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Auditions & Casting
Our students are experiencing the audition process as we speak! Drama students have a lengthy audition process, while some of our intermediate/advanced ballet dancers are auditioning for summer dance programs, or already auditioned for and performed with Eugene Ballet Company.
Auditions are stressful for all involved (students and directors!), so it's important to practice auditioning to get use to it so that your nerves don't get the best of you. It's also an important process to experience and practice, not only as performers, but as people! If you think about it, we "audition" all the time! Job interviews, projects we complete at work or school, meeting new people, etc. First impressions do count, which is why my favorite saying to the students is, "Treat EVERY MOMENT like an audition!". In other words, you never know who is watching you, what they are seeing and what opportunities may arise (or not!) due to each of your actions, from the moment you walk in the door to the moment you leave. It teaches them integrity, accountability and responsibility. All important lessons in life, whether you end up performing professionally or not.
Another of my favorite sayings is, "You get what you put into it." In this case, if you prepare for an audition and show that you are taking it seriously, it WILL show and the audition directors can tell and it will reflect in their casting. Ten times out of ten, if I have one student who has talent up to their eyebrows who isn't prepared well for an audition or is rude to others (or some sort of bad etiquette) and one students who has average talent but is prepared and polite, I will give the better role to the "average but prepared" student. I don't believe in catering to prima donnas or divas who think they can skate by on their ability and not have to work just as hard as the rest to be awarded what they want. No one in the professional world wants to work with a performer who thinks the world revolves around them, and neither do we. Respect and humility are important!
The audition process for our students is formated to be very similar to that of which they'd experience in a community theatre or professional audition. We do this to help them be prepared for anything and to do it confidently. Intro to Theatre students do have to read from the script, do theatre games for us to see how they use their body to act, and to do a vocal audition singing a simple popular song, such as, "Happy Birthday" or "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", as well as pitch testing. Once students reach Intermediate & Advanced level drama, the responsibility and preparedness is on them. They need to prepare a song on their own to be sung to our Music Director (with music or acapella), they have to read scenes they choose and also do "cold readings" (not previously read or practiced scenes/characters) from the script that we choose for them. Students who don't prepare a song will not be given a singing role; it doesn't reflect well on students who do not prepare because we then question their ability to be in this level of class. Students have to earn being in Intermediate and Advanced drama.
All roles in our musical have been divided up by level based on 1) the maturity that the role requires 2) the amount of stage time 3) the level of acting required for the role. Intro to Theatre Students are eligible for "ensemble roles" only. Intermediate students are eligible for "supporting roles" only, and Advanced students are eligible for "Lead roles" only. The hierarchy helps students to picture what their goals are and give a reality to what kind of training is needed for each role.
I think every director will tell you that the hardest part of being a director is the casting. We dread it. We simply can't make everyone happy and that makes us unhappy. People sometimes wonder why we cast a show a certain way or why "so and so" didn't get a certain part. Casting a musical is an even bigger/harder job because it involves singing and dancing. "Sam" might read well for Mufasa but if he can't sing a lick or if his voice range doesn't fit what is required of Mufasa, we simply can't cast him as Mufasa. Sometimes is a chemistry issue. "Susie" might read well for Nala AND Sing well, but if she can't stand being next to "Bobby" who is perfect for Simba, we can't cast Susie as Nala. It's like the most difficult game of Match you've ever played!
This year for the first time, we are also casting understudies, since it seems like the past two shows poor teacher Penny has had to step in last minute to fill in a part! Outstanding Intro students will now have an opportunity to be cast as an understudy for a "supporting" role (Intermediate roles) and outstanding Intermediate drama students not have an opportunity to be cast as understudies for "lead " roles (Advanced roles). It is important for students and parents to remember that their first role is the most important to learn/memorize and the understudy role comes second, but must also be practiced on their own time. Some young students may get upset when they don't get to put their understudy role to use, so its also important that parents explain to them (as we already have) that this is for an emergency only and that most understudies don't get to actually play the role.
We always congratulate our students on being awarded their roles, as EVERY ROLE is important to the show and the big picture. We hope that you will also congratulate your child on their role and help them to see how they too are important to the team. |
