OPEN CALL AUDITIONS

“Spit in Your Face” is a sharp, fearless comedy by San Francisco–based playwright Paul Heller & one of Mexico’s leading actor/directors, Alberto Lomnitz.  Chattanooga-based Joel Sanchez Avantes will direct this new play.  The play dives headfirst into the messy, hilarious, and high-stakes world of contemporary theatre-making.

When Tom Leary, Artistic Director of the San Francisco People’s Theatre, commits to making his company more inclusive, he hires the brilliant—and controversial—Mexican director Fernando Calderón to devise a “groundbreaking” new production guaranteed to shake audiences out of their seats.

Enter Liliana Tzintzún, a young Mexican American costume intern suddenly thrust into the role of assistant to the director—and into the center of a creative process brimming with ambition, ego, good intentions, and explosive questions.

Witty, provocative, and unflinchingly honest, Spit in Your Face asks: Who gets to tell whose story—and at what cost?

New Threads will be producing a full production of “Spit in Your Face” at Barking Legs Theatre in Chattanooga in May. Rehearsals start in early April and will be scheduled around actor availability. Technical rehearsals are May 17, 18, 19 in the evenings. There will be five performances between Thursday May 21 and Sunday May 24.

This is a play for adventurous actors who love fast-paced dialogue, layered characters, and theatre that sparks conversation long after the curtain falls.

CASTING BREAKDOWN

Tom Leary (50s–60s): Artistic Director of the San Francisco People’s Theater. White. Passionate, well-meaning, institutionally minded, and navigating the pressures of leadership and legacy.

Liliana Tzintzún (Early 20s): A theatre arts major. Mexican American, of Indigenous origin. Smart, observant, driven—finding her voice while caught between opportunity and cultural responsibility.

Fernando Calderón (30s–60s): Renowned Mexican theatre artist. Light-skinned; bearded if possible. Charismatic, provocative, visionary—an uncompromising director unafraid to disturb the comfortable. The actor needs to be able to appear to speak Spanish fluently for a couple of sentences of dialogue.

AUDITION DETAILS

Saturday, March 14: 2:00pm-6:00pm-Auditions (Cold reading from the script.) (No appointment necessary.)

Sunday March 15th: 2:00pm-6:00pm-Invited Callbacks

Location: Ripple Theatre 3264 Brainerd Rd, Chattanooga, TN, 37411

If you’re excited by provocative storytelling, smart comedy, and roles that demand courage, nuance, and fearless collaboration this play is got you. Questions: email newthreadstheatreco.com