Putting the call out for Asian American transgender and gender nonconforming actors.... Interstate, a new musical by Melissa Li and Kit Yan, is currently seeking Equity or non-Equity Asian American transgender or gender nonconforming performers for a 29 hour staged reading happening next month.
Interstate is described as an Asian American pop-rock poetry musical about two transgender people at different stages of their journey and their parallel experiences with love, family, and finding a community.
Auditions will be held on Saturday, April 2 in Midtown Manhattan. Here's the breakdown:
CHARACTER BREAKDOWN:
DASH KOI, Self-identified East Asian, Asian, Southeast Asian, or South Asian FTM transgender man in his early 20s. He has been taking testosterone for long enough that his voice has dropped and he reads as masculine. Despite being a confident performer and spoken word artist, underneath the surface he still has insecurities around his own masculinity, especially when he falls for Adrian. (Tenor)
ADRIAN SONG, Self-identified East Asian, Asian, Southeast Asian, or South Asian feminine lesbian in her early 20s. She is a skilled guitarist and runs a tight ship managing the tour and their careers. She has dreams of making it big, and is out to prove her unsupportive family wrong. She adores Dash and feels protective of him. (Mezzo)
HENRY AHUJA, Self identified South Asian, Southeast Asian, Asian, or East Asian FTM transgender teenage boy. He is a YouTube vlogger, documenting his transition and his life as one of the only Asians living in a small town in Kentucky. He is part of a generation and culture that's obsessed with oversharing on social media, yet his bravery is fragile, and he is afraid of reading the comments on his channel to protect himself from internet trolls. (Alto or Mezzo - Please note: Music Director is open to transposing music to accommodate range)
SYNOPSIS:
Interstate is an Asian-American pop-rock poetry musical that follows Dash, a transgender spoken word performer as he goes on a cross-country tour with his best friend Adrian, a lesbian singer-songwriter. Together, they’ve formed Acupuncture for Fools, an activist band fueled by growing internet popularity, the allure of fame, and a desire to connect with the Queer Asian community. The band's fiercely political and deeply personal music touches Henry, an Asian-American transgender teenager living in small-town Kentucky, and he finds solace in their art as he struggles with his own identity and family. After dedicating his time to blogging about the band and documenting his own transition, he decides to set out on a quest to meet his heroes in person, hoping to find answers to his own struggles. Interstate is about two transgender people at different stages of their journey and their parallel experiences with love, family, and finding a community.
For further information about the show and how to submit, view the casting call.
