Auditions

The Outsider (comedy)

When: 

• Sunday, August 16th 5pm-8pm

• Monday, August 17th 6pm-8pm

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Location: Trumbull New Theatre (5883 Youngstown-Warren Road, Niles, OH 44446)

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Performance dates: November 6-7, 13-15, 20-22 2026

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Directed by: Brett Bunker

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Roles:

• 4 Males

• 3 Females

• Ages 20s-80s

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​Audition Information:

• All roles are open/no experience necessary

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• Be prepared to read from the script and take light direction to gauge chemistry between actors

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• In order to prepare, you may download the audition sides HERE.

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• If you have any questions or are unable to attend the schedule audition dates, please reach out to the director at bwbunker12353@gmail.com

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The Story: ​

The Outsider is a timely and hilarious workplace comedy that skewers politics and celebrates democracy.  Accidental governor Ned Newley is terrified of public speaking and his poll numbers are impressively bad.  But a political consultant thinks the very qualities that make Ned a terrible politician might just make him what the public is looking for: the ideal outsider to govern the state.  

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Directors Note: ​

The play is a workplace comedy about politics without being political.  It pokes fun at our system of government while ultimately making a positive statement about democracy, or at least what our democracy aspires to be. 

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The Characters:

• PAIGE CALDWELL: (Female) A professional pollster. Smart, polished, and quietly ambitious. Paige sees politics not as ideology, but as a series of contests to be won. She embodies aspiration and professional success, always thinking three steps ahead, always aware of perception, momentum, and opportunity. Confident and composed, but never cold.

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• DAVE RILEY: (Male) The Chief of Staff to the new Governor. Intelligent, capable, and deeply earnest. Despite years working in government, Dave still believes politics can and should be about doing the right thing. He approaches the world with integrity, sincerity, and an almost disarming honesty that makes him both admirable and vulnerable.

 

• LOUISE PEAKES: (Female) A temporary employee hired as the Governor’s executive assistant. Personable, likable, impressively confident, and entirely inept. Louise walks into every room as though she belongs there, and somehow makes everyone else believe it too. She embodies unshakable confidence without arrogance. The friendliness of her smile and the directness of her eye contact make you think: “I’d vote for her.”

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• NED NEWLEY: (Male) The new Governor. Brilliant, thoughtful, and genuinely capable, but trapped behind a profound lack of confidence. Ned is a man of quiet intelligence who has spent most of his life avoiding the spotlight and prefers it that way. His discomfort with public speaking and being the center of attention is so severe that others often mistake it for ineptitude or weakness. A person awaiting permission to enter a room in which he is already standing. Soft-spoken and hesitant in public, though far more intelligent and capable than people initially assume.

 

• ARTHUR VANCE: (Male) One of the most experienced and successful political consultants in the country. Arthur dominates a room through sheer force of personality, intelligence, and enthusiasm. He should carry the energy of a classic showman in the spirit of Robert Preston rather than a modern cynical political operative. Charismatic, persuasive, theatrical, and endlessly confident, Arthur fully believes in his own brilliance, but his excitement is genuine, infectious, and impossible to fully dislike. Arthur performs because he truly loves the game.

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• RACHEL PARSONS: (Female) A TV reporter. Sharp, inquisitive, and instinctively skeptical. Rachel has seen enough of politics and people to develop a healthy cynicism, but her curiosity still drives her forward. If television had never existed, she still would have become a journalist. Honest and observant, she masks much of her insight behind dry humor and wry commentary rather than bitterness. 

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• A.C. PETERSEN: (Male) A TV cameraman. A working-class everyman who has learned the value of staying quiet and watching carefully. Most people barely notice he’s there, which suits A.C. just fine. He has little patience for ego, performance, or stupidity, and his silence often says more than other people’s speeches. Though reserved, he represents the grounded perspective of the common man: practical, perceptive, and far more aware than people assume.