<p>So........the D auditioned for a community theater production, first time. This is a small, rural area and she has only in the last few years been bitten by the MT bug. And this is the first appropriate show for which she could audition. Now, I know you don't get every part and that isn't at all the issue, although I can hear her disappointment since friends got callbacks. Is it ever appropriate to try and get some feedback as to what went wrong, or the like? She has been a competitive skater for 9 years, and in skating it is perfectly acceptable for a coach to speak with the head judge or referee for feedback after a competition, especially if the skater did well on the ice but didn't place well in the scores. But this MT stuff is a new ballgame and so I would like some advice. I told her that as in skating where there is always another skater who is very good, the same is true in theater where there is always another actor/singer/dancer who is equally as good....and that some of the same subjective stuff applies....liking a certain look, style, vocal quality, etc. Hope I was on the right track. Its just that she can relate to skating analogies. Thanks, all.</p>
<p>Personally, as a director, I LOVE to give audition feedback; and I especially appreciate when an actor comes back to the next audition having improved their skills. However, I know that some directors are uncomfortable critiquing an audition performance. I don't think there's anything wrong with a polite request for some feedback. </p>
<p>And you're absolutely right about the subjective stuff, once you get past the basic questions of intonation, acting ability, dance skills, etc. etc. So many issues come into play. I just cast a production of "Hello Dolly" in which we had 3 actresses who could have played the lead role. All equally talented, but 3 different vocal sounds. Also 3 different body types. And 3 very different personalities! It was nice to have a choice, but the decision was not an obvious or an easy one.</p>
<p>Good luck -- hope your D gets some feedback that will help her in the next audition.</p>
<p>Thanks, onstage. I don't envy you the position you were in with Dolly. Anyhow, D just got a call from the director offering her a part. She is happy to have a part which is actually 2 smaller parts combined....she is just wondering, still, as she put it, "what did I do wrong?"...it can be a hard lesson to learn that you don't get every lead part (till now in the school productions she has had significant parts). So this is a new but important learning experience for her. I told her to take the part, meet new people, learn and gain experience working with this community theater group....hopefully she listened.</p>
<p>Congrats to your D. It may well be that she didn't do anything wrong. Sometimes it can be as simple as -- the director chose someone he had already worked with and felt comfortable about. Or maybe she was too short, too tall, too young -- these are all things you can't change. What she CAN do now is get to know the director and show him that she's a solid, reliable performer. Sometimes you just gotta pay your dues!</p>
<p>I totally agree with "onstage." In our experience with community theater the casting is oftentimes based on whom the director already knows and has worked with previously. In our local community theater the same people tend to get cast over and over again. IMO, it is somewhat political. However, the upside is that once they get to know your D and if she shows her commitment with these smaller roles, she will probably get cast again for larger roles. As "onstage" says..."you gotta pay your dues." Congrats to your D!</p>
<p>In our community theater, the leading men are, shall we say, mature, so it is very hard to cast a leading lady who is half his age. It does come down to look, age, type, etc, more than politics here. Our directors are also reluctant to cast newcomers in lead roles because we have been burned several times by a lead character not showing up for rehearsals, and one was even removed from the show and we scrambled to replace him at the last minute. In addition to missing half the rehearsals, he was making inappropriate comments to some of the young women. Heck, we've had a registered sex offender in shows until a patron filled us in. I hope your D will take the roles, impress them with her great work ethic and enthusiastic attitude, and maybe next time she will get the part she wants.</p>
<p>Thank you so much. I pretty much told her that. She is wonderful in certain roles but is more the Gladys vs. Babe from Pajama Game, or Addo-Annie not Laurie in Oklahoma. She shines in these parts. But she is not Cinderella....would be a good stepsister, though....:-) She has practiced that enough!! I told her all the things you 3 said, and yes, the director doesn't know her from Adam, but does know her friend, who also knew several of the other adult actors there from a different community theater program. So I guess I was on the right track. I told her to take the part, and she is, and to run with it and shine........and then next time might be different. Thanks again.....</p>
<p>I got a laugh out of musicmom's post. I did a production of Oklahoma last fall. The actor who played Curly is a wonderful actor, beautiful voice, -- but he must be at least 50 and looks older! Obviously, it would have been creepy to cast a teenaged Laurie, although we had several who could have done it. Our Laurie was about 30. (In fact, I played Aunt Eller, and had to REALLY age myself so I would look a lot older than Curly. It was fun, actually -- and for once I looked better after the show when I took my makeup OFF!)</p>
<p>khsstitches - I think most kids who audition think they should get the lead and can't understand why they didn't. Only one person gets the lead and it's a tuff world. The fact that she was offered two parts is awesome! Work hard and perform these parts well and she'll be on the radar for the next lead opportunity. I also believe that there is no harm in asking for feedback on her audition.(how else do you learn?) If there is ever an opportunity to take a "How to" audition class it can be very helpful.</p>
<p>Thanks - great advice. She is determined to do well and I know she will. She is auditioning in April for Guys and Dolls at another Comm theater - knowing full well going into it that there are only a couple of teen aged roles, and they are not large. She is learning!!!! Me, too.......</p>
<p>khsstitches - I remember when we got started with all this, that after doing a couple of "youth productions" and getting leads in those, my D decided to audition for a "community theatre production". We were quite "shocked" she did not even make callbacks :D. Little did we know at the time that this local theatre company was an award winning semi professional theatre. We had been focused on sports, not so much the local theatre scene :). I think it was her 3rd audition with this company that the stage manager called her personally and told her how they really liked her, but she was simply too young for their productions. The reason for her call however, was that they did not want my D to be discouraged, but they just wanted to "help guide us". I guess our "inexperience" had trickled through loud and clear :). On the fourth try D was finally cast as a young adult; with quite a bit of luck, as the show had not drawn the usual amount of people at auditions and so they had to "settle". As a result, she worked with the most incredible director from New York, who has since become her mentor, and learned a ton. She has continued to audition for this company, earned her "keep", and was gradually cast in bigger and bigger roles, while also expanding her horizon a bit, and working with other companies in our region. </p>
<p>Moral of the story? There is so much one can learn along the way. In spite of learning by trial and error what is appropriate and what not, I don't think my D would have wanted to experience anything any different from how she has. Sometimes a "wake up call" is kind of nice. Adjusting from being a big fish in a small pond, to being "one of the fish" is quite healthy, and tends to develop one's ambition in the process :).</p>
<p>I recently auditioned and was called back for the lead at a local theatre MT production. I think the callback went really, well but I guess it just depends on how the other girls did. The director first asked, if the lead doesnt work out, would you still be interested in being in it and/or an understudy? and then also said, you had a really great audition, you were the most prepared, and I would love to work with you and I like your personality to boot! How would you interpret that comment? I wasn’t sure if this was a hint or given the first comment, if it was a consolation for not getting the role. But then maybe I’ll still get a spot in the chorus if he says he wants to work with me? This is a positive comment right? lol Thanks in advance for any advice.</p>
<p>I sent you a PM.</p>
<p>To the OP: I think that if your D is not cast, she should volunteer to do something else on the production, such as work on costumes, scenery, sets, light, etc. so that the director can get to know her.</p>