Freewill Shakespeare Festival, 2025 General Audition Notice
Audition Dates: Saturday December 14, Sunday December 15 & Monday December 16 (6pm-9pm) please indicate in your submission e-mail if you have a preference of date or time.
Submission Deadline: Monday, December 9 before 5pm MST.
Please send a headshot and CV to: auditions@freewillshakespeare.com
Please title your documents using your last name and first initial, following this example:
“Horak.D Resume.PDF”
CAEA members: please indicate your Equity status at the time of submission. Equity members will be seen first at all open audition calls. Please bring your membership number to the audition. Equity members cast in this year’s season will be engaged under an Equity form of contract.
We will be prioritizing seeing as many new (to us) actors as possible. If you have auditioned or worked for the company in the past two years we may not need to see you but please let us know in your submission your interest and availability. If you have auditioned for us recently or worked for the company in the past two years we will hold callbacks in January for specific roles and may schedule an audition for that time.
We thank all applicants in advance, however, only those considered for an audition will be contacted.
Production Details
This is a general audition and the summer production for 2025 has not been announced yet but the dates have been finalized, see below.
Beginning in 1989, the Freewill Shakespeare Festival has produced the works of William Shakespeare outdoors with professional Canadian actors, directors, designers and technicians. We are committed to hiring local artists to illuminate in a bold, modern way the humanity of Shakespeare, and explore the relevance of those themes for contemporary audiences.
Since we are unable to perform at the Heritage Amphitheatre in Hawrelak Park due to renovations, we will be setting up our festival in one selected park in a central location. The cast will be required to work outdoors in varying conditions.
More details about the season will be updated on our website: www.freewillshakespeare.com
All actors must be locally based for the duration of the contract.
Rehearsals begin: May 27th, 2025
Opening: June 26, 2025
Contract ends: July 20th, 2024
If you receive an invitation to audition, please prepare two contrasting pieces, one monologue from Shakespeare and the other piece is your choice of monologue (Contemporary or Classical), song, dance, spoken word, special skill or any performance piece that you would like to share that best shows your talent. Please keep the pieces to less than 8 minutes in total length. Candidates should have a strong handle on Shakespearean and heightened text and be able to work outdoors during a variety of weather conditions.
The Freewill Shakespeare Festival is located in amiskwaciwâskahikan ᐊᒥᐢᑲᐧᒋᐋᐧᐢᑲᐦᐃᑲᐣ (Edmonton, AB), and we are proud to call Treaty 6 territory home.
We strive to reflect the diversity and strength of Edmonton and welcome applicants of all gender identities, cultures, sexual orientations, ethnicities and abilities. We are deeply committed to creating and maintaining an inclusive and anti-oppressive creative working environment. This commitment is shared by all of our Board members, staff and volunteers.
Please let us know if there are any accessibility needs. If there are any potential barriers (language, disability, or any other considerations) preventing you from applying to audition please let us know and we will work with you to overcome them including accepting video or online auditions. It should be noted that the spaces we work in are physically accessible, please let us know if you require any accommodations and we will work with you to find a solution. We want to meet you and can offer hybrid audition options as well.
For those artists who have barriers to access to any part of our process as laid out, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us and we will happily work with you to allow you to show us your artistry in whatever format is easiest and accessible to you.
