Casting Callboard Fall 2025

She Kills Monsters

By Qui Nguyen
Directed by Karina Gutiérrez

Overview: 

She Kills Monsters is a fast-paced, heartfelt, magical dark-comedy set in both the mundane reality of 1995 Athens, Ohio, and the fantastical world of a home-brewed Dungeons & Dragons campaign. The story centers on Agnes Evans, a 25-year-old high school English teacher, who is left reeling after the sudden death of her parents and teenage sister, Tilly. While packing up Tilly’s belongings, Agnes discovers her sister’s D&D module. Desperate to understand the sibling she barely knew, she decides to play through it—embarking on a journey of discovery, grief, regret, and finally acceptance.

Complete with fantastical D&D battles, She Kills Monsters is a story of sisterhood, chosen family, and In this high-octane dramatic comedy laden with homicidal fairies, nasty ogres, and 90s pop culture, acclaimed playwright Qui Nguyen offers a heart-pounding homage to the geek and warrior within us all.

Key Dates:

Auditions: September 2-3, 2025

Callbacks: September 4, 2025

Rehearsals: September 29 – November 19, 2025

Performances: November 20–23, 2025

Casting

Seeking 8-10 actors from the UC Berkeley students to bring the world of D&D to the stage. We are committed to inclusive casting. We encourage performers of all genders, races, ethnicities, all bodies, dis/abilities, neuro-abilities, and experience levels to audition. 

Please note that actors may be asked to play multiple roles.

Characters

Narrator /Ensemble: Described to speak like Cate Blanchet from Lord of the Rings.  

Agnes Evans: Tilly’s older sister, a high school teacher grieving her sister’s death. Pragmatic and reserved, she embarks on Tilly’s last D&D campaign.  

Tilly Evans/ aka Tillius the Paladin: Agnes's imaginative, nerdy, and sarcastic 15-year-old sister. Created an elaborate fantasy world where she is a powerful queer paladin.

Chuck (He/Him): Awkward yet adorkable comic book aficionado and Dungeon Master who leads Agnes through Tilly’s last D&D campaign.   

Miles (He/Him): Agnes’s long-time boyfriend. He tries. He is also consumed by a mean gelatinous cube. 

Vera (She/Her): Agnes’s acerbic best friend. A high school guidance counselor with a heart of gold, despite her potty mouth. 

Lilith Morningstar/Lilly: A Demon-Queen and Tilly’s in-game love interest. They are fierce./ A classmate and close friend of Tilly Evans. It is implied there was a mutual romantic connection in real life.   

Kaliope Darkwalker/ Kelly: A Dark Elf and expert spellcaster. They are described as the muscle of the group./ One of Tilly’s closest friends and avid D&D player. Kelly is portrayed as a person with cerebral palsy. 

Orcus / Ronnie: A Demon Lord who prefers to chill rather than conquer./ One of Tilly’s closest friends and avid D&D player.  

Evil Tina & Evil Gabbi: Succubi, Evil Cheerleaders in the world of D&D. Bullies in real life. 

Farrah the Fairy: A tiny winged fairy with a temper and one of the characters the crew must face on their campaign.    

Steve: An earnest and well-intentioned adventurer who is repeatedly killed before he gets too far. Funny, clumsy, and endearing, the poor lad just cannot catch a break.

Perusal Scripts

She Kills Monsters is available at Doe library and at the TDPS main office (15 Dwinelle Hall, Monday–Friday, 9am–12pm and 1pm–4pm). Scripts must remain in the office, so please plan to stay while reading.

Content Advisory

She Kills Monsters explores mature themes and depictions of, violence, the use of strong language, bullying, loss, grief, homophobia, and ableism. Please note all themes and depictions are rehearsed and presented within a context that critically examines identity, discrimination, and belonging. 

This show also features stylized combat sequences which will be choreographed with safety as the top priority. We are committed to creating a rehearsal space that is safe and affirming for all participants.

Audition/Callback Details & Sign-Ups

Auditions will be held on September 2-3, from 6-9:30 PM, locations TBD. 

For the audition, please prepare a one to two minute contemporary monologue. Don’t have a prepared monologue? No problem! Sides will be available for a cold read at each audition.

Callbacks will be held on September 4th from 6-10 PM, location TBD.

Movement-based callbacks may include basic stage combat or physical storytelling exercises. No prior experience necessary—just a willingness to play.

Commitment

Students who are cast in She Kills Monsters must commit and be available for all indicated calls on the production calendar, a fight choreography workshop (to be held the week prior to the start of rehearsals), and must enroll in Theater 181 for Fall 2025 (1–3 units, commensurate with time spent on preparation, rehearsals, costume/makeup/hair fittings, performances and strike). All production activities will be held in person unless otherwise noted. Please the production calendar for more detailed information.  

If you have any questions or require specific accommodations for your audition, please email director Karina Gutiérrez (kgutierrez1@berkeley.edu).

We look forward to meeting you in the realm of New Landia!

The Trials

By Dawn King
Directed by Daniel Larlham

Overview:

It is the mid-twenty-first century and climate breakdown is accelerating. Society is threatened with collapse and the government has decided that the population must be reduced to conserve resources. Juries of teenagers are assembled to pass judgment on the “dinosaurs” - those who were adults during the early decades of the century, when a transition to a sustainable society was possible but the necessary mobilization did not occur.

The action of the play follows a jury of twelve teenagers as they hear the testimony of three adult defendants, then deliberate, argue, and pass judgment on the defendants’ guilt or innocence. A guilty sentence means execution. Thrown together, the young jurors do their best to bear up under the pressure of their task. Friendships form, vulnerabilities are laid bare, resentments harden, and deep intimacies are forged even in the act of serving a dehumanizing apparatus of judgment.

Key Dates:

Auditions: August 28-29, 2025

Callbacks: August 30, 2025

Rehearsals: September 8 – October 15, 2025

Performances: October 16-19, 2025

Casting

Seeking 12 actors from the UC Berkeley student population to portray the teenage juror characters. (The three adult defendants will be cast from within the TPDS acting faculty and/or the Bay Area’s professional theatre scene). Each of the 12 juror characters appears onstage for almost the entirety of the three main deliberation scenes. The play thus requires a true ensemble cast and extended, detailed moment-to-moment acting work.

Actors of all racial, ethnic, gender, and dis/ability identities are encouraged to audition. All bodies, neuro-abilities, accents, and dialects are welcome. The playwright Dawn King has stipulated that “the diversity of the cast and crew of this production should reflect, as far as possible, the diversity of the world outside the theatre,” and has granted the following flexibility: “Juror character genders (and names) can be changed to suit the requirements of your casting.”

Characters

  • Adnan, 13 - thoughtful; unpredictable; chooses words carefully; uses an asthma inhaler

  • Amelia, 12 - anxious; prone to panic attacks; an advocate for forgiveness

  • Chris, 15 - confident; sometimes brash; unsympathetic to the defendants

  • Gabi, 13 - sharp; direct; judgmental; quick to condemn

  • Kako, 17 - conflicted; worldly wise; ashamed of her privileged upbringing

  • Marek, 14 - opinionated; a meditator; slightly obsessed with health and well-being

  • Mohammad, 14 - smart; passionate; empathetic; a voice of conscience

  • Noah, 16 - angry; wounded; carries a grudge; his temper flares easily

  • Ren, 17 - caring; steady; a cautious leader; harbors a secret

  • Tomaz, 16 - a joker; impulsive; easily bored; more sensitive than he seems

  • Xander, 17 - earnest; fair-minded; open-hearted; writes poetry

  • Zoe, 12 - the youngest juror; impressionable; struggles to make sense of the situation

Perusal Scripts

Please read the play at your earliest convenience; doing so will greatly strengthen your audition.

An online version of The Trials can be accessed through the UC Berkeley library website.  Search the library’s online catalogue or use this link

If you wish to peruse a hard copy version of The Trials, scripts are available to read in the TDPS main office (15 Dwinelle Hall, Monday–Friday, 9am–12pm and 1pm–4pm). Scripts must remain in the office, so please plan to stay while reading.

Content Advisory

The Trials is set in a future in which climate breakdown is accelerating. Several of the characters have lost family members to extreme weather events; one character tells the story of his loss in detail. Eco-anxiety and climate grief inform the atmosphere of key moments. Characters embody emotional states that range in intensity from anxiety and frustration to rage and intense sorrow.

The teenage jurors sometimes launch verbal attacks on the defendants - and each other - from a damning, ideological viewpoint that some readers of the play have found reminiscent of contemporary “cancel culture.”  Dialogue includes occasional obscenities.

There is one moment of physical violence - a tussle between two of the characters. The final stage direction in the script calls for an execution to take place onstage, but the TDPS production will approach this moment non-literally.  Lights, sound, and ritual gesture will suggest an execution; no death or dying will be enacted realistically.

Audition/Callback Details & Sign-Ups

Auditions will be held: TBD

For the first-round audition, please prepare a contemporary dramatic monologue of up to 2 minutes; this monologue should be memorized.

In addition, please be prepared to read two short sides from the play, about one minute each, by the characters “Noah” and “Xander.”  Hard copies of the sides will be available at the audition.  A google docs version of the slides can be viewed here

The sides should not be memorized; please deliver them “on-book,” script in hand.  But do prepare them - that is, familiarize yourself with them and make acting choices.

Callbacks will be held on: TBD

Commitment

Students who are cast in The Trials must commit to be available for all indicated calls on the production calendar and must enroll in Theater 181 for Fall 2025 (1–3 units, commensurate with time spent on preparation, rehearsals, costume/makeup/hair fittings, performances and strike). All production activities will be held in person unless otherwise announced.