All genders and ages are encouraged to audition for any part.
These characters are college-age - late teens to early 20s, and not old enough to know better.
Helena (female): young, nerdy, impulsive. Brilliantly smart, especially when she stops to think, but is far more likely to react and rush without much consideration of consequences. Daughter of a famous doctor, in love with Bertram.
Bertram: (male) young and spoiled. Used to being the golden boy: success comes easily to him, he has spent his life being loved and admired by all, and entirely unaccustomed to not having his way. In love with newfound freedom away from home and with any new pretty face that comes his way.
Parolles: (male) Bertram’s best friend. Not what you would call manly. Wears garish scarves. Knows well that the entertainment value of his outlandish stories is all that keeps him in with the cool kids.
Diana: (female) well aware of her good looks and tired of being valued exclusively for them. Every boy's dream, except for being utterly uninterested in their attention. She welcomes the opportunity to teach Bertram a lesson.
First Lord Dumain: (male) One of the young lords at French court. Escorts Helena back home, and proceeds to Florence, where he convinces Bertram to play a prank on Parolles.
Second Lord Dumain: (male) First lord’s brother. Travels with his brother; encourages and executes the prank on Parolles.
Soldier: (either) is involved in pranking Parolles as an interpreter from an outrageous invented language. Wants to fit in with the lords, but is as entertained by their embarrassment as by Parolles’.
These characters are a generation older.
King of France (female): a powerful woman with a lifetime of leading men and women to great success. Being betrayed by her own failing body is the ultimate loss of control, and is utterly intolerable.
Countess: (female) became a widow recently, but has been effectively the head of household for years while her husband has campaigned with King. Loves her adopted daughter as much as her own son - perhaps because of memories of her own youth.
Lafew (either): King's trusted right hand, who would go to any length to find a cure. Has a sharp tongue, and exercises it on social inferiors.
Lavatch: (male) the clown in the late Count’s service. Countess keeps him a part of her household in her husband’s memory (she says), but his outrageous banter may be her only relief from her many losses.
Widow: (female) worldly and shrewd. Provides lodging for passing pilgrims. Conspires with Helena to trick Bertram.
Steward: (either) Countess’s steward. Notices and reports Helena’s love for Bertram.
The Rude Mechanicals 
