Nevermore | open Auditions

Are you afraid of the dark? Join us for an immersive theatrical haunting via Gothic fiction and sleep NEVERMORE. This production will take place as an outdoor, moonlit campus adventure.

 Adapted and Conceived by Courtney Ryan and Jiayu (Angel) Yan
Directed by Professor Ryan

Runs (weather permitting):
Wednesday, September 30 – Saturday, October 3 @ 7:30 pm | rain date possible on Sunday, October 4^th.
You must be available for all performances. 

Summary:
This site-specific piece around Jenks and Oechsle focuses on four short stories from the late 19th to early 20th century. The play begins with actors under lit-up white umbrellas inviting audiences to join them for a poem. The first story, “The Giant Wistaria,” focuses on loss and the consequences of puritanical thinking. We then segue into “A New Year’s Sacrifice,” a Chinese story about societal rejection and ostracism, then into a forest hunt for a runaway wife in “The Grey Woman,” and, finally, into a hopeful tale around a tree, “A White Heron,” in which a young girl chooses to protect an endangered heron.

The story ultimately moves from grief to peace via the heron and a blanket that transforms through each story–from a swaddling blanket to a dance scarf to a cloak to a heron.

Initial auditions will be in person Tuesday, August 25 & Wednesday, August 26 from 7 pm-10 pm in Buck Hall
Actors of all races, nationalities, sizes, and abilities are encouraged to audition.

FOR the audition submission form, click here: NEVERMORE audition submission

FOR the audition monologues, click here: NEVERMORE monologues
FOR SCRIPT BEFORE AUDITION, CLICK HERE: NEVERMORE SCRIPT

Actor/ Character Breakdown:
NEVERMORE will feature an ensemble of 8-10 actors who take on multiple roles throughout the show.

“The Giant Wistaria” by Charlotte Perkins Gilman (1891)
DAUGHTER/ GHOST
NARRATOR
MOTHER/ BRIDE OR MRS. JENNY
FATHER/ HUSBAND OR GEORGE
MAID/ SISTER
ENSEMBLE

“The New Year’s Sacrifice” by Lu Xun (1924)
SCHOLAR/ NARRATOR
WIFE
AUNT
MRS.WEI
ENSEMBLE 1
ENSEMBLE 2
ENSEMBLE 3

“The Grey Woman” by Elizabeth Gaskell (1861)
YOUNG WOMAN
GREY WOMAN/ NARRATOR
AMANTE
HUSBAND
HENCHMAN 1
HENCHMAN 2

“A White Heron” by Sarah Orne Jewett (1886)
NARRATOR (the narrators from the other stories will all take turns narrating.)
SYLVIA
YOUNG MAN
MRS. TILLEY: Sylvia’s grandmother

If you cannot make it to the in-person auditions, please contact Prof. Ryan before Tuesday, Aug. 25, 2026, for an alternative audition time.
Callbacks will be by invitation on Thursday, August 27, from 7- 10 p.m.

If you have questions or need more information, please contact Prof. Ryan at ryancb@lafayette.edu