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Casting

  • 1.  Casting

    Posted 12-12-2019 11:37
    Does anyone here use anyone outside of the school system to help cast your shows? For my musicals, I always have our choreographer, vocal director and me, but for plays it tends to be just me. I would like to have people outside of the school who don't know my students to cast my next show. I would be there to weigh in, but I think it would help with any "drama" that kids tend to think about when casting a show. I'm very fair in casting, have a rubric, and tell the kids upfront what I am looking for, but we all know that kids say stuff. I just want the kids to have different experiences as well with different directors.

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    Karen Wiebe
    Drama Director
    Burlington KY
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  • 2.  RE: Casting

    Posted 12-13-2019 08:59
    I bring in people from the theatre community, most of the time. It helps to be able to show that a completely neutral, third party judged the auditions.

    Sent from my iPad


    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Casting

    Posted 12-13-2019 09:53
    I have people from our theater community come help.  If their expertise is in acting, they sit in on monologues and readings.  If it's dance, they watch the dance portion and help out my choreographer who is often too busy teaching to really observe behaviors and potential during a brief session.  Finally, a music teacher or someone well trained in that area helps if we have a singing component to auditions.  At the middle school level I have also had former students who have since graduated from high school be an extra set of hands.  I have even asked parents of former students who have seen numerous performances through the years (many are former performers themselves).  Contacting a local high school troupe and asking their officers to come give advice is also an excellent resource.  They can earn points and usually love the opportunity to gain experience in the casting process.

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    Amy MacCord
    Musical Theatre Teacher
    Hawthorne FL
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Casting

    Posted 12-14-2019 12:18

    Hi. 

    I'm a casting director for a professional theatre, and I often help our local high schools cast. I enjoy helping, and it's a great way for me to get to know our local young performers and to recruit for our two year Acting Conservatory. 

    Hope this helps. 

    Erik



    ------------------------------
    Erik Stein
    Casting Director/Recruitment Coordinator
    PCPA Pacific Conservatory Theatre

    Author of No Caution! A step-by-step guide to preparing auditions for Universities, Colleges, Conservatories, and Beyond!

    Available on Amazon.com and other online booksellers
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: Casting

    Posted 12-16-2019 09:17
    Depends on the size of the show. We have a very tight knit theatrical community. We always welcome an external view.

    ------------------------------
    Crit Fisher
    Lighting/Sound Designer
    New Albany High School
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: Casting

    Posted 12-17-2019 11:50
    Hi Karen,

    I like the idea of an outsider helping to cast the show.  You can give the students the experience of a "real world" audition by having the students sign up and get a time. Then don't you be in the room during the audition. (of course as a teacher you need to be present, perhaps another teacher as one of the auditioners.)  Have the auditions video taped so that you can watch them later.  You can be a facilitator, but not being present could force the students to bring their game.  This should be fun and a taste of what to expect outside of school.  The final casting should be a collaboration between your entire production team and your outside auditioner.  

    Best of luck with the auditions and casting.

    Mack

    --
    Mack Dugger
    Teacher
    Department of Teaching and Learning
    Pacific Avenue Education Center
    440 W. Lomita Ave., Glendale, CA 91204
    "Totus Mundus agit historionem"
    Bravo award winning Teacher
    Kennedy Center Creative Ticket Award
    Laissez les bons temps rouler!



    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: Casting

    Posted 12-17-2019 07:27
    Do you ever have student assistant directors or tech leads?  My auditions always have me two student codirectors. Student Stage manager, assistant stage manager and sometimes student tech director. With so many voices in the room there are a lot of voices that can attest to the process really being about who was best for the parts.

    Also, I understand how a rubric may seem to create the appearance of fairness but knowing who is gonna be best to play Harold Hill in Music Man is so rarely rubricable. I feel like it would result in kids who arent right for parts getting cast cause they have figured out the rubric. We do different types of shows partially because different shows have different needs and different kids suit them.

    ------------------------------
    Joseph Gels
    Theatre Teacher
    Boston Latin School
    Boston MA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: Casting

    Posted 12-18-2019 08:52
    I rarely include a student in the casting process -- unless it is a student-directed piece. Many will disagree with me but I just do not think it is a good practice. 

    --
    Mark A. Zimmerman
    Theatre Director,

    Akron School for the Arts
    Firestone High School
    470 Castle Blvd
    Akron, Ohio 44313

    330-761-3275

    FirestoneTheatre.com




    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: Casting

    Posted 12-18-2019 09:56
    Mark Zimmerman: why? 
    My reasons are myriad:
    It demystifies the casting process by allowing students to see how it works. 
    It gives the students in the room experience doing casting (after all we are educating them in theater. they may be casting shows some day elsewhere)
    It helps eliminate perceptions that casting is based on being a favorite of the teacher.
    there are more but the last reason I will list right now is that it actually helps me do a better job with casting. My students who are in the other room have worked with me for years and ready to pipe up and say "well what about if so and so played this part?" when I hadn't thought about it yet and its a good idea.

    ------------------------------
    Joseph Gels
    Theatre Teacher
    Boston Latin School
    Boston MA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: Casting

    Posted 12-18-2019 10:19
    Do what you want. Here are my thoughts on your reasons.

    My reasons are myriad:
    It demystifies the casting process by allowing students to see how it works. 

    My students already know how it works. I can teach this without them being in the room when it happens. There is no mystery to it.

    It gives the students in the room experience doing casting (after all we are educating them in theater. they may be casting shows some day elsewhere)

    My students have other opportunities to practice casting in student directed work but not on plays under my (or other adults) direction. Is the only way to teach this to students is to have them in the room during casting?

    It helps eliminate perceptions that casting is based on being a favorite of the teacher.

    I don't seem to have this problem. We work hard to spread the roles around to a diverse group of students. 

    there are more but the last reason I will list right now is that it actually helps me do a better job with casting. My students who are in the other room have worked with me for years and ready to pipe up and say "well what about if so and so played this part?" when I hadn't thought about it yet and its a good idea.  

    I think of casting as one of my strengths as a director and others whose opinion I respect tell me it's true. I can make mistakes like anyone else but often these mistakes come from trusting the advice of others instead of trusting my gut and years of experience.  

    I am a strong believer that the director is the artistic leader of the production and while others have a voice in the collaborative process, it is in the end the role of the director to make (or at least approve) virtually every artistic decision including casting. 

    I further have come to the apparently controversial decision that there can only really be ONE director/artistic leader of a production. I take the responsibility of teaching this to my students very seriously. In virtually no other level of theatre would the stage manager, the assistant stage manager, and the technical director have a voice in casting. I don't use assistant directors because I think that almost every job assigned to them should actually be given to the stage manager; therefore, there are no student directors to provide a voice in casting. 

    My students can practice directing and casting in the 24-Hour Project and the student-directed one-act plays where they do it under my direct supervision.

    --
    Mark A. Zimmerman
    Theatre Director,

    Akron School for the Arts
    Firestone High School
    470 Castle Blvd
    Akron, Ohio 44313

    330-761-3275

    FirestoneTheatre.com




    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: Casting

    Posted 12-18-2019 11:31
    I agree with Mark.  If the student is the director, I move to an advisory capacity, but only then.  They tend to want to cast their friends, or not cast someone they don't like (for what ever reason). They tend to not look at the overall picture of the piece.  Not a good idea.

    Mack

    --
    Mack Dugger
    Teacher
    Department of Teaching and Learning
    Pacific Avenue Education Center
    440 W. Lomita Ave., Glendale, CA 91204
    "Totus Mundus agit historionem"
    Bravo award winning Teacher
    Kennedy Center Creative Ticket Award
    Laissez les bons temps rouler!



    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: Casting

    Posted 12-18-2019 13:14
    Wow.

    I mean I'll be honest that when everyone has talked about having someone else cast their shows I have been horrified at that idea.
    The idea of someone else casting a show that I am going to be directing is not something I would ever want.

    And to be clear: I have final say on all casting decisions and casting is definitely one of my strong suits as a director. 

    I don't have student assistant directors, I have co-directors who actually direct along with me. And frankly they care far too much about the show and having it be good to not cast the best person for every role regardless of their feelings on them.

    I run 5 shows a year and as a the only adult in the program I simply can't be at everything all the time so I need to have students who I trust artistically to run rehearsals and exert the artistic vision we have discussed and agreed upon. My job is not just to put on great shows but also develop artistic minds and leaders. 

    But also, we are doing high school theatre, why do we need to mimic the professional world where the stage manager would never have a word on casting. We are also casting 16 year olds to play 50 year olds which they wouldn't do in the professional world either. I opt for giving leadership opportunities over paralleling the "professional world" which is frankly, far more varied in best practices than any of our curriculums would ever lead students to believe.

    ------------------------------
    Joseph Gels
    Theatre Teacher
    Boston Latin School
    Boston MA
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 13.  RE: Casting

    Posted 12-17-2019 09:54
    We have for our last 2 shows. This most recent one, we had some members of the local theater community sit in for the first round of auditions and for callbacks we recorded everything and uploaded the videos to a OneDrive and I shared it with some directors I knew and they sent me a list of recommendations for the roles. It worked out tremendously well and the parents received it well. It freed myself, the choreographer and music director up to coach the kids and work with them without being accused of casting because of favoritism. All kids could come to the clinics we put on the week before auditions and it allowed me to teach the kids how to audition properly as well. We will be doing this for all our shows going forward.



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    Carmen Teague
    Jonesboro AR
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    Original Message


  • 14.  RE: Casting

    Posted 12-18-2019 11:53
    Thanks everyone! I will be working with someone from the community whom I know very well to give their opinion and insight into our last show of the season. I think it's good for kids to work with many people, and I value her opinion as one of my mentors.
    I too, am good at casting, but I am also of the mindset that unless they are student directors, they should not be privy to the casting process. 
    Great discussion! Happy Holidays!

    ------------------------------
    Karen Wiebe
    Drama Director
    Burlington KY
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 15.  RE: Casting

    Posted 12-23-2019 09:56
    Hi Karen,

    There seems to be a lot of controversy here, but I thought I would throw in my two cents.

    When I was directing in the high school, I had two main student leaders for each show, the Stage Manager and the Assistant to the Director. I gave both of these students input in the casting process, though all final decisions were mine. I considered it a part of their learning process. As I told them at the time, the students in those positions got access to the unfiltered part of my mind. They would hear my immediate thoughts before they were they were edited for mass consumption. That was also part of their learning. I valued their contributions to the process and they knew they weren't just window dressing so they took their responsibilities very seriously.

    I also ran my auditions on a formal, professional model so the students got to experience that process.

    Hope this helps. :-)


    ------------------------------
    Robert Smith
    VA Co-Chapter Director
    Retired
    Centreville VA
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    Original Message


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