Casting

Casting Call

Chasing Dawn

We are casting for an audiodrama/audiobook based on Chasing Dawn. We are seeking 12 actors to fill the parts for the primary characters. This is a non-union, paid opportunity.

Below are the list of parts that we are casting. The initial casting call is open until May 10, 2023, so please send in your initial audition by email before then. We will hold in person (for those local to Albuquerque) and remote auditions for those that we choose for specific parts in late May 2023.

If you are interested in auditioning for one of these parts, please send us the following:

• • A copy of your acting CV, if you have one. Otherwise, your name, contact information, and what experience you have in narration or acting.
  • A brief statement expressing your interest in the project and what characters interest you, and for whom you will be sending voice samples.
  • A voice sample of at least 1-3 short (one minute) readings done in the voice of the character(s) for which you are auditioning. Feel free to read anything you like for this audition. You can record this in any manner; even a smartphone recording will do. Make sure to label each file separately with your name and the character you are reading for.
  • Confirmation that you will be available for live auditions in late May, as well as for recording during the Summer and early Fall of 2023, and that you will be available on the evening of October 21, 2023.

Send everything in one email, with “Audition for (Your Name), (Character(s))” in the subject line, to [email protected]. For example, you would write “Audition for Jane Smith, Dawn” if that is your name and the character you are auditioning for. Feel free to audition for more than one part; multiple submissions are unneccessary, just mark your files appropriately in one email.

We will let you know by May 15, 2023 if we would like to invite you to a live audition. We will make casting decisions by June 1, 2023.

Dawn Hollins/Arta

The star of the show and the primary narrator of the story, Dawn is a 28-year old African American psychiatry resident and post-doctoral neuroscientist. She lives with dissociative identity disorder (DID, or multiple personalities) and has a bevy of magical personalities in her head. She has integrated them into her life tentatively, but surprisingly well, and considers herself the “calendar keeper” for when those personalities (which are called alters) will have time in “the body.” She is sassy, whip-crack smart, and frustrated by what is a very full, but not fulfilling, life.

The person who plays Dawn will have a challenge in that, when the other alters are in the body (instead of sharing space in her head called the Inner Sanctum) she will need to speak in their tone, with their mannerisms. The other alters she will voice when they are in the body are Selina, Bile and Arthur.

In addition, because they are “twins,” Dawn also will portray the voice of Arta, both when she is in the body and in the Inner Sanctum. Same age and appearance, Arta is a mirror-image of Dawn, athletic and angry most of the time. She is not above taking over the body forcefully in order to save their skins, and does so in the book. She sounds a lot like Dawn, but her mannerisms are completely different.

Not only will these additional characters be a challenge, considering much of the narrative is in first person with Dawn as the unreliable narrator, she will also need a narrator’s voice.

The actor playing Dawn will be in every scene, and therefore will work very closely with the production team. They will need to be available for almost all of the recordings.

Selina

One of Dawn’s alters, Selina appears in the psyche as a youthful and gorgeous 25-30 year old. She is African American and has magical powers enabling her to heal the psyche of those she touches with her power. She is a sex worker – a sacred whore and priestess, she feels – who feels responsible for the collection of alters. Frequently trying to help Dawn navigate life, she is often “in Dawn’s head,” giving advice. Her laughter tinkles like bells and her voice is sultry and sweet at the same time. She is very open with her sexuality.

Bile

Another of Dawn’s alters, Bile is a thorn in Dawn’s side. A sort of anti-protagonist, he doesn’t exactly reach villain level, primarily interested in his own goals and schemes rather than the collective welfare of Dawn and the alters. Even still, he’s around a lot in the Inner Sanctum. A warlock, Bile is an alchemist and potion maker, and knows his way around a number of magical rituals. He is 30 years old and a somewhat ambiguous ethnicity; in Dawn’s youth, he attempted magic that caused his “psychic body” to become withered, stunted, and sick. He frequently works himself up into a coughing fit and is snide, angry, and self-serving. He speaks with a refined, Queen’s British accent.

Stephen Gardener-Chung

Stephen is a lupine (werewolf) and the incoming chief of the Cybellic clan of lupine. Although he’s in his 70s, he appears to be in his 30s since lupine live for a long time. He will be rageful at one point in the narrative, angry and hurt, but his normal is kind, wise, and to be a strong and compassionate leader. His recently deceased father was Angus Gardener, a Scotsman, and his mother is Lihan Chung, a Chinese woman who is in her 90s. Raised in America, he is a wise leader.

Grace Wilson/Mother

Dawn’s foster mother, Grace – who also goes by Grams or Grandma Wilson – is a 69-year old African American trans woman. Strong-willed and powerful, she is also compassionate and wise. Grams is a natural medium, seeing the spirits of the dead at all times.

This actor will also voice Mother, one of Dawn’s alters. She is an ageless/older African American woman, large and powerful just like Grams, but is calmer and is something of a priestess.

Davis Paradis

This young man is an early 30-something African American gentleman who has a lot of energy, which he channels into his dogged pursuit of the occult. A PhD candidate in anthropology and history at Columbia, he’s smart as a whip. He’s a flirtatious man and sometimes comes across as a player, but he’s actually quite kind and likes Dawn. He is a gorgeous man, very fit, and dresses well. He was a former Navy SEAL, though he was discharged for medical reasons.

Helena Crimson

This white woman is in her 50s. She is proper, from Oxford, speaking in a Queen’s English British accent. She could be considered severe and direct, but not unkind, as the area leader of the Knights of the Servants of the Twice Born. These are the so-called “magical police” that are, more or less, in opposition to Dawn. However, strangely, Helena has a protective and kind – in her way – attitude towards Dawn.

Arthur

Another of Dawn’s alters, Arthur is forever stuck at 9 years old. He’s a slight and short African American boy who is often scared and wide-eyed. He is the one who remembers the trauma that Dawn and the alters went through as a child. Everyone protects him, but he’s also the one who tends to be the moral center of the group.

Burns

A lupine, Bernadette “Burns” Tyson is a tall and strongly-framed African American woman with a slight southern accent that comes in and out depending on how formal or informal she’s being. She is a lupine (werewolf) who appears to be in her 30s or 40s, though she’s likely much older. A bull-dyke with a shaved head and an informal style, she is dating Selina, though she is unaware that she is an alter of Dawn’s.

Dr. Miguel Ochoa

This compassionate psychiatrist is Dawn’s supervisor at the Audubon Clinic in New York where he sees clients and administers the program. He’s nearing 60, is a thin Latino man with kind eyes and a fatherly sort of demeanor. He is still the boss, though, so walks that line between being compassionate to his charges and also being a supervisor.

Lihan Gardener-Chung

Stephen’s mother, Lihan is nearly 90 years old, but she’s still strong and passionate. She was born in China, but has almost no accent in her perfect American English. She is a practitioner of acupuncture and qigong and is a stern matriarch who loves her son, and still holds a lot of power – for a human – amongst the clan of lupine of which he is heir.

Shahin

One of the Servants, Shahin is in his early-30s and is of Middle Eastern descent, though his accent is an indeterminable continental European. He is a lieutenant in the Knights of the Servants of the Twice Born. He often comes across as passionate and angry, dedicated to his job of policing changelings.