Open Forum

I work at a small town high school.  When I started at the high school, there was barely a drama club.  For the past few years (and even when I went to that high school), teachers were forced to teach drama no one cared for it.  A couple of years before I was hired, the choir teacher took over the club and began developing decent plays.  I was hired as an English teacher.  I majored in theatre, but I minored in English because I knew getting a theatre job in my area would prove difficult at times.  I've slowly taken over the drama club and have built it up.  We have a brand new theater (waited 10 years for it), this is our 3rd year of being a Thespian troupe, and we are growing.  We are still relatively small (60 out of 1,200) students and everything has been going great until.....

We decided to begin doing musicals every two years.  The choir teacher who did run the club and I collaborate on the musical.  We had a hard time choosing a musical as we do not have a single strong male singer.  We chose to do The Marvelous Wonderettes.  It has only 4 roles, but we decided to add an ensemble to bring in more students and add some fun to some of the songs.  19 total students auditioned.  We cast the 4 main roles along with 10 ensemble members.  Our trouble came when we decided to cast a student who has never been involved in drama.  She is a senior and has never auditioned before.  She was a wonderful singer and had a great audition.  When I cast her over our vice president (who has been in nearly every production when she wasn't involved with the dance team), everything fell to pieces.  We placed her in the ensemble and presented her with the opportunity to choreograph the show (she is wanting to open up her own dance student - I thought it was right up her ally).  We broke her heart, but it was a decision we felt was best for the show.  The other 3 students cast were all officers...she was the only officer not cast, and she feels slighted.  

I know I'm not in the wrong, but I care too dearly for my students.  She is upset with us, her family is upset with us, and even some drama members are upset with us over the fact we cast a new student versus one who has been heavily involved with our troupe.  How should I move forward with this?

I work at a small town high school.  When I started at the high school, there was barely a drama club.  For the past few years (and even when I went to that high school), teachers were forced to teach drama no one cared for it.  A couple of years before I was hired, the choir teacher took over the club and began developing decent plays.  I was hired as an English teacher.  I majored in theatre, but I minored in English because I knew getting a theatre job in my area would prove difficult at times.  I've slowly taken over the drama club and have built it up.  We have a brand new theater (waited 10 years for it), this is our 3rd year of being a Thespian troupe, and we are growing.  We are still relatively small (60 out of 1,200) students and everything has been going great until.....

We decided to begin doing musicals every two years.  The choir teacher who did run the club and I collaborate on the musical.  We had a hard time choosing a musical as we do not have a single strong male singer.  We chose to do The Marvelous Wonderettes.  It has only 4 roles, but we decided to add an ensemble to bring in more students and add some fun to some of the songs.  19 total students auditioned.  We cast the 4 main roles along with 10 ensemble members.  Our trouble came when we decided to cast a student who has never been involved in drama.  She is a senior and has never auditioned before.  She was a wonderful singer and had a great audition.  When I cast her over our vice president (who has been in nearly every production when she wasn't involved with the dance team), everything fell to pieces.  We placed her in the ensemble and presented her with the opportunity to choreograph the show (she is wanting to open up her own dance student - I thought it was right up her ally).  We broke her heart, but it was a decision we felt was best for the show.  The other 3 students cast were all officers...she was the only officer not cast, and she feels slighted.  

I know I'm not in the wrong, but I care too dearly for my students.  She is upset with us, her family is upset with us, and even some drama members are upset with us over the fact we cast a new student versus one who has been heavily involved with our troupe.  How should I move forward with this?

Trevor,

You are in good company! All of us have run into a similar situation (repeatedly). By casting the best student for the role, you have established an important president, one that will actually make your life easier in the future, as student will know that you do not cast your "favorites" and everyone who auditions, even the officers, have to nail the audition to get the role. Student will have work hard and prepare for the auditions to get the parts - that's not a bad lesson to learn. This can be a teachable moment. A few lessons to consider: 

Theatre programs encourage students to learn to prepare for auditions and part of that is to learn how to accepted disappointment and rejection with grace and humility. Real world application - college acceptance/job interviews/competition losses/job promotions. There will always be moments in life where there will be a winner and a loser, learning how to deal with that loses and pick yourself up and move in a positive forward direction is invaluable. AND while the focus is mostly on the emotions of the student who didn't get the role, the possibility is high that they are not being very sensitive to the emotions for the student who did get the part.

Theatre programs provide opportunities to understand the quality of art - art is not valued because we think the person who created it is nice, but because the product is well constructed, aesthetically pleasing, appeals to the senses, represents the ideas in a way that can be accepted and understood.

Theatre programs offer students the opportunities to view projects from the big picture as opposed to from the individual perspective. "No small parts, only small actors" lesson. Working together collaboratively and cooperatively helps students to set goals that focuses on the whole v. the single. That is perhaps one of the hardest things to teach a teenager, however it is one of the most valued attributes colleges/employers/communities seek. 

There are dozens of ways you can use this as a teachable moment. My one warning is do not wait until the situation divides the kids. They will talk about this, they will pick sides, they will focus on the most negative and dramatic aspects. It is easier to focus on the negative than on the positive. Address the concerns in an upfront and honest way. Don't let the kids have all the control of the conversation around the issues. Help them to process the situation, and use this opportunity to set the future tone of your program. What are the best lessons students can learn from this and how can you spin it to help build a quality theatre program?

I work at a small town high school.  When I started at the high school, there was barely a drama club.  For the past few years (and even when I went to that high school), teachers were forced to teach drama no one cared for it.  A couple of years before I was hired, the choir teacher took over the club and began developing decent plays.  I was hired as an English teacher.  I majored in theatre, but I minored in English because I knew getting a theatre job in my area would prove difficult at times.  I've slowly taken over the drama club and have built it up.  We have a brand new theater (waited 10 years for it), this is our 3rd year of being a Thespian troupe, and we are growing.  We are still relatively small (60 out of 1,200) students and everything has been going great until.....

We decided to begin doing musicals every two years.  The choir teacher who did run the club and I collaborate on the musical.  We had a hard time choosing a musical as we do not have a single strong male singer.  We chose to do The Marvelous Wonderettes.  It has only 4 roles, but we decided to add an ensemble to bring in more students and add some fun to some of the songs.  19 total students auditioned.  We cast the 4 main roles along with 10 ensemble members.  Our trouble came when we decided to cast a student who has never been involved in drama.  She is a senior and has never auditioned before.  She was a wonderful singer and had a great audition.  When I cast her over our vice president (who has been in nearly every production when she wasn't involved with the dance team), everything fell to pieces.  We placed her in the ensemble and presented her with the opportunity to choreograph the show (she is wanting to open up her own dance student - I thought it was right up her ally).  We broke her heart, but it was a decision we felt was best for the show.  The other 3 students cast were all officers...she was the only officer not cast, and she feels slighted.  

I know I'm not in the wrong, but I care too dearly for my students.  She is upset with us, her family is upset with us, and even some drama members are upset with us over the fact we cast a new student versus one who has been heavily involved with our troupe.  How should I move forward with this?

Two good responses so far! Now, for a slightly different take on the subject...

What you're describing is typical in all walks of life, not just in high school theatre. However, in my own experience, a lot of (if not all) the bad feelings can be tracked back to people making assumptions: "I'm this, therefore I should get that," or "this is the way it's always been, so that's how it goes." The only way I've found to minimize this ('cuz it'll never go away) is to be up front about the rules and make sure everyone hears them the same way.

Casting in the real world is not about who's "in." It's about who will be the best for the show, and, in many professional cases, who will bring in the most money. A director has to cast not only the person he or she thinks will work better in the role, but also who will be the best fit in the story; i.e., if Maria and the Captain don't have any chemistry, the show doesn't work. 

These considerations, and many more, are very important in casting a show, BUT they are not always understood by the students or their parents, mostly because they may have never heard of them before.

I totally agree that this could be a great learning experience for all of you, and my suggestion would be to develop some "rules" or "guidelines" for future auditions and to publish them so everyone can see them the same way. Maybe it's an introduction booklet to the drama program, or maybe it's in the audition packet, or maybe you sneak it into the forms that parents have to sign (if any), or something similar. Just make sure everyone is on the same page up front. Or you can sugarcoat the pill and make it a very upbeat "welcome packet" to the drama program.

It's just a matter of putting the rules on the table before the game starts, and not after it's already started.

I work at a small town high school.  When I started at the high school, there was barely a drama club.  For the past few years (and even when I went to that high school), teachers were forced to teach drama no one cared for it.  A couple of years before I was hired, the choir teacher took over the club and began developing decent plays.  I was hired as an English teacher.  I majored in theatre, but I minored in English because I knew getting a theatre job in my area would prove difficult at times.  I've slowly taken over the drama club and have built it up.  We have a brand new theater (waited 10 years for it), this is our 3rd year of being a Thespian troupe, and we are growing.  We are still relatively small (60 out of 1,200) students and everything has been going great until.....

We decided to begin doing musicals every two years.  The choir teacher who did run the club and I collaborate on the musical.  We had a hard time choosing a musical as we do not have a single strong male singer.  We chose to do The Marvelous Wonderettes.  It has only 4 roles, but we decided to add an ensemble to bring in more students and add some fun to some of the songs.  19 total students auditioned.  We cast the 4 main roles along with 10 ensemble members.  Our trouble came when we decided to cast a student who has never been involved in drama.  She is a senior and has never auditioned before.  She was a wonderful singer and had a great audition.  When I cast her over our vice president (who has been in nearly every production when she wasn't involved with the dance team), everything fell to pieces.  We placed her in the ensemble and presented her with the opportunity to choreograph the show (she is wanting to open up her own dance student - I thought it was right up her ally).  We broke her heart, but it was a decision we felt was best for the show.  The other 3 students cast were all officers...she was the only officer not cast, and she feels slighted.  

I know I'm not in the wrong, but I care too dearly for my students.  She is upset with us, her family is upset with us, and even some drama members are upset with us over the fact we cast a new student versus one who has been heavily involved with our troupe.  How should I move forward with this?

you got some great advice from some folks already:  Here's some of my favs:

its about your expectations... not their suppositions!  

Don't let them "own" the conversation abt casting

I would add a few things...

#1 I never allow them to thank me for roles, I make a point of correcting them(sometimes in front of others...) , "You earned it - I don't hand these out!" (no favorites)

#2  Remind her, and all the kids, that you care for them as good people and appreciate all their hared work!

#3 Keep building your program, Sounds like things have come a long ways!  Congrats!!!

I work at a small town high school.  When I started at the high school, there was barely a drama club.  For the past few years (and even when I went to that high school), teachers were forced to teach drama no one cared for it.  A couple of years before I was hired, the choir teacher took over the club and began developing decent plays.  I was hired as an English teacher.  I majored in theatre, but I minored in English because I knew getting a theatre job in my area would prove difficult at times.  I've slowly taken over the drama club and have built it up.  We have a brand new theater (waited 10 years for it), this is our 3rd year of being a Thespian troupe, and we are growing.  We are still relatively small (60 out of 1,200) students and everything has been going great until.....

We decided to begin doing musicals every two years.  The choir teacher who did run the club and I collaborate on the musical.  We had a hard time choosing a musical as we do not have a single strong male singer.  We chose to do The Marvelous Wonderettes.  It has only 4 roles, but we decided to add an ensemble to bring in more students and add some fun to some of the songs.  19 total students auditioned.  We cast the 4 main roles along with 10 ensemble members.  Our trouble came when we decided to cast a student who has never been involved in drama.  She is a senior and has never auditioned before.  She was a wonderful singer and had a great audition.  When I cast her over our vice president (who has been in nearly every production when she wasn't involved with the dance team), everything fell to pieces.  We placed her in the ensemble and presented her with the opportunity to choreograph the show (she is wanting to open up her own dance student - I thought it was right up her ally).  We broke her heart, but it was a decision we felt was best for the show.  The other 3 students cast were all officers...she was the only officer not cast, and she feels slighted.  

I know I'm not in the wrong, but I care too dearly for my students.  She is upset with us, her family is upset with us, and even some drama members are upset with us over the fact we cast a new student versus one who has been heavily involved with our troupe.  How should I move forward with this?