All ethnicities, 25–30. Fun, confident, and attractive with a natural, outdoorsy vibe; should appear adventurous, athletic, and comfortable in an active lifestyle. Must feel like genuine friends laughing and interacting together. Comfortable handling and making cocktails (experience a plus). Silent on camera (no dialogue).

Character Type: Warm visionary with quiet strength Energy: Hopeful, articulate, grounded Lydia is a beloved educator and arts advocate running for mayor. She believes creativity can save the village, even as she quietly stands at a deeply personal turning point. She is married to historian Hollis Hampton and carries a private secret that shapes her emotional arc. Performer Requirements: Strong emotional accessibility without melodrama Ability to shift between public composure and private vulnerability Confident facilitation of collaborative puzzle moments Comfortable leading small group conversations and activities Audition Video Subject: In-character, tell us how you plan to convince the village that the arts are the key to making a better future. What’s stopping you from telling your husband, the historian Hollis Hampton, that you’re pregnant?

Character Type: Intelligent provocateur Energy: Quick, observant, incisive Beatrice runs the village broadsheet. She believes stories shape reality and is willing to bruise egos to get the truth. Respected and resented, she walks the line between spectacle and sincerity. Performer Requirements: Fast verbal agility Confident crowd control through language Strong instincts for improvisational debate Ability to subtly steer players toward narrative discoveries Audition Video Subject: In-character, tell us why the truth should be told in print even if it hurts someone. What’s the juiciest village gossip you’ve heard lately?

Character Type: Overlooked dreamer Energy: Earnest, restless, impulsive Daniel is the “kid” of the town. Always an apprentice, never a master. Few suspect him capable of anything underhanded, yet desperation and longing simmer beneath his surface. His arc centers on stepping out of invisibility. Performer Requirements: Natural vulnerability and charm Physical confidence in a workshop environment Ability to build quiet intimacy with players Controlled emotional escalation Audition Video Subject: In-character, tell us what it’s like to be the village’s eternal apprentice, always seen as “the kid” and what you plan to do to finally prove you’re capable of more. What made you fall in love with the innkeeper, Dorothy Dunn?

Character Type: Symbolic oracle Energy: Still, grounded, quietly powerful Wilhelmina lives at the edge of the village and the edge of belief. Villagers fear, rely on, and mythologize her. She speaks in metaphor and trades in remedies and permission more than prophecy. Performer Requirements: Strong physical stillness and presence Comfort with slow, deliberate pacing Ability to create intimacy in one-on-one encounters Skill in speaking symbolically while guiding puzzle beats Audition Video Subject: In-character, tell us what it’s like to live on the edge of the village where people fear your wisdom, and what you plan to do to guide the village toward what it refuses to see.

Character Type: Pragmatic host with guarded heart Energy: Witty, grounded, sharp Dorothy runs the village inn and knows that stories, rumors, and reputations are currency. She is fiercely protective of her livelihood and carries unresolved history with Daniel and her sister Beatrice. Performer Requirements: Strong hosting energy Ability to manage large groups fluidly Natural comedic timing Emotional restraint with flashes of vulnerability Audition Video Subject: In-character, tell us what it’s like to feel betrayed by your sister, who published a story that’s ruining your inn’s business. What would it take for the apprentice blacksmith, Daniel Doyle, to convince you to marry him?

Character Type: Weathered idealist Energy: Stubborn, heartfelt, eccentric A grieving farmer wrestling with change as the railway approaches. He believes the world may be larger and stranger than the village imagines. His arc involves confronting loss and accepting independence. Performer Requirements: Comfortable with physical comedy Ability to balance absurdity with emotional truth Strong improvisational stamina Rural physicality Audition Video Subject: In-character, tell us what it’s like to hold fast to an older way of living rooted in farming, while the world moves quickly into the modern era. How would you protect the life you’ve built? What would make you vote for your son, the banker Gideon Goodwin, who wants nothing to do with the family trade?

Character Type: Obsessive tinkerer with a poetic mind Energy: Curious, distracted, intense Perry Pike is the village clockmaker and an amateur inventor convinced that time is more flexible than people think. Perry oscillates between precision and wonder. He is deeply logical yet capable of spiraling into grand theories about time travellers, celestial interference, and coded messages hidden in plain sight. Performer Requirements: Strong intellectual presence with eccentric charm Comfort handling physical props and diagrams Ability to drive puzzle-based interactions Controlled manic energy without caricature Skill at building escalating theories with players Audition Video Subject: In-character, tell us what it’s like to run experiments of strange inventions in the village and how you feel about them impacting other villagers’ lives? What would lead you to reconciling with the historian, Hollis Hampton, who used to be your best friend?

Character Type: Controlled authority with private ambition Energy: Measured, persuasive, composed Gideon Goodwin is the village banker and a mayoral candidate who believes prosperity requires structure. Polished and pragmatic, he presents himself as the steady hand Black Creek needs as the railway approaches. He is strategic, always calculating outcomes, always weighing reputation against risk. Whether managing finances or shaping public opinion, Gideon understands that power often moves quietly. Performer Requirements: Equal amounts of gravitas and charm with vocal command Comfort leading structured interactions with guests Ability to debate persuasively without aggression Nuanced portrayal of ambition and insecurity Skilled at subtle manipulation within improv Audition Video Subject: In-character, tell us what it’s like to manage the finances of a village that’s fallen on hard times, and what you plan to do to convince everyone that prosperity requires your keen eye for business. How will you convince your stubborn farmer father, Eli Ellsworth, to believe in you?

Character Type: Thoughtful archivist with a hidden imagination Energy: Gentle, contemplative, quietly passionate Hollis Hampton is the village historian, devoted to preserving its past. Married to Lydia, he is respected for his scholarship and steady temperament. He is caught between reverence for history and curiosity about the future. Performer Requirements: Intellectual presence Ability to transition from reserved to unexpectedly inspired, and from righteous to apologetic Strong storytelling skills Comfort facilitating discovery through documents and hidden texts Emotional subtlety, especially in scenes involving Lydia Audition Video Subject: In-character, tell us what it’s like to preserve the village’s past and what you plan to do to protect its story from being rewritten. How would you feel if your wife, the school teacher Lydia Lancaster, won the mayoral election?

Character Type: Rule-bound protector with theatrical instincts Energy: Formal, vigilant, tightly wound Constable Alex Aldrich believes deeply in order. In a village facing rapid change, Alex sees rules as the only safeguard against chaos. Yet beneath the badge is someone who secretly longs for recognition, performance, and legacy. Their journey centers on transforming from rigid enforcer to thoughtful architect of the village’s future. Performer Requirements: Strong physical presence and posture Comfort holding authority in open environments Ability to conduct interrogations that feel immersive, not intimidating Capacity for gradual internal softening across performances Skilled balance between seriousness and restrained theatrical flair Audition Video Subject: In-character, tell us what it’s like to keep order in a town full of eccentric personalities and what you plan to do to ensure the law is taken seriously. How does this impact your personal longing to be a theatrical performer?

Female, early 30s,any ethnicity. A scientist in her 30s, Kat is brilliant, driven, and used to making impossible calls under pressure. In the face of death, Kat leaves her crew behind as an attempt eradicate this monster. Kat’s shock to find James is alive only briefly breaks her focus, and panic takes over when she realizes it’s too late.

Male, 30 - 40 yrs old, any ethnicity. An engineer in his 30s, James is steady, practical, and loyal to a fault. Bloodied and barely standing, he clings to duty to the mission. His survival wasn’t for himself but to get the engineer access card and give them one last chance. Despite his bitterness toward Kat his selflessness takes over ultimately leading him to a dark end.

Quietly competitive. Works a white-collar job and lives alone in a pristine condo. Socially agreeable on the surface, but internally insecure—especially about masculinity, status, and his hairline. Intelligent, self-conscious, and deeply susceptible to comparing himself to others. His arc moves from anxiety and ego-fracture toward acceptance and vulnerability.

Tall, muscular, bald, bearded. Projects confidence and authority. Loves the gym and podcast. Comes off as self-assured and slightly arrogant, but beneath that exterior is surprising emotional depth. Competitive but not cruel; genuinely cares about those around him.

Slouched posture, wiry, lives online. Sarcastic, irreverent, and gamer-brained. Uses humor and profanity as social currency. Observant and socially aware, but avoidant and somewhat withdrawn. Less invested in real-world status, more comfortable in digital spaces.

A gentle, older woman who is very ill/ near the end of her life. This role will involve being part of a Polycep (aka being in a suit with the role that plays her husband - Olin). This role will be seen and perform in the Garden of Earthly delights shoot (see script attached) where she's alive and then have a head cast done for the grocery store sequence where the character is deceased.

A person who smokes a cigarette recently dropped on the ground.

A person who drops a cigarette onto the ground as they walk.

Devin is creative, neat, distrustful, and jaded. He believes he is the smartest in the room, but maybe he doesn't know as much about himself as he thinks.