Secret City Casting Call - “Lost & Found - An Open World Puzzle Adventure”
Mar 10, 2026
Casting for 10 roles (character list provided below)
Employment: Part Time Contract
Compensation: $25/hour
Location: Village at Black Creek - 1000 Murray Ross Pkwy, Toronto, ON M3J 2P3
Start Date: April 2026
End Date: November 2026
Union Status: Non-Union
Overview
Secret City is casting dynamic, improvisation-strong performers for a live, five-hour immersive game set in an 1860s heritage museum village. This is a character-driven, puzzle-focused, theatrical game where players move freely through the village, interact one-on-one with characters, and complete puzzling tasks to progress through the story.
Actors must be comfortable with working outdoors in all weather, extended improv, subtle audience guidance, layered emotional arcs, and maintaining character in an open environment.
Performer Expectations
Sustain character for extended durations in an open, non-traditional theatre setting for up to 200+ guests
Memorize scripted scenes and perform off book
Integrate puzzle mechanics naturally into performance
Respond dynamically to player behaviour
Instigate moments of active player participation
Maintain narrative continuity across multiple interactions
Collaborate closely with other cast members, directors, puzzle designers, stage management, and venue partners
Assist with elements of event operations and logistics, including set up, resets, and closing
Enforce general rules and regulations as required
Training & Rehearsal Period (Dates subject to change):
Test: April 11, 10am-5pm
Test: April 25, 10am-5pm
Costume fitting: 3 hours, week of May 4-8
Ops & Game Training: May 27, 9-5pm
Rehearsal 1: May 28, 9-5pm
Rehearsal 2: May 29, 9-5pm
Preview: May 30, 9am-5pm
Rehearsal 3: May 31, 9am-5pm
Show Dates
Public Launch: June 6
Public shows at 11am-4pm most Saturday & Sundays, June-November (Approximate shift time: 10am - 5pm)
Performance Structure
Shift: Seven-hour shift with 30 min paid break (10am-5pm)
Performance: Five-hour immersive experience (11am-4pm)
Audience moves freely between locations
Ensemble of 10 live performers
2+ operation managers/coordinators
Up to 200+ players per session
Performer Requirements
2-3 years performance experience (e.g. theatre, film/TV)
Improv experience and/or immersive event experience
Customer service experience
Available weekends
Must be eligible to work in Canada
This position requires working weekends. If you are a creative, charismatic, personable, collaborative performer who thrives in a dynamic environment, we would love to hear from you.
Submission Requirements
Please submit:
Headshot
Resume
Brief statement about your experience with immersive, interactive, or improvised performance
Short audition video:
60 - 90 seconds in length
Film yourself speaking directly to camera in the persona of the character you would like to audition for, talk in-character on the subject listed in the character roles outlined below
Make sure there is sufficient light and sound quality so we can see and hear you properly
Share the video as an unlisted YouTube link
This production values nuance, emotional depth, and generosity with audiences. We are not seeking caricature. We are seeking performers who can hold a world. If you thrive in living, breathing story environments where the audience is your scene partner, we want to meet you.
Email all above items to: joinus@secretcity.studio
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: Sunday, March 22nd 2026
Secret City is a place-based experience design studio with a mission to build human connection through shared stories, immersive places, and a sense of play. Secret City blends theatre, gaming, technology and UX design to activate historical sites, museums and dormant venues for fans that keep coming back. Established in 2015, Secret City has designed, produced and operated over 25 live immersive games, large scale events and digital products.
————————
CHARACTER LIST
LYDIA LANCASTER – The Idealist Schoolteacher & Mayoral Candidate
Sex/Gender: Female
Character Type: Warm visionary with quiet strength
Playing Age: 25 to 35
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?
——
BEATRICE BOONE – The Razor-Sharp Journalist
Character Type: Intelligent provocateur
Sex/Gender: Female
Playing Age: 25 to 45
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?
——
DANIEL DOYLE – The Perpetual Apprentice
Character Type: Overlooked dreamer
Sex/Gender: Male
Playing Age: 18 to 28
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?
———
WILHELMINA WILDE – The Village Mystic
Character Type: Symbolic oracle
Sex/Gender: Female
Playing Age: 30 to 60
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.
——
DOROTHY DUNN – The Resilient Innkeeper
Character Type: Pragmatic host with guarded heart
Sex/Gender: Female
Playing Age: 20 to 30
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?
——
ELI ELLSWORTH – The Farmer on the Edge
Character Type: Weathered idealist
Sex/Gender: Male
Playing Age: 40 to 65
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?
——
PERRY PIKE – The Clockmaker & Hobby Inventor
Character Type: Obsessive tinkerer with a poetic mind
Sex/Gender: Male or female
Playing Age: 30 to 55
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?
——
GIDEON GOODWIN – The Banker & Political Strategist
Character Type: Controlled authority with private ambition
Sex/Gender: Male
Playing Age: 20-30
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?
——
HOLLIS HAMPTON – The Historian & Reluctant Visionary
Character Type: Thoughtful archivist with a hidden imagination
Sex/Gender: Male
Playing Age: 30 to 45
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?
——
Alex Aldrich – The Constable
Character Type: Rule-bound protector with theatrical instincts
Sex/Gender: Male or female
Playing Age: 30 to 45
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?