Website Gwydion Theatre Company
Gwydion Theatre Company
Gwydion Theatre Company is holding auditions for Death of a Salesman by Arthur Miller. Directed by Scott Westerman
Willy Loman lives in Brooklyn with his wife Linda and two grown sons, Biff and Happy. He’s a salesman who’s spent his whole life following the rules. He’s raised his sons to believe that if they also follow the rules, they can make something of themselves. But Willy has come to realize that his life might have been a failure. His dreams for himself and sons are crumbling. Biff can’t keep a job. Happy isn’t exactly, well, happy. Willy and Linda struggle to make payments on their old house that’s surrounded by newer apartment buildings.
In order to deal with the failures of his life, Willy escapes by remembering the past and fantasizing about how things could have been. In doing so, he loses touch with reality and makes plans to commit suicide. His family tries to prevent it by enabling Willy’s fantasies and lying to him.
One day-and after working his whole life for the same company-Willy loses his job and gets desperate. He’s been arguing with Biff and can’t accept that Biff doesn’t want to be a businessman. Even worse, Willy can’t face the fact that his own life has been a disappointment. As the play reaches its conclusion, the audience is left to consider an important question: What does a man do when he considers his life to be a failure?
Material to Prepare:
Email gwydiontheatrecompany@gmail.com to reserve an audition slot and receive sides for preperation.
Time Commitment:
Rehearsals 4 days a week from 6-10pm on weekdays with possible daytime weekend rehearsals.
First Read Through: 08/16/2025
Rehearsals begin: 08/24/2025, Mondays-Thursdays 6-10pm
Tech Week: 09/15/2025-09/21/2025
Invited Dress/Previews: Sept 25th-27th, Oct 1st
Opening Night: 10/02/2025
Industry Night: 10/06/2025, 10/13/26
Closing Night: 10/26/2025
Character Type/Restrictions:
BIPOC actors are highly encouraged to submit
Willy Loman (Mid 40's-Early 60's): (THIS ROLE HAS BEEN CAST)
An insecure, self-deluded traveling salesman. Willy believes wholeheartedly in the American Dream of easy success and wealth, but he never achieves it. Nor do his sons fulfill his hope that they will succeed where he has failed. When Willy's illusions begin to fail under the pressing realities of his life, his mental health begins to unravel
Linda Loman (Mid-40's-Early 60's):
Willy's wife. Linda suffers through Willy's grandiose dreams and self-delusions. Occasionally, she seems to be taken in by Willy's self-deluded hopes for future glory and success, but at other times, she seems far more realistic and less fragile than her husband. She has nurtured the family through all of Willy's misguided attempts at success, and her emotional strength and perseverance support the family until its inevitable collapse.
$400 Stipend
Biff Loman (25-35 years old): (THIS ROLE HAS BEEN CAST)
Willy's son. Biff led a charmed life in high school as a football star with scholarship prospects, good male friends, and fawning female admirers. He failed math, however, and did not have enough credits to graduate. Since then, his kleptomania has gotten him fired from every job that he has held. Biff represents Willy's vulnerable, poetic, tragic side. He cannot ignore his instincts, which tell him to abandon Willy's paralyzing dreams and move out West to work with his hands. He ultimately fails to reconcile his life with Willy's expectations of him.
Happy Loman (20-30 years old): (THIS ROLE HAS BEEN CAST)
Willy's younger son. Happy has lived in Biff's shadow all of his life, but he compensates by nurturing his relentless sex drive and professional ambition. Happy represents Willy's sense of self-importance, ambition, and blind servitude to societal expectations. Although he works as an assistant to an assistant buyer in a department store, Happy presents himself as supremely important. Additionally, he practices bad business ethics and sleeps with the girlfriends of his superiors.
Charley (mid 40's-early 60's):
Willy's next-door neighbor. Charley owns a successful business and his son, Bernard, is a wealthy, important lawyer. Willy is jealous of Charley's success. Charley gives Willy money to pay his bills, and Willy reveals at one point, choking back tears, that Charley is his only friend.
$250 Stipend
Ben (40s-60s):Willy’s wealthy older brother. Ben has recently died and appears only in Willy’s “daydreams.” Willy regards Ben as a symbol of the success that he so desperately craves for himself and his sons. $250 Stipend
Bernard (20-30 years old):
Bernard is Charley's son and an important, successful lawyer. Although Willy used to mock Bernard for studying hard, Bernard always loved Willy's sons dearly and regarded Biff as a hero. Bernard's success is difficult for Willy to accept because his own sons' lives do not measure up.
$250 Stipend
Howard/Stanley 20's-40's:
HOWARD-
Willy's boss. Howard inherited the company from his father, whom Willy regarded as "a masterful man" and "a prince". STANLEY- A waiter at Frank's Chop House. Stanley and Happy seem to be friends, or at least acquaintances, and they banter about and ogle Miss Forsythe together before Biff and Willy arrive at the restaurant.
ACTOR WILL BE DOUBLING ROLES
$250 Stipend
Miss Forsythe/Jenny 20's-30's: MISS FORSYTHE- One of two young women seduced by Biff and Happy at the Steakhouse, likely prostitutes. JENNY- Charley's Secretary
$250 Stipend
Letta/The Woman 20's-40's: LETTA one of two young women seduced by Biff and Happy at the Steakhouse, likely prostitutes. THE WOMAN- A mysterious woman who has an affair with Willy in his memories, is discovered by Biff. $250 Stipend
To apply for this job email your details to gwydiontheatrecompany@gmail.com