CALL TO AUDITION:
HIR
BY Taylor MAC
“Sometimes you spend an entire lifetime preparing for something to be one way and right from the start it’s another.”
Dishonourably discharged from the army, Afghanistan vet Isaac has returned to find his family and Californian childhood home in disarray.
His abusive and controlling father, Arnold, has suffered a stroke and is now helplessly dependent on his wife, Paige, who is finally getting her revenge after a lifetime of oppression, waging war on the patriarchy by refusing to clean.
Meanwhile, his younger sibling Max is exploring ‘hir’ identity, desperately searching for a way to fit in and buoyed by an almost-too-supportive mother.
When PTSD and waning male privilege collide with clown makeup and plans for radical communes, ‘home’ explodes.
This satirical take-down of the USA, war, money, family and gender, asks compelling questions about identity, belonging, trauma and redemption.
CREATIVE TEAM & CREW
Director Patrick Howard
Assistant Director Via Xegas
Set Designer Victor Kalka
Stage Manager Matilda Holton
Sound Designer Patrick Howard
PERFORMANCE DATES
8 Jul – 2 Aug 2025
REHEARSALS
Rehearsals will commence the week of Monday 12 May with a combination of weekend days and weekday evenings. Exact times and dates TBC, subject to cast availability.
AUDITION DATES
Sat 26 Apr, 10am to 4pm
Sun 27 Apr, 9am to 12pm
Call backs, if required:
Wed 30 Apr, 6pm to 9pm
ROLES AVAILABLE
Paige Connor (55 years old, cisgender woman). Paige has spent many years quietly suffering under the misogynistic and violent rule of her husband (Arnold), only for the tables to completely turn after he suffers a stroke. She now rules the house with chaos and an unbridled enthusiasm for embracing new orders and hierarchies. Paige is a fierce supporter of her youngest (Max) on hir journey, and is concerned for her eldest (Isaac) as he returns home from the war.
Arnold Connor (58 years old, cisgender man). Arnold was an angry man but had a stroke, which turned him into more of a clown—rather like a slower and older Harpo Marx. His wife (Paige) regularly drugs him with oestrogen to keep him docile, dressing him in a frilly nighty, often with clown makeup in an ongoing ritual of shame and dominance. Speaking only in stinted phrases and grunts, he has completely lost control of his life and any self-agency.
Isaac Connor (24 years old, cisgender man). Isaac has been dishonourably discharged from the Army on drug charges, and returns from Afghanistan at the top of the play to find his home and family are both completely upended. Constantly suppressing acute PTSD, Isaac longs for stability and does not find it on his return home whatsoever. He is tries his best to hold things together and find a way back to ‘before’ while balancing the new order he has come into.
Max Connor (17, transmasc/genderqueer person). Assigned female at birth, Max now uses ze/hir pronouns. Max is fiercely intelligent and empowered by hir very supportive mother. Ze is determined to take up space and claim status. Max knows ze is better than the situation ze is in, but while still young, and on the journey, is doing hir best with the situation at hand. Ze is learning to play the banjo.
PLEASE NOTE: As per the role description and requirements of the writer, we intend to cast an actor who was assigned female at birth and now identifies as transgender or genderqueer to portray the role of Max in this production. Some experience playing guitar or banjo is also desirable for this role..
We very much encourage and welcome submissions from people who identify as First Nations, PoC, CaLD, queer and/or gender diverse.
TO BOOK AN AUDITION
It is essential to read the script BEFORE applying. There is a perusal copy of the script available for viewing here.
Email your EOI to hirnt2025@gmail.com with AUDITION in the subject line.
In your email, please:
- Include an up-to-date headshot and CV.
- Indicate if you are currently a New Theatre member.
- Indicate your preferred audition date/time.
- Indicate if you are unable to audition in person – submission of self-tape can be arranged.
- Indicate your rehearsal availability (days and/or evenings).
PLEASE PREPARE
1. A short (no more than 2-3min) contemporary monologue. If this monologue is not performed with a Standard American accent, please also prepare an additional short amount of text to demonstrate this accent.
2. Please also be prepared to read an excerpt from the play for the part you’re auditioning for. The links to these excerpts are:
Paige: Page 18, full page from, ‘It used to be you could be a mediocre white straight man…’
Arnold: Pages 60-1, from ‘She. Talks. Too. Much.’ through to, ‘Chicken.’
Isaac: Pages 59-60, from ‘You look better now.’ through to, ‘…dirty dish in the sink.’
Max: Pages 52-3, from ‘I don’t have friends.’ through to, ‘Are you mad at me?’
3. If you are auditioning for the role of Max and are able to play guitar or banjo, please bring in your instrument to demonstrate this as well
PLEASE NOTE
New Theatre an amateur theatre company and a volunteer-based organisation – there is no for payment for this production.
If cast, you will be required to wash your own costumes and assist with production bump out.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Patrick (he/him) is freelance theatre artist and arts administrator. Born on Gundungurra Land, living and working on Gadigal Land, he has a passion for queer, political, devised, musical and documentary theatre, and works full time asProgram Manager, Touring at Arts on Tour.
A graduate of AIM Dramatic Arts and the Sydney Conservatorium of Music, Patrick has performed, directed, production, company and stage managed, sound designed, composed and dramaturged for a number of different companies. These include PYT Fairfield, Force Majeure, Performance Space, Sydney Opera House, ATYP, Contemporary Asian Australian Performance, The Last Great Hunt, Virginia Plain, Little Triangle, Red Line Productions, Arrive. Devise. Repeat., and New Theatre. He also makes and produces his own work and has conducted various teaching and mentoring engagements.
Credits for New Theatre include Control, Once in Royal David’s City, 5 Guys Chillin’ (director); Marat/Sade, Mother Clap’s Molly House (performer); Control, Picnic at Hanging Rock, Cats Talk Back, Collaborators (designer or composer), That Eye The Sky, When the Rain Stops Falling (stage manager). Patrick was also a Play Assessor for New Theatre for eight years.
Other notable creative credits include Three Sisters for Virginia Plain Theatre (sound designer), Merrily We Roll Along for Little Triangle (performer), Wild Thing for Wild Thing Productions (sound designer) and The Campaign for White Box Theatre as part of Sydney Mardi Gras (sound designer and composer).