AUDITIONS Sept. 21 & 22

Paige Caldwell, female. A professional pollster. A smart, confident woman with a professional's view of politics: She sees it as a series of contests to be won.

Dave Riley, male. The Chief of Staff to the new Governor. Very smart, but - despite years of experience in government - endearingly earnest and naive on the subject of politics.

Louise Peakes, female. A temporary employee hired as the Governor's executive assistant. Personable, likable, impressively confident, and entirely inept. Without knowing it, she has the air of a politician about her. The friendliness of her smile, and the confident way she looks you in the eye, would make you think, "I'd vote for her."

Ned Newley, male. The new Governor. A person of impressive ability, but a complete lack of confidence. A man awaiting permission to enter a room in which he's already standing.

Arthur Vance, male. One of the most experienced and successful political consultants in the country.  His overbearing personality and confidence in his own opinions over the opinions of others should make him dislikable, but his ego is more than tempered by the joy - even glee - he brings into the room.  He's a showman, but his excitement is 100% genuine and it's contagious.

Rachel Parsons, female. A TV reporter. She has the looks to be an on-air correspondent - though if television had never been invented, she still would have been a journalist. Straight-forward and honest and inquisitive by nature, she's seen enough of life- and politics - to be cynical, but she's more apt to make a wry joke.

A.C. Petersen, male. A TV camera man. A working man and, for most people, the guy you didn't notice was there - which is fine with A.C. He has a low tolerance for idiocy and would rather not interact with anyone. His near-silence doesn't make him seem unfriendly, just a bit of a mystery.