrook, TalkinBroadway.com (click here to read the complete review) 

"Stray Cat Theatre successfully tackles another thoughtful Steve Yockey play, “Reykjavik.”  As it unfolds, the piece explores a variety of episodes people face daily plus a dash of Icelandic folklore, Huldufolk, which means a hidden people or elves.  It is an intriguing and most unusual drama....the Stray Cat production is exquisitely presented.  Dori Brown’s stark white set perfectly captures the desolate Icelandic locale and Ron May’s thoughtful staging is designed to bring out every story facet with pointed urgency.  The production elements are complimented by a fine acting ensemble who bring rich characterizations to the many involved participants."    -Chris Curcio, Curtain Up Phoenix (click here to read the complete review)

"Stray Cat’s production team of Dori Brown’s scenic design, Joanna Emmott’s lights, Stacey Walston’s technical direction, and Pete Biss’s sound together give the play a charge that makes you want to sit forward in your seat. As directed by Ron May, it’s theater as amusement park ride: part scary, part funny, part “what the hell is going on here?” The structure is deliberately puzzling. And yet to its credit, for ninety minutes, no intermission, you’re rarely bored....This Stray Cat Theatre production helmed by May is like chasing the Northern Lights: half the time you’re staring at clouds, wondering why you bothered, and then, there it is; something shimmering, weird, and wonderful, and you’re suddenly glad you came."   - David Appleford, Broadway World (click here to read the complete review)