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  • 1.  Anguish of cutting students

    Posted 03-23-2019 02:01
    I'm comfortable helping students and parents deal with rejection. There have been lots of posts about these situations. I've been doing this for 20 years. I'm use to it.

    However, I don't think we often discuss how it makes us feel. I'm just curious how you cope with being the person that causes this pain for kids. It never feels good to me.




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    David Tate Hastings
    Olathe South High School
    Thespian Troupe #5006
    Kansas Thespians
    Treasurer & Membership Chair
    913-481-1868
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  • 2.  RE: Anguish of cutting students

    Posted 03-26-2019 10:52
    If it helps, I can share that when I was a high school Thespian, I never once felt any kind of anger or resentment towards my drama teachers for not casting me in a show. I was more disappointed in myself because I knew I could have worked harder and I feared that I had let them down. Especially now, looking back on those experiences, I'm equally grateful for the times they cast me and the times they did not. Any sadness was fleeting, and it certainly didn't stop me from being involved with the production backstage. I learned valuable lessons from each.

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    Ginny Butsch
    Community Manager
    Educational Theatre Association
    Alexandria KY
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    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: Anguish of cutting students

    Posted 03-26-2019 15:21
    I always work very hard at preparing students for any outcome. The music director and I explain how difficult our job is and that we do the absolute best to include as many people while creating the best show possible. I am at a pretty small school, so we don't usually have to cut many people. If we do have cuts we try and speak to the students afterwards and encourage them to keep auditioning and possibly accept a technical roll so that they can still work on the production. I really also stress the importance of participation in all aspects of theater and being involved can help create more confidence for the next audition. 

    It will always be difficult, but hopefully most kids can take it as a learning experience and know that it isn't personal.

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    Elizabeth Nelson
    Bishop Miege High School
    Theatre/Video Production Teacher
    Shawnee Mission, KS
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    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: Anguish of cutting students

    Posted 03-27-2019 10:31
    In response to the aftermath of casting our shows and some particularly kid "chatter" surrounding our production of Into the Woods in 2015, I developed a workshop that I've since done at various festivals and ITF (and will do again this year). Auditions & Rejection: Preparing for Both is a workshop that seems to help students/parents/teachers frame the process in a way that empowers and prepares them. Before our large musical (where we average 110 students auditioning), I teach the workshop in all of our Drama classes. Because I focus on what we can and can't control in the audition process and highlight how students are actually the ones doing the "pre-casting" with each other (and I teach them how to NOT do that), students tend to walk out feeling a little more savvy about how to approach both the audition and the results. I offer this information because it has been helpful in dealing with the casting process for us as the ones who have to "cut" kids and for the students as well. (At least, that's the feedback we've gotten.) I've learned to trust the process and, despite the fact that it's painful at times, it almost always ends up working out for all involved in the long run.

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    Suzanne Maguire
    Associate Director,
    LCHS Tiger Drama
    Lewis & Clark High School
    Spokane, WA
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    Original Message


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