The Rhode Island Performance Exchange (RIPE) announced their first general auditions for the Rhode Island performance community. The auditions will be held at 95 Empire in Providence Saturday, June 1 from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. and are open to performers of all kinds who are interested in being seen by many of Rhode Island’s thriving theater companies.

“It all started at a monthly RIPE meeting,” said Epic Theatre’s Kevin Broccoli. “We were talking about how hard it is to find new actors and for actors to learn about auditions. We thought about organizations like StageSource in Boston and their generals and wondered, hey, couldn’t we do that? After that, the ball just started rolling.”

Intended to bridge the gap between companies and performers in Rhode Island, the general audition will be a one-day event where any actor who wishes can sign up for a slot by emailing or calling RIPE. RIPE gives the performer five minutes to do anything to showcase his or her talents.

“We want to give performers the opportunity to highlight themselves as they see fit,” said Elemental Theatre Collective’s D’Arcy Dersham. “We are all different companies, and we’re all looking for different skills. Why not make a space for performers to show us their best work: play the guitar or do stand-up or share two monologues or a movement piece? We are looking forward to meeting the wide breadth of talent in Rhode Island.”

Companies who have signed up to watch the auditions so far will be representatives of 2nd Story Theatre, Academy Players, AntiGravity Theatre Project, Contemporary Theater Company, Elemental Theatre Collective, playwright David Eliet, Epic Theatre Company, Footlights Rep, Four Frogs Productions, Mixed Magic Theatre, Ocean State Theatre Company, the Sandra Feinstein Gamm Theatre, Strange Attractor Theatre, Trinity Repertory Company, The Rhode Island Shakespeare Theatre, and the Wilbury Group. Each company will have the opportunity to collect the headshot and resume of every person who auditions, and will use that information to cast throughout the rest of their season.

Movers, dancers, singers, musicians, comedians, actors, professionals, amateurs of any age or type are encouraged to audition. To sign up or to learn more, email Leann at audition@riperformance.org or call 680-0683. If you would like to watch the auditions in order to hire Rhode Island actors in the future, email Rebecca at info@riperformance.org for more information.

Founded in 2012 by Rhode Island’s performance community, The Rhode Island Performance Exchange (RIPE) is a non-rivalrous forum for resource and knowledge sharing for everyone who makes performance in Rhode Island; a network to collaborate on new ways of promoting and creating theatre in/for/with/by Rhode Island while strengthening existing models and methods; a community dedicated to staying generous and opening the gates of opportunity for each other, because a rising tide lifts all boats; a place for needs to meet ideas in order to build better performance through a stronger community, and a stronger community through better performance. Everyone who makes performance in Rhode Island is automatically a member, even if they don’t know that RIPE exists. Committed to furthering community, in its first year of creation RIPE members have developed a podcast (RIPE Reviews: http://riperformance.org/ripe-podcast/), a work-in-progress night (Glimpse), a general audition (http://riperformance.org/gigs) and a community resource website (www.riperformance.org).