Open Forum

I JUST finished casting Miracle Worker and dealt with a lot of the same things. First off, I did an exercise that I found on another post and really hit home. I had the kids get in groups of 3 or 4. They each had to think of 3 people whom they enjoyed watching as actors. They then took those 9-12 people and decided who was going to be in Goldilocks & the 3 Bears. Only one per part. 

I then help them realize that even if they didn't get a part or what they wanted, that they are still valued as a performer. 

I also left it up to them to ask for feedback. Out of the 16 I cast, 3 of them asked for feedback. I'm honest with them as to why they got the role they received. If they don't like it, don't accept the role. While it may sound harsh, I have done this for over 10 years at both middle and high school levels. Some just like to complain. 

And I, too, want them to try tech and crew positions. 

Good luck. I'm sorry this is happening but it seems to be the way it is. 

I JUST finished casting Miracle Worker and dealt with a lot of the same things. First off, I did an exercise that I found on another post and really hit home. I had the kids get in groups of 3 or 4. They each had to think of 3 people whom they enjoyed watching as actors. They then took those 9-12 people and decided who was going to be in Goldilocks & the 3 Bears. Only one per part. 

I then help them realize that even if they didn't get a part or what they wanted, that they are still valued as a performer. 

I also left it up to them to ask for feedback. Out of the 16 I cast, 3 of them asked for feedback. I'm honest with them as to why they got the role they received. If they don't like it, don't accept the role. While it may sound harsh, I have done this for over 10 years at both middle and high school levels. Some just like to complain. 

And I, too, want them to try tech and crew positions. 

Good luck. I'm sorry this is happening but it seems to be the way it is. 

I JUST finished casting Miracle Worker and dealt with a lot of the same things. First off, I did an exercise that I found on another post and really hit home. I had the kids get in groups of 3 or 4. They each had to think of 3 people whom they enjoyed watching as actors. They then took those 9-12 people and decided who was going to be in Goldilocks & the 3 Bears. Only one per part. 

I then help them realize that even if they didn't get a part or what they wanted, that they are still valued as a performer. 

I also left it up to them to ask for feedback. Out of the 16 I cast, 3 of them asked for feedback. I'm honest with them as to why they got the role they received. If they don't like it, don't accept the role. While it may sound harsh, I have done this for over 10 years at both middle and high school levels. Some just like to complain. 

And I, too, want them to try tech and crew positions. 

Good luck. I'm sorry this is happening but it seems to be the way it is. 

This is a tough one because some students genuinely want feedback on their auditions to learn how to improve and/or better understand the process, and some just want to vent and hopefully make you feel as bad as you've made them feel by not giving them the role they want. It's often hard to know which student is which.

One of the things I do is that I often cast at the end of the week. And I tell the students that if they want feedback I am happy to give it to them but that I don't want anyone to come to me for feedback until Monday. They should also double check the rehearsal/ performance requirements (a full schedule is posted) against their commitments for the two months ONE LAST TIME before accepting a role. So I give them the weekend. The kids who genuinely want feedback will happily wait until Monday. The kids who just want to vent have a chance to blow off steam over the weekend and are usually in a much better head space by Monday. 

This also does a lot to derail unfortunate knee jerk reactions. For example I had a boy who was talented but fairly inexperienced, and who, despite being only a sophomore, landed a pretty big supporting role in the fall play. He found he loved acting, but because of this early success he had his cap set on the lead in the spring musical. When he was cast in another supporting role, he was shocked (remember he'd only ever auditioned once for a play and he'd been cast in a nice medium size role.) Anyway, he ignored my comments on the audition form and came to me right away and said he was dropping the play. I knew his circumstances and told him I would not accept his resignation yet but that he needed to go home, read the show over the weekend and get back to me. If he still wanted to drop the show on Monday that was fine. I'd allow him to with no hard feelings. He said okay but he was sure he would still drop on Monday. Monday came and went and the boy decided to stick it out... begrudgingly. First read and rehearsals began. By the third week of rehearsal however the boy came to me and said "This is the best part I've ever had! I love this role! Thank you so much for casting me and THANK YOU for not accepting my resignation!"

I try to use stories like this a lot. I often us the reminder "Actors make terrible casting directors." to remind students that they don't have the whole picture when looking at casting and that people are often terrible when casting themselves. I use myself as an example. Often when I was acting I'd be cast in roles I didn't especially want to play that turned out to be some of the best roles (and some of the most interesting productions) I've ever been part of. Other times I've gotten leading roles that I knew I wanted, and that I campaigned hard for, and in the end, I found they were not as great or as fulfilling as I thought they'd be. My "dream role" didn't live up to the image I'd created in my head. 

Once last story I tell, I had some very talented kids a few years who constantly got cast in lead roles. They were triple threats and no matter who the director was, they both usually got cast as the leads over and over again. I specifically picked a show where they were wrong for the leads in order to give some new kids a chance and my two "stars" ended up in the chorus. Not only were they cool with that, they were relieved, and if fact they really enjoyed it. They said "one of the reasons you do theater in High School is for the social aspect. The friends you make. The time you get to spend together putting on a show.  When you're the lead, you don't get much of that. You're always learning lines or rehearsing staging. There's very little time to socialize or really get to know the people in your cast. It's lonely. And it's stressful." They loved being part of the team as opposed to the "lead,"  From that point on they would flip from show to show and often put "not interested in a leading role" on their audition forms. 

Good luck!

This is a tough one because some students genuinely want feedback on their auditions to learn how to improve and/or better understand the process, and some just want to vent and hopefully make you feel as bad as you've made them feel by not giving them the role they want. It's often hard to know which student is which.

One of the things I do is that I often cast at the end of the week. And I tell the students that if they want feedback I am happy to give it to them but that I don't want anyone to come to me for feedback until Monday. They should also double check the rehearsal/ performance requirements (a full schedule is posted) against their commitments for the two months ONE LAST TIME before accepting a role. So I give them the weekend. The kids who genuinely want feedback will happily wait until Monday. The kids who just want to vent have a chance to blow off steam over the weekend and are usually in a much better head space by Monday. 

This also does a lot to derail unfortunate knee jerk reactions. For example I had a boy who was talented but fairly inexperienced, and who, despite being only a sophomore, landed a pretty big supporting role in the fall play. He found he loved acting, but because of this early success he had his cap set on the lead in the spring musical. When he was cast in another supporting role, he was shocked (remember he'd only ever auditioned once for a play and he'd been cast in a nice medium size role.) Anyway, he ignored my comments on the audition form and came to me right away and said he was dropping the play. I knew his circumstances and told him I would not accept his resignation yet but that he needed to go home, read the show over the weekend and get back to me. If he still wanted to drop the show on Monday that was fine. I'd allow him to with no hard feelings. He said okay but he was sure he would still drop on Monday. Monday came and went and the boy decided to stick it out... begrudgingly. First read and rehearsals began. By the third week of rehearsal however the boy came to me and said "This is the best part I've ever had! I love this role! Thank you so much for casting me and THANK YOU for not accepting my resignation!"

I try to use stories like this a lot. I often us the reminder "Actors make terrible casting directors." to remind students that they don't have the whole picture when looking at casting and that people are often terrible when casting themselves. I use myself as an example. Often when I was acting I'd be cast in roles I didn't especially want to play that turned out to be some of the best roles (and some of the most interesting productions) I've ever been part of. Other times I've gotten leading roles that I knew I wanted, and that I campaigned hard for, and in the end, I found they were not as great or as fulfilling as I thought they'd be. My "dream role" didn't live up to the image I'd created in my head. 

Once last story I tell, I had some very talented kids a few years who constantly got cast in lead roles. They were triple threats and no matter who the director was, they both usually got cast as the leads over and over again. I specifically picked a show where they were wrong for the leads in order to give some new kids a chance and my two "stars" ended up in the chorus. Not only were they cool with that, they were relieved, and if fact they really enjoyed it. They said "one of the reasons you do theater in High School is for the social aspect. The friends you make. The time you get to spend together putting on a show.  When you're the lead, you don't get much of that. You're always learning lines or rehearsing staging. There's very little time to socialize or really get to know the people in your cast. It's lonely. And it's stressful." They loved being part of the team as opposed to the "lead,"  From that point on they would flip from show to show and often put "not interested in a leading role" on their audition forms. 

Good luck!

This is a tough one because some students genuinely want feedback on their auditions to learn how to improve and/or better understand the process, and some just want to vent and hopefully make you feel as bad as you've made them feel by not giving them the role they want. It's often hard to know which student is which.

One of the things I do is that I often cast at the end of the week. And I tell the students that if they want feedback I am happy to give it to them but that I don't want anyone to come to me for feedback until Monday. They should also double check the rehearsal/ performance requirements (a full schedule is posted) against their commitments for the two months ONE LAST TIME before accepting a role. So I give them the weekend. The kids who genuinely want feedback will happily wait until Monday. The kids who just want to vent have a chance to blow off steam over the weekend and are usually in a much better head space by Monday. 

This also does a lot to derail unfortunate knee jerk reactions. For example I had a boy who was talented but fairly inexperienced, and who, despite being only a sophomore, landed a pretty big supporting role in the fall play. He found he loved acting, but because of this early success he had his cap set on the lead in the spring musical. When he was cast in another supporting role, he was shocked (remember he'd only ever auditioned once for a play and he'd been cast in a nice medium size role.) Anyway, he ignored my comments on the audition form and came to me right away and said he was dropping the play. I knew his circumstances and told him I would not accept his resignation yet but that he needed to go home, read the show over the weekend and get back to me. If he still wanted to drop the show on Monday that was fine. I'd allow him to with no hard feelings. He said okay but he was sure he would still drop on Monday. Monday came and went and the boy decided to stick it out... begrudgingly. First read and rehearsals began. By the third week of rehearsal however the boy came to me and said "This is the best part I've ever had! I love this role! Thank you so much for casting me and THANK YOU for not accepting my resignation!"

I try to use stories like this a lot. I often us the reminder "Actors make terrible casting directors." to remind students that they don't have the whole picture when looking at casting and that people are often terrible when casting themselves. I use myself as an example. Often when I was acting I'd be cast in roles I didn't especially want to play that turned out to be some of the best roles (and some of the most interesting productions) I've ever been part of. Other times I've gotten leading roles that I knew I wanted, and that I campaigned hard for, and in the end, I found they were not as great or as fulfilling as I thought they'd be. My "dream role" didn't live up to the image I'd created in my head. 

Once last story I tell, I had some very talented kids a few years who constantly got cast in lead roles. They were triple threats and no matter who the director was, they both usually got cast as the leads over and over again. I specifically picked a show where they were wrong for the leads in order to give some new kids a chance and my two "stars" ended up in the chorus. Not only were they cool with that, they were relieved, and if fact they really enjoyed it. They said "one of the reasons you do theater in High School is for the social aspect. The friends you make. The time you get to spend together putting on a show.  When you're the lead, you don't get much of that. You're always learning lines or rehearsing staging. There's very little time to socialize or really get to know the people in your cast. It's lonely. And it's stressful." They loved being part of the team as opposed to the "lead,"  From that point on they would flip from show to show and often put "not interested in a leading role" on their audition forms. 

Good luck!