By His Grave (2-part Audio Drama)
Project Overview
By His Grave is a play about teenagers, grief, and the things that can drive a desperate person to the edge. I started writing about 4 years ago now, and it's still not perfect, but I'm ready to put the words into some people's mouths. Unfortunately, for reasons which we all know, I'm unable to do this in person, so I thought that I would make my first project on this website for you all to look at and possibly apply for!
By His Grave follows three adults in the present going over the story of someone who changed their life in some way in high school. Flashbacks to the past reveal just how much things can change for someone over a short period of time. Mason Freemont recounts how his friendship with Jay was cut short by Jay's apparent need to always come out on top. Thomas Capilero recounts how his relationship with Jay, though never having had a problem, was cut short by Jay's manipulative nature. Cora Jefferson recounts how she met Jay before either of them and found out firsthand how he can change people for himself.
This project centers on multiple LGBT+ characters. If you don't want to be respectful, don't bother applying.
This project deals with sensitive topics. Don't apply if any of the following are uncomfortable for you. Keep yourself safe.
Suicide
Threats of violence
Emotional abuse (implied)
Emotional distress (Scenes of grief abound)
NECESSITIES TO AUDITION!
Discord, as this is where all communication regarding the project will be. It's also likely that lines will be recorded in a call with me on hand for direction.
Decent quality microphone. Still audition if you're unsure about your microphone quality of course, but make sure that you're clear.
Recording space with little to no echo. Kind of self-explanatory.
Every character has some pretty long lines in their audition section. As such, I would prefer for you to submit one take of each line that you think is your best. I should get a good idea of the character through the lines I chose, so don't worry about it!
Also, (almost) everyone who plays multiple characters has one line in their audition section as another character. This is an opportunity to show me how you can make these characters sound like different people! It doesn't have to be a drastic change, just show a little bit of your range at least.
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The first character in the show and the adult version of Mason Freemont. He has a lot of complex emotions about the person buried in the grave he's visiting after a high school reunion. He's inquisitive and sensitive, and he frequently has emotional outbursts when he feels people are misunderstanding him. Medium voice. He's finally getting over the awkwardness that he's carried with him for so long, and he should be able to make himself heard without raising his voice.
[After letting negative feelings about someone slip] ADULT 1: You… You- oh my god! I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to talk about you to your face!
[After recounting a story about a girl spreading rumors about her friends at the request of a third party] ADULT 1: Like I said! He was manipulative. Angie was vulnerable, like I was. She felt alienated by everyone. It wasn’t help with schoolwork she was after, it was someone to care about her feelings.
[Trying to rationalize why you've been so confrontational] ADULT 1: I’m just… still so intimidated by you, Thomas. It’s like, in my mind, we’re still in high school, and you’re still what I was scared of. I thought for so long that if I saw any of you again I’d know exactly what I wanted to say, but the truth is that I don’t. I don’t know what to say, and I never have. I can have so many arguments in my head where I get mad at you guys for taking my friend or for ruining high school when it had just started for me, but people aren’t like that. I can’t think of what you’re gonna say before you say it because I still don’t know you. I can sit here and I can get mad and tell you all of my secrets because, in my head, I’ll never see you again. In my head, I’ll just go on with my life, and whether or not I think of you both again, I can’t say. I want to believe that I’m past all of this, but I’m so not. Not even close, because I’m still scared of you, Thomas, and nothing, not even telling you exactly what I think of you, will change that.
The adult version of Thomas Capilero. He's always trying to shake himself of how mean he feels he was in his past, but can't get rid of his need to prove himself that he's always had. Medium-low, full voice. It used to be the kind that could take command of a room, but that's been toned down over the years as he tries to push himself into the background.
[After being called out for making a mountain out of a molehill. For context, the line before is "Can this seriously be a problem for you?"] ADULT 2: It shouldn’t… be. Why are we still here? What for? To “honor” him? I mean really, you guys didn’t like him, and he wasn’t even that great to me. What the hell are we still here for?
[Reminiscing on being "popular" in your teenage years] ADULT 2: I completely understand that feeling. It’s like… I had everything to lose back then. I learned that early on, you know? There was always something that I had to be doing correctly, or else I was ejected. It happened to Angie, you guys know that.
[Snapping at someone who's trying to diminish your past.] ADULT 2: That’s what you say?! That’s all you can do to make me feel better? Obviously, it is my fault, I could’ve just… Not done what I did, but I went along with it. It felt better to exclude someone else than to be excluded myself! You’re trying to tell me that it wasn’t my fault, my therapist tried to tell me that it wasn’t my fault, even I tried to tell myself that it wasn’t my fault, but I know it was! I hurt her! My friends hurt her! And we decided it was just “okay,” because she was different from us. Just because she wasn’t “normal,” like we were. It was unfair, and it absolutely was my fault, so I don’t want to hear it.
The adult version of Cora Jefferson. She's kept her tough exterior, but learned how to talk like she means it. She's less angry and has made great strides in her self-esteem since high school. She sees through both of the other adults and often has to mediate their arguments. Lower voice. She's given up on being angry, and has now just become tired. She has some outbursts of emotion, but keeps herself calm and level-headed through most of the show.
Almost every actor will play other characters. ADULT 3 is written to double as
MS. PERCY: An English teacher. She's excitable and loves her job, even if the students aren't necessarily the biggest fans of her. Described as having a "therapist's voice".
MS. BELL: A science teacher. She gets right into her class and loves to watch reactions. Later faced with the unlucky task of notifying students about a death.
[After describing losing your only friend for a petty reason] ADULT 3: Alright, sure… I- Well, as you can imagine, after all of that, having to deal with school was the last thing I wanted, so I just… didn’t go. I’d never skipped before, but at that point, all I could think was, well, “why should I care?”
[Snapping at the other two adults for their constant bickering] ADULT 3: Listen! I don’t think either of you will ever agree, alright? It doesn’t matter now. It’s all in the past! You! You need to learn that people can change, and people you might not like sometimes win, and that’s okay. And you! You need to learn that some people are unredeemable, and just because they might not be here right now, doesn’t mean that you have to excuse what they did. I don’t know what Arianna is doing with her life now. If I’m honest, I don’t really care. That chapter of all of our lives is over. I don’t know if I believe Arianna changed for the better, and I don’t know if I believe she stayed the same, but I do know that the only person that needs to matter to is herself. Right now, we’re- all of us- here to give our respect to him. Maybe our respect just involves these stories, but it feels like closure to me to talk about this. I know I want to hear the rest. I don’t know about you, but it makes me feel better. I really think the only thing we have in common with each other is him, but as long as we’re here, we might as well, right? (Pause.) Please, finish the rest of your story. We’re getting all sides in, right? Right? There’s no point arguing over something that none of us could fix. Please, for my peace of mind, stop. Stop with the fighting, I can’t listen to it anymore. I don’t want to listen to it anymore.
[Describing a science experiment to the class] ADULT 3/MS. BELL: And finally, vinegar. Here’s a tip for all of you, don’t drink the stuff we’re using. That would be bad for you.
The person who the whole story is about. The adults have come to his grave in the present to discuss his impact on their lives in the past. He masks a lot of his insecurity behind a "cool" exterior influenced by the media he consumes. Despite his low self-esteem, he's good at talking to others and manipulating situations into coming out on top. Medium-low voice. Possibly lowered a bit from his natural voice in order to keep up the cool persona, though this tends to slip away in private.
Almost every actor will play other characters. JAY is written to double as
GROUPIE: Character with one line, meant to represent someone that Jay doesn't know.
CORA'S FATHER: Perpetually tired, middle-aged man. The only time we see him, he gets into a small argument with his daughter, even though that's not what he wants.
[You're talking to the new kid at school. Nonchalant, coolly] JAY: You look like you’re afraid you’re gonna get eaten by a pack of alligators. That’s how I felt when I transferred here. I’ve had since the eighth grade to learn that there’s no reason to care about the people that go to school with you.
[Jokingly describing your ultimate plan for hanging out with another group of teens] JAY: Well, the hope is that at some point, one of these two will fall in love with me, and then the three of us will take a cross-country road trip that leaves Hollywood execs in awe.
[Talking to your daughter about how distant you've gotten. More tired than angry]JAY/CORA’S FATHER: Cora! As much as I know you would like to get into an argument right now, I don’t always have time for it. If we can’t have a nice breakfast now, when do we get one? Hm? Or is this your fanciful world where everything gets solved the minute you rebel? “Oh, it’s my world, the rest of these people are just living in it!” It wouldn’t- Listen! It wouldn’t be so hard to talk to me if you just tried every once in a while! I don’t make you do anything around this house, all I ask is that you take the time each day to understand that I exist!
Mason is one of the main characters of the first act, though he takes a kind of back seat in the second. He's the new kid in school, and as such is awkward interacting with people, tending to either shy away from difficult topics or start out too excited in the first place. He, like Adult 1, hates being misunderstood but is more likely to try and prove himself right. Medium-high voice. Everything he says should sound like he's been holding it in his head for a long time, as he probably has been.
Almost every actor will play other characters. MASON is written to double as
GROUPIE: Character with one line, meant to represent someone that Mason doesn't know.
FRANCIS: Antagonist in the second act. He's a sneering, popular pretty-boy who probably watched Mean Girls a few too many times when it came out.
ARIANNA'S FATHER: Described as "extremely accommodating, but fiercely overprotective." He doesn't trust his daughter to make her own decisions.
[Frantically trying to prove that you knew someone] MASON: I’m not! Let me show you! (Pause as he shows THOMAS his phone.) It’s pictures of us, from when we were friends, earlier this year. I… you know, I just want to know how he’s doing, since he doesn’t really talk to me anymore.
[Optimistic about the chance to make friends with someone] MASON: Yeah! I haven’t had any friends in school for so long, so I know how it feels. I don’t need other people to feel like they have no one. It gets hard when you know you can’t talk to people other than your parents.
[Starting out off-hand, turning threatening] MASON/FRANCIS: Oh, you know. The downtrodden. The undesirable. The hard-to-love. The ones who can’t fight back. The trashy "Cora"s of the world who need so badly to be liked that, well, they’d do just about anything. I think we both know why you and this boy keep sneaking out together. I just wanted to make sure that you knew that this can end with me and Arianna. You’re just gonna need to keep you and your “friend” here out of our way, got it?
Arianna is the antagonist of the show. Due to not being there to tell her own story, she is frequently portrayed as the extreme of the "mean girl" trope. She's obsessed with status and very quick to anger, and as such she never thinks twice about dropping people who aren't useful to her. Medium-high voice. It may feel right to exaggerate or "valley girl"-ify her, but Arianna should sound like a real person, even if she's not necessarily saying the most realistic things.
Almost every actor will play other characters. ARIANNA is written to double as
ANGRY MOTHER: Here's a role you can exaggerate, though! A small, comedic part. She's angry, she's a mom, and she's gonna let every minimum wage worker know.
GROUPIE: Character with two lines, meant to represent someone that Arianna doesn't know.
LYDIA: An extra student. She sits somewhere behind Cora on the bus and despite her raucous nature, she finds the time to write about her disdain for others in notes.
[Trying to get someone to think the way you want them to] ARIANNA: I’m sorry that I had to be the one to tell you all of this. It’s not your fault that you’re such a… How do I put it lightly, such a small blip in his life that he ditched you as soon as he could?
[Snapping at your friend after he brings up a sore subject. Hurt] ARIANNA: No, you know what, Thomas? You can take this “nice moment”, put it in a sweet bowl full of puppies and kittens, and spoon-feed it to someone who gives a rat’s ass. (Pause.) No, you stop it, Thomas! How could you think this was a good time for the “Maybe I’ll change Arianna” conversation? What, you saw me laying out how I feel, being vulnerable with you, and you thought it was the right idea to start picking me apart? I’m... I’m so tired of the constant barrage I get from all angles. Everyone cares about everything I do and nobody is satisfied with a single bit of it. You’re supposed to be the one who cares about how I feel.
[After getting no support from the manager of a movie theatre.] ARIANNA/ANGRY MOTHER: You’d better be prepared to get a very, very sternly worded Yelp review!
Evan is a smaller character in the show who becomes much more important as someone else in the second act. He's Arianna's yes-man and Angie's best friend. He's unable to think for himself, choosing instead to always agree with someone else just so that he doesn't step out of line on accident. Higher voice. He talks mostly in short sentences, and should sound like he's almost scared for people to hear what he has to say. This changes depending on the recipient, but when he's talking to Arianna (as in Audition line 0), he's always nervous about saying the wrong thing.
Almost every actor will play other characters. EVAN is written to double as
THOMAS' FATHER: Bumbling middle-aged man. He always means well, but neither him nor his wife are the brightest, so they tend to miss a lot.
GROUPIE: Character with one line, meant to represent someone that Evan doesn't know.
ANDY: An extra student. He's a wannabe life coach, and wants nothing more than to impart his opinions on others.
RHODES: Homeless teenager living under an overpass about a mile from school. He's intent on proving himself to be a "nice-enough" person, even if what he says doesn't necessarily prove that. He's protective over his friends, and wants the best for them, and he'll go pretty far to make sure they're getting it.
[After having a rumor spread about you, which your friends find comparably light to theirs] EVAN: I don’t know why we all just decided that mine wasn’t that bad, but my aunt will kill me if she thinks that I’m faking my grades. I run my entire personality on my good grades, I can’t die like that!
[Trying to convince a friend that a problem really isn't that bad] EVAN/RHODES: You’re gonna be okay. When this is over and done with, you’re still gonna be here, and you’re still gonna be fine. Like, I get it, okay? I get that this may feel like the most important thing in the world right now, but you’re still gonna wake up tomorrow. It’s just not life-threatening.
Angie is a smaller character in the show who becomes much more important as someone else in the second act. She's the newest member of Arianna's group and the best friend of Evan. She's not the brightest, and is keen to help out with anything if it means she gets school help. Higher voice. She should sound like she's pretty excited to speak up about pretty much anything she talks about.
Almost every actor will play other characters. ANGIE is written to double as
ALICIA: Extra student character. She's quick to anger and bad at understanding directions.
OLD WOMAN: A small, comedic part. She's old, she doesn't really know what's going on around her.
THOMAS' SISTER- The one person in Thomas' house played straight. She's the intellectual center of the family and frequently carries the weight of the smarts in her house. Even so, she's very loving, and her and Thomas lean on each other.
GROUPIE: Character with one line, meant to represent someone that Angie doesn't know.
FOSTER: Homeless teenager living under an overpass about a mile from school. Rhodes is really the only family she has, so she's gonna try and keep him and whatever friends she has close. She's much easier to talk to than Rhodes, and she typically tries to lead conversations when he's around.
[Discussing rumors that have spread about you and your friends. One calls the rumor about you "not that bad"] ANGIE: No, mine is about me doing something actually illegal that could have gotten people injured or killed, yours is about doing something that literally half the kids in our school do. That’s really just not comparable!
[You've just gotten kicked out of your friend group. It was not amicable] ANGIE: Oh, I hoped you didn’t see that. I just… lost all of my friends yesterday. I was just talking to them! Arianna told us this story of a girl who everyone was so mean to in elementary school, and I was just trying to say “That’s not very nice!” because… Because! You know? And now I guess Arianna kicked me out. She told me not to talk to them anymore, and she blocked my number, and so now I’m alone. Evan won’t even pick up my calls! I don’t know what to do! I guess it was just luck that I got in with them in the first place, it was about time they got rid of me. You know, I always had Evan to drive me to school, and now I’m gonna have to ride the bus again. That's one of the worst parts! Arianna would always skip class with me, and Thomas was nice to me. Now I don’t have anyone. I’m sorry for dumping all of this on you, I just… I had to talk to someone.
[You're talking to a movie theatre employee, trying to decide what to eat] ANGIE/OLD WOMAN: Oh, um… I feel as if, if I do get popcorn, I’ll just want candy after, but I don’t want my teeth to fall out during the movie.
Thomas is somewhat different throughout the show. In certain scenes, he's playing along with the "mean popular kid" thing. In some, he's trying to talk some sense into his friends' worst actions. In yet others, he's a goofy, laid-back, pretty regular high school kid. He's an expert in social code-switching, and he's just as confident as ever in each one. Medium-low voice. He, being Adult 2, should have a voice that commands attention, even if he's not using it to say the most important things.
Almost every actor will play other characters. THOMAS is written to double as
JASON: Extra student character. He's loud and dumb. Lydia's friend.
GROUPIE: Character with one line, meant to represent someone that Thomas doesn't know.
[As a joke to your parents wondering why you're home early] THOMAS: I got expelled and the cafeteria caught fire, me and Jay here were the only survivors.
[You're having a serious conversation with your boyfriend and your sister calls you both for dinner with a threat attached] THOMAS: As much as I love you and want to continue this conversation, We should get dinner because she will make that threat come true. Let’s just put this out of our minds for 90 minutes, then we can come back to it... I do love you, okay? A lot.
[Trying to lightly bring up your qualms with a friend] THOMAS: Some philosopher would tell you that the blood of the covenant is thicker than the water of the womb. (Pause.) Ari, I am so glad you’re telling me this. I think that maybe I need to tell you something too. I just can’t sugarcoat this. You’ve been difficult. I don’t know if you’re just trying so hard to be someone or to have something, but sometimes, I… I don’t trust you to make the best decisions for the group. I love you, Ari, I do, but sometimes I’ll see a look on someone’s face after you say something, and it... it hurts now.
Cora is a girl who's been forced to become very tough despite what she may want. She finds it difficult to make friends and easy to be alone. She never speaks as herself in the first act, but she's the main character in most of the second. Secretly, she relishes in talking to other people, but she's so scared of losing anything anymore that she can't let herself open up. Lower voice. She should sound like she's almost angry to hear herself speak.
Almost every actor will play other characters. CORA is written to double as
GROUPIE: Character with one line, meant to represent someone Cora doesn't know.
EMPLOYEE: Manager at a local movie theatre. This character is extremely disinterested in their job and couldn't care less about the people they talk to.
THOMAS' MOTHER: Bumbling middle-aged woman. She always means well, but neither she nor her husband are the brightest, so they tend to miss a lot.
ARIANNA'S MOTHER: A strict woman who earnestly believes that the adult in the situation is always right, no matter what.
[Your new acquaintance just stopped you to talk about a guy he's into, but you don't like his taste] CORA: That made no sense, but hey! Let’s talk about something else now. (Pause.) Aha! A perfect excuse. Now stop drooling all over yourself and go to class, or else you’re gonna fail and your parents will never let you out of the house to see your homeless friends again.
[You're venting to some people you're now calling your friends, despite not knowing them long] CORA: So here’s my thing, I don’t get the chance to make a lot of friends, especially at school, right? So here I am, thinking that finally, something will be in my favor for a change, and then it doesn’t happen. I mean, who am I to think that something would ever go my way, right? Sure, Francis and I weren’t the closest that two people could be, but I didn’t think that he’d go from tolerating me to hating me so quickly. Oh, and then- then! Jay comes around and he’s telling me that he’s into Thomas now! Like, where did that come from? That’s the opposite of what I wanted to hear, because now that Francis is all buddy-buddy with Arianna, he and Thomas are all over each other now too. So basically, everything is falling apart and my life is just one disappointment after the next.
[You're talking to an old woman who can't decide what she wants to eat] CORA/EMPLOYEE: Ma’am, this isn’t a lunch hall. You seem indecisive, so how about you go watch your movie and stop holding up everyone who’s behind you.
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