Phoebe in Winter
Phoebe in Winter
Written by Jen Silverman
Directed by Jason J. Flannery
*Michigan Premiere*
Audition Dates/Times: Open auditions are Saturday and Sunday, February 20-21, from noon to 3pm. If you are unavailable at one of the listed days/times, please email us at info@atgr.org and we'll make accommodations for a video audition submission or other in-person day/time.
Location: Spectrum Theater at 160 Fountain NE.
Callbacks: TBD at auditions based on auditionee availability.
Rehearsals: Take place at Spectrum Theater and are generally weekday evenings for 3 hours.
Performance Dates (2027): May 6-8 and 13-15 at 7:30pm; May 9 at 3pm
Audition Requirements: No material needs to be memorized for the audition, but you should familiarize yourself with the script/characters/etc. Headshots and resumés are encouraged. Please be prepared to list any potential schedule conflicts throughout the rehearsal process.
Perusal Script and Sides: An online perusal copy of the script can be viewed here and sides will be posted online by January 18.
Characters:
All roles are open to individuals of all races and ethnicities (aside from where prescribed by the playwright), abilities, body sizes, sexual orientations, and socioeconomic statuses. Trans, nonbinary, and genderqueer actors highly encouraged to audition.
Please note: Phoebe in Winter is a story about a family in constant fluctuation and shifting power dynamics. Many characters get “reassigned roles" within the family, to their benefit or detriment, across various scenes. These shifts are represented by the character adorning some of their new role’s clothing and being forced to take on the responsibilities (or lack of responsibilities) of that family member. Basically: they have a new “job” that comes with a new “uniform”, but they are still themselves when put into a new role.
- Phoebe: Female-identifying, 20s-30s (flexible). Refugee from a “jungle” country. “Pretty without makeup”. In that an emotional hurt precedes a violent act, Phoebe has been hurt a lot. No longer going to ask for anything. Viper. Avenger. Usurper Princess. You want Imperialism? I’ll show you Imperialism.
Needs to take bites of an apple, drink various cocktails and liquors. Must perform stage combat. Has some light intimacy. Will likely get wet..
- Da Creedy: Male-identifying, 50-70s (flexible), should look a clear bit older than the rest of the cast. King of a cold castle. Father. Idle thinker. Comfortable in The Old Ways™. Physically weathered, but respected as the Patriarch of the home... thus: ripe for usurpation. Deep down, his imagination is yearning to play after a lifetime of performing his role.
Needs to take bites of an apple, drink cocktails and liquors. Will likely get feet wet in a bathtub. Wears a feminine outfit in various scenes.
- Jeremiah: Male-identifying, 20s-30s (flexible), should look older than Anther & Liam. Inheritor of a system that has always rewarded people like him. A lifetime of learning all the worst lessons about being a “man” resulting in a tidy exterior that hides a combustible mass of violence, privilege, emotional cruelty: ala The Male Loneliness Epidemic™.
Drinks cocktails and various liquors. Must perform brief moments of stage combat. Needs to appear in a state of low dress. Will likely get wet.
- Anther: Male-identifying, 20s-30s (flexible), should look between Jeremiah and Liam in age. The “peacekeeper” who aims to preserve the family civility. Jeremiah’s ineffective shoulder-angel. Keen to stay out of danger and on everyone’s good side. Knows how to avoid ire in a combustible world. Not totally upset about being the invisible Middle-Child.
Needs to drink various cocktails and liquors. Must perform a brief moment of stage combat.
- Liam: Male-identifying, 20s-30s (flexible), should look younger than Jeremiah and Anther. Recipient of Jeremiah’s abuse and Boggett’s admiration as they grew up. Believes in love, romance, escape. Not built for war, barely built for argument. His kindness makes him “different”. Lonely, but chooses not to fit in, given what “fitting in” would mean.
Must perform a brief moment of stage combat. Has some light intimacy and appears in a state of low dress. Will likely get wet.
- Boggett: Female-identifying, 20s-30s (flexible), should be roughly the same age as the boys. Her name means “Goblin” or “Shapeshifter” (BOG-it). Grew up protecting Liam from Jeremiah. Does all of the work for none of the gratification. A tiny bit of hope is enough to sustain her, but even that is hard to come by. Something primal and deeply pent up is waiting to be unleashed inside her.
Needs to take a bite of an apple. Must perform some stage combat. Sings a lullaby. Has some light intimacy and will likely get wet.
Synopsis: What happens when the cost of survival is not peace but transformation?
Three brothers return home from a distant war, ready to reclaim the lives they left behind. But before the house can become home again, there is a knock at the door. A young woman named Phoebe arrives with an accusation: these men killed her own three brothers. Now she wants reparations. Not money. Not apology. Family. If her brothers are gone, these brothers must become hers.
As Phoebe’s demand takes root, the household begins to warp around her. Roles shift. Power changes hands. The violence everyone thought they had escaped starts finding new ways to live inside the room. Jen Silverman’s Phoebe in Winter is a brutal, poetic, and darkly funny post-war fable about grief, revenge, gender, family, and the insatiable hunger to be made whole after devastation.
About the Director:
Jason J. Flannery, MFA is a Grand Rapids artist and educator; teaching courses in theatre, acting, directing, and improvisation and directing collegiate productions at Grand Rapids Community College, including WILDERNESS (2019), EURYDICE (2022), GRAND CONCOURSE (2023), BOOM (2025), and CONTINUITY (2026). He holds a Master of Fine Arts degree in Directing from Lindenwood University (2017), where he studied directing, acting, and scenic art. At Actors’ Theatre, he serves as Social Media Coordinator, a member of the Play Selection Committee, a Scenic Artist, and as a performer; appearing in productions of THE WHALE (2018), THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME (2018), AT THE TABLE (2018), SWEAT (2019), PETTY CRIMES (2023), WITCH (2023), and HYENAS (2025). This is his fourth time working as a director for Actors’, following PARADISE LOST (2024), BOTTICELLI IN THE FIRE (2025), and SPAIN (2025).