On Casting…

Casting is a tricky thing. When shows are cast, the directors and producers have a zillion things they have to take into consideration. When we cast at Thoreau Middle School, we are looking for positive energy, a willingness to try, direct-ability, actors who are growing in their work from semester to semester, focus and a collaborative spirit. We look at group dynamics. We look at age and gender groupings. And, we cast to serve the show. 

That is a strange concept – shouldn’t the director fill the stage with the most talented actors? Isn’t talent the first thing a director looks for?

Talent is great and there’s nothing more engaging than a talented actor on stage. But that’s just one piece of an efficient and effective community, or an efficient and effective rehearsal process. We also consider students who work well together, people who work hard, people who understand they are moving toward a final goal, people who offer ideas. The job of the director is to find actors who are going to build a play. What if the talented actor doesn’t work well with others? How will that affect rehearsals and the final product?

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As a theatre company, we are bound to serve the performance pieces so that they succeed as good theatre, as well as providing each actor with a successful experience within the show. As a theatre company dedicated to students, we are also restricted by the realities of each student’s school, family and other activity commitments – your schedule plays a big part in how the show is ultimately cast. You may not like it, we may not like it, but it is the reality of doing theatre with students.

The audition process can be a scary, nerve-wracking, arduous experience, but it is essential as it is only through auditions that we can meet new actors and see how returning actors have grown within the work. Knowing this, it is our hope that our young actors take the audition process seriously enough to come well prepared. We know auditioning isn’t easy. For every role, there are at least, AT LEAST, three wonderful choices, and in most cases, many more—all of which would be great versions of these shows.

Casting is a long process, filled with many possible endings. What happens when there is more than just one “right one” for a role? What do you do when one actor may be “just right” for more than one role? What do you do when that is the case for many roles? We want everyone to be happy. Of course, On Casting… this is not always the case. We realize that. We are actors, too. We have all been cast in smaller roles than we would have liked. We have all felt crushed when casting announcements were made.

But we have also gone through the process of learning that there is much joy to be found, even in the smallest of roles. Though a character may only have two lines, the playwright wrote those two lines for that character for a reason—not just because—but because those two lines were important for that character to say in order to further the idea of the play. It really isn’t how big your part is—it’s what you do with the part you have in order to best serve the play, and in order to continue growing as an artist.

Here’s the thing - you might be absolutely right for a certain part, you may want it more than you’ve ever wanted anything, you may even be sure you are going to get it – your friends may tell you that you are definitely going to get it – and then the part might just go to someone else.

And that’s how it goes in casting. As an actor, you must be able to handle those disappointments graciously and to learn to put your disappointment aside when it comes time to begin rehearsals.

At Thoreau, we have an additional factor which we consider when casting, and that is each student’s journey with us throughout the semesters. We do not cast each season as if it is our first, or an isolated experience – we cast knowing that each student will sometimes get the role of their dreams, and sometimes not…..each student will sometimes play leading roles and each student will sometimes be cast in the ensemble….each student will, over their years with us, get casting announcements that make them jump in the air and scream with excitement, as well as casting announcements that make them feel disappointed, even devastated. It is our hope that, in each child’s journey, those experiences balance one another, for all of those are part of the life of an actor, and the reality of auditioning.

So, to all of the actors - thank you for having the courage to audition. Thank you for wanting to be a part of the theatre and the Thoreau Theatre family. Thank you for all being so right for so many roles in these shows. And thank you for making such an amazing puzzle of a Thoreau season. The overall picture is beautiful, intriguing, interesting, colorful, new, inspiring. We are all excited to bring the picture to life! Now we challenge you to breathe and talk and walk and sing and dance for these characters in ways that have never been tried. We offer you these parts...now we wonder what you will do with them....

I'm rooting for you,

Miss Korovesis 

Thoreau Theatre Artistic Director