TPAC Produces
From putting on an annual show free to all Tulsa Public Schools kindergarteners to huge stage spectacles, the Tulsa Performing Arts Center is making its mark on local theatre, creating some of the most beautiful, incredible theatre in the region.
Adult Roles
Coalhouse Walker, Jr: A proud and talented pianist, confident and stubborn. Sophisticated with a romantic demeanor and a gentle heart. Should be able to move. Piano playing is helpful but not essential.
Male, 25-35
Ethnicity: African Descent, African American
Vocal Range: Ab to G, with a sustained high F#
Sarah: A washwoman, filled with a strong will to live fueled by an innocent spirit, falls deeply in love with Coalhouse after much resistance
Female, 20-30
Ethnicity: African Descent, African American
Vocal Range: Lyric Soprano with strong mix, low G# to high F# on staff
Mother: The consummate wife and mother, a kind woman who is gentle, compassionate, optimistic, and accepting of others.
Female, 30-40
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Vocal Range: Lyric Soprano / Mezzo with strong mix, low G to high Eb on staff
Father: Mother's professionally successful husband, cautious, resistant to change, fancies himself an amateur explorer.
Male, 35-50
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Vocal Range: Baritone, B to E on staff
Younger Brother: A passionate anarchist, he is intense, obsessive, and high strung, influenced by Emma Goldman's teachings.
Male, 25-35
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Vocal Range: Tenor / Baritone with strong top range, B to high F#
Tateh: An immigrant, intelligent, passionate, and creative artist. Full of drive and heart. Wears the trials and tribulations of hist past on his sleeve. Eastern European / Latvian dialect.
Male, 30-40
Ethnicity: Eastern European / Jewish / Latvian-American
Vocal Range: Baritone / Tenor, Db to high F#
Sarah's Friend / Ensemble: Passionate, soulful, sings the gospel number for Sarah's funeral Female, any age
Ethnicity: African Descent, African American
Vocal Range: Gospel Lyric Soprano or Alto, low G to stratospheric scat top note
Emma Goldman / Ensemble: Eastern European / Jewish immigrant, anarchist
Female 35-60
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Vocal Range: Alto, low G# to Db Harry
Houdini / Ensemble: Hungarian immigrant, internationally famous magician
Male, 30-40
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Vocal Range: Tenor, middle C to high G
Evelyn Nesbit / Ensemble: Vaudevillian performer, the “Marylin Monroe of her time.”
Female, 20-30
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Vocal Range: Soprano / Belter, middle C to Db
Willie Conklin / Ensemble: Irish-American fire chief who is racist and takes out his anger on Coalhouse.
Male, 30-45
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Vocal Range: Tenor / Baritenor Adult Ensemble
Booker T Washington, Henry Ford, JP Morgan, Admiral Peary, Matthew Henson, Judge, Grandfather, Kathleetn, Brigit, Attorneys, Bureaucrats, Reporters, Baseball Fans, people of New Rochelle / Harlem / Union Square, Factory Workers, Firemen, Demonstrators, Vacationers
Audition Information
Initial auditions are by video submission only. Please state your name and include 24-32 bars of two contrasting songs that highlight your range. Music selections from Ragtime are acceptable. Submissions accepted through February 5th. Late submissions will not be considered. Please submit via the link below by February 5, 2025. In your video please slate and include ONLY 24-32 bars of two contrasting songs that highlight your range.
If you are invited to audition in person, the second round of auditions will be held in Oklahoma City on Thursday, February 20th and in Tulsa on Saturday, February 22nd. For in-person auditions, please be prepared to read from the script, perform a song from your desired role and participate in a dance audition.
Availability for all rehearsals and performances is imperative. All artists will be compensated.
Important Production Dates:
Rehearsal start date June 29, 2025
Designer Run July 29, 2025
Tech begins August 1, 2025
Opening Night August 8, 2025
Runs through August 24, 2025
Rehearsal times and Location: Weeknights and Saturdays at The Tulsa Performing Arts Center.
The Tulsa Performing Arts Center strives for an inclusive creative work environment and actively embraces a diversity of people, ideas, talents, and experiences. We highly encourage people of color, individuals with disabilities, and other historically underrepresented groups to audition.
Youth Roles
Little Boy: An earnest boy who has grown up in privilege. Open hearted to people that are different from him and has the precocious innocence of youth.
Male, 10 -12 years old
Ethnicity: Caucasian
Vocal Range: voice not yet changed
Little Girl: Tateh's daughter. Her arrival in America is marked by sickness and hunger. She is scared of her new surroundings and loyal to her father, her only living relative
Female, 10-12 years old
Ethnicity: Eastern European / Jewish / Latvian-American
Vocal Range: Mezzo / Soprano
Young Coalhouse Jr: Innocent and pure. Son of Coalhouse and Sarah. This role appears briefly at the end of the play and has no lines or songs
Male, 4-6yo
Ethnicity: African descent, African-American
Music by Stephen Flaherty, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, and a book by Terrence McNally. Directed by Sara Phoenix. Music Direction by Mark Frie and Choreography by Jen Alden. Based on the 1975 book by E.L. Doctorow.
At the dawn of a new century, everything is changing … and anything is possible. Set in the volatile melting pot of turn-of-the-century New York, three distinctly American tales are woven together — that of a stifled upper-class wife, a determined Jewish immigrant, and a daring young Harlem musician — united by their courage, compassion, and belief in the promise of the future. Together, they confront history's timeless contradictions of wealth and poverty, freedom and prejudice, hope and despair, and what it means to live in America. With a Tony-winning score featuring musical theatre show-stoppers, Ragtime is filled with pageantry, emotion, and hope, bursting onto the stage like no other musical.
Sponsors
This project is being supported in part by American Rescue Plan Act Federal Award, awarded to the State of Oklahoma in the US Department of the Treasury.