Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
On behalf of expertvillage.com, my name is Stan and I'm here to tell you about community
theater and casting a production. First step in casting a show is putting out a casting
call; try to get people to come to the auditions. We do that in all sorts of ways. We get as
much as publicity as we can in a local press. That helps a lot. We also have a database
of volunteers, members, and people who've shown interest in the theater. We email to
all of them alerting them to the fact that we're going to be having auditions. We also
work through the local high schools and drama clubs. There's a film school over in the neighboring
town and we put the word out over there among all the film actors that we're looking for
stage actors. Film actors like to get stage experience. It's something very different
and it's something that really rounds out their resumes, so a lot of film actors will
respond to a casting call if you have any film operations anywhere near where you are.
A surprising large number of them now that filmmaking is becoming such a common thing.
Getting those people to come to the auditions is the first step. Some theaters like to pre-cast
their shows. They pick shows with certain people in mind and then put them in those
roles. Community theaters really should avoid that because if you have a reputation of the
show being pre-casted, then you have a hard time attracting people to come to the auditions.
They think it's a waste of time. They think no point in doing that; they've already cast
the roles anyway. You don't want to get that kind of a reputation. Sometimes it's necessary
to talk to people ahead of time to make sure they're going to come to the auditions and
encourage them to. You never want to make the final selections until after the auditions
have been held, because sometimes you get some surprises. Sometimes there's some remarkably
talented people that you never knew were out there that show up for the audition and you
think that's the one. I know a number of cases where I had been casting a play when I've
been directing. I was very disappointed when somebody couldn't do it or didn't come to
the audition, and then I found someone else at the auditions that in the long run I thought
probably did an even better job than the person I had my heart set on. So it's good to keep
an open mind, both for the director, for the theater, and for the actors, and that's the
way a community theater should be. It should be open to everyone. In casting, it's important
to try to give opportunities to new people who haven't acted before. Typically, you start
them out in a small roles, but that's one of the roles community theaters should play,
is giving the people the opportunity to participate in theater that otherwise wouldn't have the
chance to do that. They'll really surprise with how well they'll do.