KEY AUDITION DATES IN 2026: 

May 4–5 | A.C.T. & Berkeley Rep joint general EPA auditions

General Auditions for the 26/27 season will be held May 4 at American Conservatory Theater in San Francisco and May 5 at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in Berkeley.

May 20–22 | JOHN PROCTOR IS THE VILLAIN auditions

June 4–7 | BAD NEWS BEARS auditions

June 15–17 | IRAQ, BUT FUNNY auditions 

August 24–29 | THE COMEUPPANCE auditions  

Casting at A.C.T.

Inclusion is a core value at A.C.T. We are committed to anti-racist casting practices and strive to be a place where actors of all identities and backgrounds can bring their full selves to the audition and rehearsal room. We recognize that A.C.T. has historically done harm to our local Bay Area BIPOC community and we are committed to change. We also recognize that this is ongoing work; we know we will continue to evolve and we simultaneously recognize the value in naming our specific commitments. Many of these commitments are inspired by or come directly from We See You White American Theater and the Bay Area BIPOC Equity Action Plan, and we are grateful to our local and national BIPOC colleagues for their labor in developing these documents.

• We commit to identity-conscious casting. “Colorblind” casting is an outdated practice that we will not engage in. As part of this, we commit to having rigorous conversations with creative teams about identity conscious casting at the start of each process.
• We commit to reading characters with broad imaginations and assuming that all characters can be played by actors of any race, ethnicity, gender, and physical ability unless specified by the playwright.
• When a playwright notes a character’s race and/or gender, we will honor it in our casting process. (Specifically, we will not cast white performers in BIPOC roles. We will not cast cisgender actors in trans, gender non-conforming, or nonbinary roles.)
• We commit to using inclusive language in our casting breakdowns and in our audition and rehearsal rooms.
• We commit to auditioning a diverse slate of actors for each role where race, ethnicity, age, gender, and/or physical ability is left open by the playwright.
• We commit to an open submission form that allows Bay Area actors to submit themselves on a rolling basis to increase access. Submissions will be reviewed monthly.
• All actors who attend show-specific auditions will be contacted about their casting decision before casting is announced publicly. (Please note that “show-specific auditions” do not include generals or EPAs.)
• We commit to giving actors a respectful amount of time to prepare material. Material will be sent to actors at least three days in advance of their initial audition. 
• We commit to casting and understudy tracks that consider distinctions in age, race, ethnicity, gender, and physical ability when asking an actor to play or cover more than one role.
• We commit to including BIPOC voices with key casting input when casting work that tells BIPOC stories. We strive to create and nurture an audition process and environment that is inclusive and welcoming with BIPOC representation throughout.

We anticipate that these commitments, as well as the language we use to describe them, will evolve with our anti-racism and inclusion work and in response to the needs of the Bay Area theater community. Feedback on these commitments is welcome and encouraged and can be sent to casting@act-sf.org.