CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS

 Characters The "Adults" (15 roles available)

• Dewey Finn: The protagonist, Dewey is a struggling rockstar who is kicked out of his band, No Vacancy, at the beginning of the show. In need of money, he impersonates Ned Schneebly and gets a substitute teacher job at the Horace Green School, where he founds the band School of Rock with the students, who are musical prodigies. Dewey is usually wild, desperate, naive, dull-witted, and somewhat more childish than his students.
• Rosalie Mullins: Rosalie is the principal of Horace Green, and is very uptight and traditional at school. However, she feels an intense amount of pressure from work, which is what causes her to be so high strung. She has a secret love of rock and roll music, and longs to be as carefree as she once was.
• Ned Schneebly: Dewey's longtime friend, former bandmate, and current roommate. Ned is very easily manipulated, and tends to let people walk all over him—especially his girlfriend, Patty. He still loves rock and roll music, but is held down by Patty. He is a substitute teacher and is impersonated by Dewey at Horace Green.
• Patty Di Marco: Ned's girlfriend. She is very demanding and domineering, and doesn't let Ned make any decisions for himself. She hates Dewey and wants him out of the apartment and out of her and Ned's lives.
• Teachers / Parents / Other Adults: Actors playing these roles need to be extra skilled because of the requirement to play more than one person believably, and to find ways to show the change in physicality, speaking, motivation, and objective. Actors must be able to switch back and forth between characters, and will have the unique opportunity to work with the Directing team to develop their own character personalities and quirks. Must be very capable and creative actors.

The Students (13 roles available)

• Summer (Manager): Summer is a high-achieving girl who hates nonsense. Initially, she absolutely despises Dewey, but comes to love the band—or, perhaps, the power that comes with it—and is willing to do anything to see it achieve. Summer is one of the brightest students at Horace Green, as shown by the fact that she has significantly more gold stars on the achievement board than any of her peers. Throughout the show, she is convinced that winning the "Battle of the Bands" will look good on her college application.
• Tomika (Vocals): Tomika transfers to Horace Green after being accepted off of the waiting list. She is shy and doesn't speak to anyone at school, and feels as though she's not as intelligent as the other students. However, it turns out that she is a highly gifted singer, and becomes the secondary singer in School of Rock, behind only Dewey. She is adopted by two men who are a couple, whereas in the movie she had her two biological parents.
• Zack (Guitarist): Zack is the son of an uptight businessman with no time for his children. Because of that, Zack keeps a lot bottled inside and has issues with being too stiff with his guitar playing at first. However, Dewey discovers that Zack is actually a musical prodigy, as shown when Zack writes the band's anthem, Teacher's Pet, after only a month or so of playing rock music.
• Lawrence (Keyboardist): Lawrence is an unconfident boy, and is also gluten intolerant. He initially believes that he isn't cool enough to be a part of the band, but Dewey is able to convince him that he's amazing. At the beginning of the show, Lawrence's only friend is Tomika, but he doesn't think she counts because she never talks. He's a very imaginative keyboard player, and talented at improvising.
• Freddie (Drummer): Freddie is a rambunctious boy, as shown when he repeatedly slams cymbals together disruptively during music class. He is constantly told he isn't intelligent—by both his own father and Summer—but Freddie and Dewey both think that he's intelligent in a different way, and that Freddie's father just doesn't see that.
• Katie (Bassist): Katie is a quiet, serious girl who keeps mostly to herself. She plays the cello at school, but is quick to pick up the bass at Dewey's encouragement. She is stone-faced when she plays, and takes her instrument and the band very seriously, although not as much as Summer takes managing.
• Shonelle and Marcy (Backup Vocals): Shonelle and Marcy are quieter girls who tend to blend into the background. They are School of Rock's backup singers, and also talented dancers. Dewey tells their parents that they have the voices of angels. Their film counterparts are Alicia and Marta.
• Billy (Stylist): Billy is a flamboyant boy with a love of style and fashion magazines. He is disgusted with Dewey's outfit choices, and how no one else in the band shares his artistic vision, but is confident in his styling choices regardless. Billy comes from a long line of football players, and his father wants him to be one as well, but Billy has absolutely no interest in doing so.
• Mason (Tech): Mason is a super-smart, nerdy, tech-savvy boy who designs all the lighting and special effects for the band,School of Rock using his laptop. He's also very forgiving, as he's the first to accept Rosalie when she decides to drop her high-strung act, hugging her and saying "You're the best, Ms. Mullins". In addition, he also appears to have experience with pyrotechnics. His film counterpart is Gordon.
• James (Security): James is a gruff and tough boy who becomes the band's security guard. During rehearsals, Dewey has him stand near the door, and if James sees anyone potentially who might blow School of Rock's cover—like Rosalie or one of the teachers—he has the job of alerting the rest of the band so they can hide the instruments. His film counterpart is Frankie.
• Sophie and Madison (Roadies): Sophie and Madison are School of Rock's roadies, but, since the band doesn't go on tour, they are essentially backup dancers. Each girl is a talented dancer and they could often be found together, much like Marcy and Shonelle. The roadies usually dance near Freddy and the drum set. Their film counterparts are Eleni and Michelle.
• We may choose to add 2-4 additional roles for dancers

CASTING REQUIREMENTS

The roles of Dewey, Zack, Freddie, Katie, and Lawrence play instruments
*To be considered for one of these 5 roles, your audition will include extra time to play the character's corresponding instrument. It is REQUIRED these characters play live, per the contract of the show. There is NOT an option to fake it. Contact us if you would like more information on the instrument parts. [email protected]
ROCKSTAR REQUIREMENTS:
Dewey- Electric and acoustic guitar
Zack- Electric guitar
Katie- Bass guitar
Lawrence- Keyboard
Freddie- Drums