Auditions, Part 2: Auditions Themselves

Preparing, Running, Picking, and What to do Then

“I was like, ‘Oh god, this is so great. He is so powerful. I am so deeply happy. Thank you to the gods of cinema. I didn’t fuck it up!’ I cast the right Paul Atreides.” –  Denis Villeneuve on casting Timothee Chalamet in Dune

This is the feeling you want. There is no better feeling than being deep in rehearsals, looking around, and knowing in your bones you chose wisely. It’s almost never 100%, but every once in awhile.... Theatre people often talk about casts or theatres feeling like family. In my experience, this is really quite rare, but when you have it, it is treasure.

Once the audition announcement is out in the world, you need to prepare what you’ll need to actually have them. I’m going with the assumption that cold-readings from the actual play will be used for the audition because this is how I usually do it, and you’ll often want to do it at some point, even if you begin with a monologue(s) or other elements of auditioning, like singing.

Prep Time

1. Sides

This is the term of art for little scenes from the script that you’ll hand to actors to read from at the audition. I have an actor in the room with me throughout auditions specifically to read with auditioners, rather than multiple auditioners working together; this allows me to focus on the auditioner. Consequently I try for scenes that only involve two characters and I’m generally looking at short scenes, two pages max. Because. Read on.

Sometimes to get a strong scene with just two people you have to modify the script a bit, but you should have at least one scene for each of your primary characters. If you’re also casting background, chorus, or minor characters, you probably don’t need a special scene from the script for them. You cut out these scenes, label them, name the characters involved, and set up the scene a bit, a sentence or two, at the top. I usually have six sides, give or take, so that I have a variety.

If I am contacted before auditions by a prospective auditioner I offer to send them the sides so they can look them over before auditions. (This means you need to have them prepared well before auditions!) This is valuable for several reasons. It begins a relationship of cooperation and hopefully sets them more at ease. It gives that person a bit of a heads up and time to practice if they want it and that tells me something about them. And because I’m generally doing an unknown play, it gives that actor a sense of the tone of the play, an insight into the script as a whole. If they don’t like it, it saves everyone time. If they do like it, hopefully they’ll bring their enthusiasm and best work.

When it comes to sides, make sure you have a number of copies of each one, so that multiple actors can have them at a time – and you have backups for the actor who writes all over it. You also need a packet of them for whomever is reading with them in the room.

2. Audition Questionnaire

I cannot emphasize enough the importance of a good questionnaire. Put plenty of thought into this, both generally and given your particular play and actor needs. I always begin with their name and contact information. Make absolutely sure you have and can read their email and phone number. Next I list every single performance date and time, and the rehearsal schedule generally (Example: M-Th, 7-10pm, Jan 9-Feb 13). I then ask if they have any conflicts with any of that time. If they cannot make every performance, the audition stops there. If they have conflicts with rehearsals, we can talk about it and see if it can be managed.

I ask a lot of yes and no questions. I ask if they are familiar with the theater where I’m working, if they have dependable transportation to the theater. I ask if they have a problem with “bad” words, getting off-book in two weeks from our first rehearsal, abstaining from drugs and alcohol during rehearsals and performances. I also ask if there’s a particular role they want to play, if they would consider accepting a different one or a very small one. Sometimes I ask about favorite previous performances or what they look for in a Director. These Questionnaires are often the jumping off point to a chat with the actor, so looking over it, picking up on something unusual or personal in there, is useful.

I keep these Questionnaires until the show closes, at least. I have found them imminently useful when I need to replace an actor for one reason or another. I have also used that contact information the next time I have auditions to invite them back. I may not have had a role for them the first time, but I may well have one for them now.

3. Depending on your style and/or familiarity with the play, you need to collect your thoughts about what you need for each character. It is one thing to have an ideal: I wrote a character that Deborah Ann Woll would be perfect for, but she’s not going to walk into my audition. So I have to dig down and identify what element(s) of how I see her I need to have for this character. Charming, direct, vulnerable, fierce, smart. Ok. I can’t get her, so I’m looking for an actor who can bring those characteristics to the role. This also helps me let go of any physical assumptions I may be making. My actor doesn’t need to be tall, fit, or redheaded to have those deeper characteristics I need. My actor may not even need to be presenting as a woman.

If you need to jot some notes along these lines to keep you focused during auditions, do that. Especially when you’re dealing with a large ensemble cast, it can be easy to get a little lost.

4. Stuff and time. I need a big bottle of water to get through auditions. I may need a snack. I need a particular style of pen, a fresh spiral, folders for sides and questionnaires, a copy of the script, a table, a chair for auditioners, seating for my AD and/or actor reading with auditioners. These are things I know I need and given the variable nature of the average theater, getting there early and confirming the presence of certain things is important. I need to settle before I bring in my first auditioner so that I can give them my full attention, rather than still be making sure my phone ringer is off and figuring out where to put my bag. Figure out what you need and make sure you’re organized and prepared.

The day of.

As stated, get there early and settle in. Make sure your room is what you want it to be (to the best of your ability) and you have what you need.

If you’re not familiar with the term “front-of-house” that is the ticket/lobby/concession area of the theater, the audience seating in the actual performance space being known as “the house.” You will need someone running front-of-house for your auditions. It’s handy if this is your Stage Manager or Assistant Director, as they should be able to answer questions, but any competent person with social skills and common sense can do it. They need to greet people who come in and give them the Audition Questionnaire. Once the auditioner has filled that out and turned it back in, they will be given a side or sides to review. When they’re ready they can tell the front-of-house manager and be in the queue to go in and audition.

I have a couple of people I prefer to run my auditions because I use them as spies. I mentioned in Part 1 that finding an actor who can do the job is just the beginning. You’re also casting a person and I have become very picky about the kind of people I want to work with. (Get burned a few times and believe me, you’ll sympathize.) I like to get a perspective on who they are, how they treat others, what they do when they’re not in front of the Director. Me. They’re going to be on good behavior when I see them, most of the time. If I find out they were jerks, overbearing, obnoxious, ridiculously over-confident out in the lobby to my front-of-house managers, random strangers, and/or their fellow auditioners, I want to know. I will take a kind, cooperative, good-natured, committed, ok actor ANY DAY over a super-talented asshole. Life is too short to spend your time with dickheads and I get to pick when I’m Directing. None of us deserve that guy.

I start the test for that “guy,” which is no way restricted to men, right away. There need to be clearly stated rules for auditions. First and foremost, no touching. Unless agreed to during the audition by all the parties involved and only if it is minimal – hand on an arm, say, or tousled hair. Something not very intimate. I don’t want anyone to be hurt physically – or emotionally – ever in anything I do. I take great care with combat and intimate scenes in rehearsal; I’m sure the hell not going to toss that kind of thing at auditioners willy-nilly. Also, there’s always a possibility of abuse. There’s no excuse for auditions not to be safe and comfortable for everyone involved.

Another standard for me is to do what I can to put an actor at ease. There is no getting around the fact that auditions are, for most, anxiety producing. Actors have different levels of nervousness, of course, but I know that the more relaxed they feel, the better performance they will give. And I want their best. This is the goal of good directors. We want to find great actors, we want them to be amazing. We want them to blow our minds. Part of helping them do that is putting them at ease, reducing the feeling of Director vs Actor, chatting, laughing, connecting. That is what I try to achieve: a safe, playful room that allows actors to shine.

I often cast actors of lesser experience, lesser knowledge of acting and I enjoy working with them. Teaching is what I do on a deep core level and if they’re receptive to growing, I’m happy to help them do it. But some actors need something more than I have time to give them while Directing a play. I don’t dislike them as people, I don’t even think they’re doomed to never be cast – every Director has their preferences and hard lines – but I can’t work with them at the moment.

All that said, I will never, have never, told anyone not to audition. I give every actor who comes in my room my undivided attention and my time. I respect them putting on pants, finding the theater, and walking in there to get a role, regardless of whether I can give them one or not. I have known actors who quit for life because a Director told them not to bother. Or laughed at them. Or told them they sucked. That is bullshit. Just because I don’t have a role for someone, or for some reason cannot cast them, does not mean they should quit. And I have no right to say or do anything that even hints I think they should. Another Director may have a perfect role for them or given time and work, they may improve dramatically. Given time they may simply grow up, making them a better fit in a cast or more life to draw on.  

When the actor enters:

I greet them, introduce myself, and anyone else in the room. I glance through their Questionnaire and ask questions about anything there that seems to need answering or explaining. I’m not so much looking for straight information in this exchange. If my questionnaire was good enough and they filled it out, I’ve got information. What I’m looking for is communication ability, social skills, personality, and nerves I may be able to calm just by talking to them for a bit.

Then we turn to the reading of the sides.

If they are one of those people I already know I can’t work with, I listen, I make notes, I thank them. I let them know I will contact them personally about whether or not they were cast and give them an ETA on when I will have that done. I ask them to return the side to the front-of-house person and that is that. If I know absolutely, immediately, that I will cast them, I do the same thing. I don’t need a minute more. But that’s very rare, probably because I’m having a good time and don’t want them to go yet.

If the first reading keeps the auditioner in the running, I will ask them to do it again, but to change something. This will tell me two things, both of which are important: can they make a change and are they willing to make a change. I am looking for a cast of people who will interact with me and who will take direction. Some actors are willing, but don’t have the chops to do much different or are too set on their first choice. Some actors are unwilling to take direction and take it as a personal offense that you would ask them to make a change. I’d prefer to have someone with the ability to change; I must have people willing to change.

Sometimes that’s the whole shebang and I know what I need to about that actor. Sometimes I want to see what it would be like to see them as a different character and I’ll ask if they can stick around to read a different side. Or to switch characters in the same side. (This is why I lean toward shorter sides: if I’m seriously considering someone, I’m going to have them read the side at least twice, possibly more times. If it’s a longer side, that whole process takes a lot longer and cutting off an auditioner is generally not wonderful.) I have a good feeling for actors and matching them with characters – some actors don’t have the same sense, so I like to broaden their options with characters they may not have considered. However we go from that first reading, I will thank them and tell them I’ll contact them.

Choosing & Confirming

Once I’ve seen everyone, I tend to make casting choices fast. In most cases, there was an obvious choice. Usually, too, there are one or two roles that come down to two actors. This is where knowledge of the person, rather than their skill at acting, is very helpful: their attitude, input from the actor or AD who read with them, my spy in front-of-house, talking to someone who has worked with them before. Sometimes you simply have to take a deep breath and go with your gut.

Once I’ve made choices, I call the actors I want and get a verbal agreement that they accept the role. We talk about when the first rehearsal is and anything else they want to know. I tell them I’ll be sending them an email with the full script and some other materials so they need to check.

Once I have all those agreements, I write a form letter to the people I’m not casting. Then I personalize them for individual people. After I send all those out, I wait about a day. Then I post a public announcement of the cast. I believe in giving this kind of respect to the people I was not able to cast. They are still people, they have feelings, and while I’m not going to be working with them, I appreciate the hell out of them for coming out.

But what do you want to see in actors you cast?

Number one: Take the show seriously, but not themselves. I absolutely want actors who want to do the best they possibly can. Why do a thing and not give it your all? I want them to care about their performance, their fellow castmates, the story they’re trying tell, the experience of the audience. I want it to matter. I have zero patience for the divas, for the line-counters & pouters, the attention-grabber. Regardless of the size of the role, every actor is equal and deserves the same respect, every one is necessary to the play or I wouldn’t have cast them.

Number two: A sense of humor. Rehearsals can be heavy, tedious, awkward, tiring. Having a sense of humor is what will get us through all those moments. Not cruel or cutting humor, just a general willingness to laugh and be silly. To play. To joke and sometimes play a thing for a tension-relieving laugh. I start with games and bring them in when we need a little energy or distraction or release; the actor who won’t play because they take their dignity too seriously is a red flag.

Number three: An ability to play well with others. I need to be able to talk to and interact with my cast – all Directors have their style but I try hard to make mine supportive and collaborative. Most of the time, even if some of the actors in your cast already know each other, not everyone does. You have to build a cohesive unit and if you have an actor who holds themselves higher than others, or apart from others, you’re not going to get the kind of working smoothly together that you want. Eventually the show will open and those actors will have to depend on each other; if you have an actor who just can’t blend or won’t, the play may happen but not as well as it could have.

Number four: Which is really the basis of everything – Respect for all. For me, for the rules, for each other, for the audience, for techs, for actors, for the freaking girl selling popcorn out front. All the time. Welcoming, warm, respect. We may be irreverent, we may have conflicts we have to work out, we may have different approaches and priorities, but if we have respect underpinning that, everything will work out fine.

Do you pre-cast?

This can get thorny. That said, I love it. I absolutely pre-cast shows. Sometimes this is a function of my writer/director double hat – I often write roles for specific actors, so casting that person is something I can do without them going through auditions.

Which brings me to nepotism and casting your friends. Sometimes I become friends with actors I work with, sometimes I don’t. And I enjoy having actors I’ve already worked with in plays because we both know what to expect from one another and they appreciate my approach. If I have enough of a percentage of actors I already know in a show, they can perform a sort of peer pressure (or base of knowledge) for actors new to me.

Working with people you know and like is only a problem if you cast them because you know and like them. If your friend/lover/spouse is the best person for the role, it would be stupid to pick a lesser actor you don’t have a relationship with, for the sake of appearances. And if I write the role for someone, they are the best choice. I have cast my husband in a fair number of my shows because he is damn good at what he does. And he’s a great example of working with a Director with respect. I don’t cast him because I’m married to him, I cast him because he’s excellent.

I have learned how to handle pre-casting when it comes to auditions. In your announcement, don’t list a pre-cast character as one you’re looking for. In the case of a well-known play, like Twelfth Night, you can include, at the end of the characters you’re looking for, which you have pre-cast. In my case, anyone looking to play Feste can see that I’ve already cast that role.

How do you incorporate inclusivity?

By being honest with myself and my auditioners about what I want or need.

I have a recurring character, The Great Antonio Valencia. (Based on a character created by William M. Razavi.) He’s an over-the-top actor who actually wants to be called Great as a matter of course. He’s obnoxious and self-absorbed and very, very funny. Having an Hispanic accent of some kind that he can punch up or drop adds to the humor capability of the character. And he needs to be Latino/Latinx. That’s who I want in that role, it’s the way the role works, and thus I’m not going to audition white men for that role.

Very few of the characters I write are ethnically specific. Many are gender non-specific. Many could be played by disabled actors, actors of any body type, any sexuality. I purposefully leave these aspects of characters open so that hopefully any later Directors reading the script won’t have pre-conceived notions of who could play that role. Representation absolutely matters.

Even when doing an established play, like Shakespeare, I actively seek as diverse a cast as possible. I want all kinds of people, as many different shapes, sizes, colors, backgrounds as possible. I want to upset assumptions. This is not only important to me, it makes the play itself richer, the experience more rewarding. “Diversity” isn’t a matter of PC or woke-ness or whatever buzzword is going around, a it’s richer, more robust representation of who is in the world.

I work for inclusion because I want it. That’s the bottom line. If you want to be inclusive, you’re a helluva lot closer to being it. (If you’re doing it because you have to or think you’re supposed to isn’t really going to make you open.) It may be a process, require introspection of your own internalized biases and assumptions, but it’s so worth it.

My final advice about auditions as a Director is this: look forward to it and enjoy it. To do it well requires some preparation: a good announcement, good sides, a good questionnaire, a good process. That’s ok. Take your time, do the work, put in your thought time and then take each actor as they come, with an open mind and an appreciation for everyone who walks in the door.