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Minnesota Theatre Now Casting: Exactly Who You Are

by frankie felegy

An actor with light skin wearing a pink cardigan pointing and holding a script.
Photo Credit: frankie felegy
"Try to come in without expectations," Director Annie Roseen says. "Because we really want our shows to not just be like, 'Oh, that was cute,' or 'That was good for people with disabilities.' We want it really to be like, what is an experience like to go see these artists making art?"

BOLD-choice Theatre puts community actors on stage, giving voice to authenticity, agency, and acceptance.

A woman throws a drink at her lover’s face. Someone faints at a funeral. The pool boy shows off his muscles.  

Sounds like a soap opera? It is—with a delightfully Midwestern twist. 

This is BOLD-choice Theatre Company in Duluth, Minnesota. Its cast is currently rehearsing for the upcoming show—one with completely original scripting and staging with input by community actors. 

“My character’s name is called Emmett Jones. My character’s name, that’s myself. So, I look at what I’m looking for: Back to the Future Emmett Brown. There’s Emmett Brown, Indiana Jones. Yeah. So I planned it,” Michael Truong says. 

Truong, who has been in several BOLD-choice productions, plays the funeral director in next winter’s show. He says he’s been with the company for years because of the quality shows they put on. This spring’s performance, Sundown on the Jasper County Jewel, completely sold out hundreds of seats. 

People sitting and looking at scripts.
Photo Credit: frankie felegy
“A lot of times people with disabilities are really put into little boxes and one of them is really, ‘Be good, behave yourself.’ And so the fact that they get to be grown-ups here and if they want to explore being bad characters, and saying words that bad characters say,” Director Annie Roseen says. “It’s like a reprogramming because a lot of people are like, ‘No, we can’t,’ because they’ve been just told like, ‘This is who you have to be.’ And for me, it’s like, that’s one way you can be free.”

“I made a career. I’m a good artist and I’m a disability. I like them, and good—my friends, and good, we all keep our hard work and keep performance, before performance. Pretty soon we are working hard work,” Truong says. 

That they are.  

The cast rehearses weekly for a couple of hours, sharing about their weeks and warming up before putting their heads to the scripts. The practice space, on the third floor of the historic NorShor Theatre, is lively and full of laughs, dedication, and an obvious camaraderie. 

Two actors staring with surprised facial expressions.
Photo Credit: frankie felegy
BOLD-choice Theatre Company actor Jet Clark, left, and director Annie Roseen during rehearsal.

‘Authentically Theirs’ 

That’s the goal, director Annie Roseen says. Most of BOLD-choice Theatre’s actors live with a disability. She wants—and is succeeding in making—this place inclusive, celebratory, and collaborative.  

“We do lots of brainstorming and lots of improv,” Roseen says.  

“It’s like, ‘So do you want to be in the new play?’ ‘Yes.’ And then the new cast all gets together and (is) like, ‘Okay guys, we’re doing a blank. And then we start talking about it . . . It’s hard and it takes a lot of work,” she says. “We could buy a script. But some of the ways our folks learn and create work better when it’s authentically theirs.”

It’s that agency that keeps Roseen coming back to direct, she says. Sometimes disability can inadvertently define someone’s life—how they travel, how independent they are, what jobs they have. 

“So to be an artist is pretty remarkable,” she says. “And I think people who don’t have what society deems ‘a lot of power,’ suddenly have power when they can define themselves.” 

“It gives me confidence and I’ve met some great friends and I enjoy coming here every Tuesday and just having fun and being creative.”

CASSIE KEELER, ACTOR
People standing in a circle indoors with open arms and mouths.
Photo Credit: frankie felegy
Cast members circle around for warm-ups during their weekly rehearsals.
One actor with medium skin checks his watch.
Photo Credit: frankie felegy
Actor Michael Truong’s career has moved from dishwasher to sushi chef to actor—in this show playing a funeral director.
Two actors with light skin interacting with each other while standing.
Photo Credit: frankie felegy
BOLD-choice Theatre Company actors rehearse a scene as cast members look on.
A folder with play lines and character analysis.
Photo Credit: frankie felegy
All BOLD-choice Theatre Company actors audition for parts, which are all flexible throughout rehearsal. Scenes and lines are built week by week by director Annie Roseen and the cast.
Two actors pointing at a script.
Photo Credit: frankie felegy
Zach Slocom, left, plays the lawyer in BOLD-choice’s upcoming production. He’s been involved in several of its plays and has enjoyed acting since the first grade, Slocom says.
Four men standing and posing during a rehearsal.
Photo Credit: frankie felegy
BOLD-choice Theatre Company is a branch of CHOICE unlimited in Duluth, Minnesota, a community nonprofit supporting folks with disabilities.

Actor Jet Mora most recently defined himself as Valentina Martinez, the aforementioned lover in the upcoming show. The self-published author, who has done five BOLD-choice shows, says he brings his writing inspiration to life on the stage. 

“It’s really great to have BOLD-choice Theatre for people like us because for us, everything becomes a great success for us. I say if you want to act and you want to show your talents, come and join our theater class. Give it a try. No one’s going to make a mockery of you because everyone’s the same.” 

Everyone’s the same—whether or not you’re an artist, have a disability, or are bold enough to step on a big, bright stage and show off exactly who you are.