cHARACTERS
Overview
The key characters include a talk show host and ten panelists. The panelists represent, in rough proportion, the US electorate across the following demographics: gender, race, sexual orientation, religion, and education level.
On the set, they are seated in chairs designated #1 to #10 from left to right. The seating arrangement represents the cultural political spectrum. Seat #1 is the extreme left (EL), and seat #10 is the extreme right (ER). Between the extremes are, in ascending order, far left (FL), left(L), center left (CL), center right (CR), right (R), and far right (FR). The first letters of each character’s name match the abbreviation of his / her cultural-political orientation.
But the chairs are scaffolding. The characters in them are people first — each with a personal life, a private aspiration, a relationship that matters, and at least one defining song. Tribes USA is, finally, an ensemble piece in which the politics are the pretext and the people are the show.
The Panelists
1
Elaine
2
Florence
3
Lamar
4
Clara
5
Clayton
6
Cristy
7
Craig
8
Rachel
9
Frank
10
Eric
EXTREME LEFT
FAR LEFT
LEFT
CENTER LEFT
CENTER RIGHT
RIGHT
FAR RIGHT
EXTREME RIGHT
Jason
Host
Leading Role
(Male, 25 – 40) Tenor Caucasian. A charismatic, snarky live television host with enough alcohol-fueled charm to power a small office building. He is engaged to Clara, his associate producer, and his contract is on the line tonight. He is a youthful blend of one part Jon Stewart, one part Jim Carey, and two shots from the flask of Jameson he keeps in the podium. Beneath the snark are ambition, real love for Clara, and the desperate need to deliver two million viewers by the end of the broadcast. By the end of the night, his showmanship has cost him everything that mattered. Jason is the show’s emcee, its instigator, and ultimately its tragedy.
A rare opportunity: a stand-up-comic emcee role that lands as a tragic leading man.
BLUE TRIBE
Elaine
Panelist #1 (Extreme Left)
Leading role
(Female, 20 – 30) Mezzo. Bi-racial (Black + other) A recent college grad with a fierce protective streak, a memorial bracelet from a high school best friend killed in a school shooting, and zero patience for performative civility. Sharp-tongued and fast on her feet, Elaine is the show’s most volatile presence — but her volatility is grief that hasn’t found a place to land. Her mirrored duet with Eric, “No Apologies,” reveals that the show’s two extremes are reflections, not opposites. Bisexual, biracial, and unwilling to be anyone’s symbol.
A demanding rap-and-belt role for a young performer with comic timing, dramatic depth, and the chops for high-stakes confrontation.
Florence
Panelist #2 (Far Left)
Leading role
(Female, 35 – 55) Soprano Caucasian. A confident, articulate Women’s Studies professor deeply rooted in far-left ideology. Fluent in academic rhetoric and unafraid to challenge conservatives aggressively. Maternal toward Elaine, disdainful toward Frank, and proud of her intellectual grounding. Sharp, assertive, morally convinced, and capable of escalating debate with cutting humor and righteous conviction. Nonetheless, in the show’s final scene, agrees to do her ideological opposite’s podcast. The show’s most surprising arc on the left.
A role for an actor who can land both rhetorical fire and quiet, hard-won grace.
Lamar
Panelist #3 (Left)
Supporting role
(Male, 30 – 40). Baritone / Bass Black. A grounded, thoughtful civil servant with center-left values. Calm and measured until pushed too far, he strives for justice and fairness but retains patience and empathy. His rapport with Rachel reveals nuance beyond tribal lines. Represents reasonableness on the left, though capable of passionate critique when provoked.
A grounded, generous role for an actor who can hold the room with patience and crack it open with passion.
PURPLE TRIBE
Clara
Panelist #4 (Center Left)
Leading role
(Female, 25 – 35) Alto Latina.
The show’s associate producer and Jason’s fiancée — and tonight, against every plan she’d made, also Panelist #4. Practical, sharp, and emotionally tuned, Clara has wanted to be on camera since she was eight and has been letting Jason talk her out of it for years. Her first-act solo, “Falling Into Place,” is the show’s emotional turn. Her second-act duet with Jason, “At What Cost?”, is its moral center. Clara is the evening’s conscience — and, in the climax, its cost. The show, finally, is hers.
A contemporary leading-lady role with a ballad, a wrenching duet, and a death scene — a development-favorite for an emerging Latina actor in musical theatre.
Clayton
Panelist #5 (Center Left)
Supporting Role
(Male, early 25 – 40) Tenor Caucasian. A cheerful, slightly geeky engineer and a quintessential political centrist. He has a sweet, slow-burning crush on Cristy. Earnest, analytical, and conflict-averse, he prefers logic over heat. He believes in compromise, civic duty, and pragmatic solutions. Represents the weariness of the middle, stepping in only to restore balance or highlight common sense. Good-natured and level-headed, he repeatedly steps in to talk the room back down from its worst impulses.
A rom-com-adjacent role with real dramatic responsibility.
Cristy
Panelist #6 (Center Right)
Supporting role
(Female, 25 – 35) Soprano Asian. A warm, intelligent resident physician with a scientific mindset and balanced temperament. Culturally centrist but deeply compassionate. She brings nuance and evidence-based reasoning to emotional topics. Hopeful about progress, skilled at de-escalation, and capable of surprising moral clarity. She sees issues through data, empathy, and lived possibility. Falls slowly for Clayton across the broadcast.
A featured role with a strong songbook, real stakes, and a key actor opportunity for an Asian-American performer.
Craig
Panelist #7 (Center Right)
Supporting role
(Male, 30 – 40) Baritone Caucasian. A stoic, professional police officer with center-right values. Calm under pressure and rooted in law-and-order thinking. His moral compass is steady, though occasionally rigid. Offers perspective from within law enforcement while striving to advocate safety, realism, and balanced reform.
Carries the lead in “Just Comply” — and, in the climax, draws and shoots Eric to protect the room.
A role for an actor with grounded authority and the technical demands of a climactic firearm sequence.
RED TRIBE
Rachel
Panelist #8 (Right)
Supporting role
(Female, 55 – 70) Alto Caucasian. This retired school bus driver is a conservative Christian grandmother with a warm heart and traditional values. Despite strong views, she often seeks empathy and understanding. Proud, sentimental, and occasionally tone-deaf, she nonetheless tries to bridge divides. Grounded in faith and family, capable of gentle authority and emotional vulnerability. More complex than her tribe.
A character role with real heart — a chance for a veteran actor to anchor the show’s emotional middle.
Frank
Panelist #9 (Far Right)
Leading role
(Male, 35 – 60) Bass. The host of a conservative podcast and, the father of a daughter who has come out to him as his son. Frank starts off as sarcastic, combative, and unwavering in ideology. By the show’s quiet aftermath, he is the conservative voice who earnestly asks the Women’s Studies professor to come on his podcast because she disagrees with him.
A leading conservative role for an actor who can be combative, comic, and unmistakably human — the role this show needs to land in front of politically mixed audiences.
Eric
Panelist #10 (Extreme Right)
Leading role
(Male, 20 – 30) Tenor Caucasian.
A young mechanic with a chip on his shoulder, a Glock concealed under his shirt, and a recent rejection from the police academy psych evaluation for what they called “an authoritarian personality profile.” Eric’s swaggering bravado masks a real, unprocessed sense of having been left behind — and his attempts to apologize to Elaine and to ask Craig for a recommendation letter both go badly. His mirrored duet with Elaine, “No Apologies,” is the show’s structural pivot. The climax is his. He is, simultaneously, the show’s most tragic and dangerous figure.
A genuinely difficult role — slight-statured, charismatic, threatening, and self-deluded — written with the dimension that comes from real attention rather than caricature.