Hey Erika,
I wish I had some wise words, but here are somethings I do:
1) I tell everyone auditioning that if they can't take a "No" then they are not prepared to audition. I sort of frontload the possible disappointment by telling them to come in an be proud of what they do, and not to let my decision take away the pride in what they did.
2) I got the idea from this community years ago to send letters ahead of posting the cast list, as I the years have progress I have started to use mail merge and excel to send everything electronically. Here is how it goes.
A) I send emails out to the students who don't make it encouraging them to join the crew, try out again, etc. I also give them one thing to work on for next time, tailored to their audition and helped by my spreadsheet(parents have praised this small nugget of feedback)
B) I send emails out to the students who make it, but only with their specific role. I give them a note about something they did well. I also tell this group to be humble because not everyone made it. This leaves students only knowing the part they got. The phone trees light up and they start putting it together. I send these emails while students are at home(in the evening).
C) Sending the notes in the evening allows everyone to have a private moment of celebration or disappointment.
D) I post the cast list later the next day. By this point everyone has had sometime to at least know if their name is there or not.
I love this system so much more than the big cast list reveal and I NEVER thought I would. I clung to the tradition of posting all together for a while, but this is a much more graceful way of doing things...and when you think about it a professional show doesn't just post a list-- folks get phone calls one on one, etc.
Harvey Stone
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J. Harvey Stone
Teacher/Director
Jamestown High School Theatre
Williamsburg, VA
james.stone@wjccschools.org------------------------------
Original Message:
Sent: 12-17-2021 09:07
From: Erika Trahan
Subject: Posting cast list.
So my LEAST favorite thing is to post cast list...
I truly hate disappointing people who are so brave and come out to audition for our shows.
Do any of you have a note/preamble that has very wise words to help soften the blow when posting???
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Erika Trahan
Kaplan High School
LA
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