AUDITIONS: August Wilson's TWO TRAINS RUNNING (12/7-12/9, 2026)

AUDITION NOTICE:
TITLE: August Wilson’s TWO TRAINS RUNNING
AUTHOR: August Wilson
DIRECTOR: Rovin Jay
RUN: February 20 – March 20, 2027
Fridays & Saturdays 8pm, Sundays at 2pm. Special performances on Thursday and Sunday nights may be added for private parties and special events.
This is a volunteer community theater production. Non-Equity. There is no pay.
AUDITION DATES:
Open Call:
Dates: Monday, December 7th and Tuesday, December 8th, 2026
(Auditioners only need to come to one night of Open Call Auditions.)
Times: 7pm - 9pm
Location: Long Beach Playhouse
Callbacks: By Invitation Only.
Date: Wednesday, December 9th, 2026
Times: 7pm - 10pm
REHEARSALS:
First Read-Through: Saturday, January 2nd, 2027, Noon - 4pm.
Regular Rehearsal: Starting Jan. 4th:
Mondays – Thursdays, 7pm - 10pm
Saturdays, 11am - 4pm
Possible Sundays, 6pm - 9pm TBD
(Please see beginning rehearsal schedule for specific dates and times.)
Location: Long Beach Playhouse
NOTE: Open to working with some limited minor conflicts, but we will not be casting people with conflicts on tech dates and performances.
AUDITION REQUIREMENTS:
Bring a headshot and resume.
Please prepare a monologue from an August Wilson play.
Sides for cold readings will be available at the auditions for those without a monologue prepared.
SHORT SYNOPSIS:
Set in 1969 Pittsburgh, Two Trains Running is the seventh chronological installment of August Wilson’s American Century Cycle. The play centers on Memphis Lee and his Hill District diner, a gathering place for regulars on a block marked for demolition by urban renewal. Memphis is determined to make the city pay what his building is worth. Sterling, newly released from prison, arrives in search of a future. Around them, the diner’s community wrestles with what it means to claim what they’re owed.
CASTING THE FOLLOWING ROLES:
NOTE: All roles are Black/African Descent. Long Beach Playhouse encourages actors of all backgrounds, gender identities, and abilities to audition.
MEMPHIS LEE (M, Black/African Descent, 60s–80s): A self-made man whose values of hard work, diligence, persistence, and honesty have been consistently challenged by the circumstances of his life. His greatest asset is his impeccable logic.
RISA (F, Black/African Descent, 20s–30s): The diner’s waitress. Guarded and self-possessed. A young woman who, to define herself in terms other than her body, has scarred her legs with a razor.
STERLING (M, Black/African Descent, 30s): Just released from the penitentiary. Charming, impulsive, and restless. Appears unbalanced at times, but it is his unorthodox logic and straightforward manner that makes him appear so. Looking for work and a win.
HOLLOWAY (M, Black/African Descent, 60s): The diner’s philosopher and a believer in Aunt Ester. All his life he has voiced his outrage. He pursues life with zest and vigor, convinced he is unable to effect change.
WOLF (M, Black/African Descent, 30s-40s): A number’s runner who works the diners pay phone. He is slick. A ladies man.
WEST (M, Black/African Descent, 60s): A wealthy undertaker who runs the funeral home across the street. He wants to buy Memphis’s building.
HAMBONE (M, Black/African Descent, 40s–50s): A mentally impaired man, he repeats to phrases over and over; demanding the ham he was promised for painting a fence nearly ten years ago.