<p>My D has graduated from college and is home working, saving money, and planning to go off "somewhere better" as soon as she gets a little $$$ in the bank. While she is here, she is wanting to audition for some equity theaters in the area. The problem is that all the roles for 20-something white females seem to have been pre-cast. There are a couple of shows for which she was interested in auditioning and anxiously awaited the audition notice to be posted, only to find that all the roles had been filled except for some men, children and ethnic roles. Is this the case everywhere?</p>
<p>In my area, there are 2 local equity companies which hold local auditions in the spring for the following season. After the local ones, they hold other auditions as well - one in NY, the other in Chicago and NY. There is also a consortium of several theatres, ranging from Equity down to semi-professional that hold local auditions that are considered general unifieds – similar to many summer stock auditions such as Strawhats, MidWest, Southeast, etc. You do an audition in front of representatives from several theatres, and they can contact you for a more specific audition if they see you as a possible fit.</p>
<p>Sometimes theatre websites list upcoming audition opportunities – if yours don’t I would definitely call and ask about local casting procedures.</p>
<p>I would say in our parts the exact same situation takes place as MusThCC described. The equity theatres hold auditions in conjunction with a few other regional theatres in Chicago and NY for the majority of roles. Then smaller roles, kids roles, or non-equity performances (typically the christmas shows) are cast at a local unified audition in March that includes about 10 local theatres ranging from the equity houses to semi-pro. Actually the kids audition is in the summer. DD has a few friends who have been active in community/semi-pro theatre in the city for years who have been contacted directly by directors to audition for a specific part in an up-coming season if they know the person well, but it was only because they had extensive contact from kid work in previous years.</p>
<p>Would it be considered a major faux paus (sp?) to audition for a role for which you may not be suitable just to get a chance to be seen? The audition notice says they PREFER the role to be played by an Asian, which my D is not, but it sort of sounds like they would consider otherwise if no one fit that bill. This is all her doing, but in my spare time at work, I sometimes surf the area theatre web sites to see what’s going on. When the new seasons were posted, by D was excited about auditioning for some of the shows, but so far, as I said before, many roles are precast.</p>
<p>As long as it says prefer she can audition. Nothing aggravates a casting director more than having someone show up to audition who clearly doesn’t match the casting call. </p>
<p>She also shouldn’t be so fussy - unless she is currently Equity she should audition for non-equity productions as well. She should also see if there are any local film/television productions - ie local commercials. Anything to get on her resume for exposure and experience for when she makes the “big move” geographically. </p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>My daughter is not being fussy at all. She decides what she’s going to audition for and is currently in a community theatre show and plans to do more of them unless a paying opportunity presents itself. She doesn’t even ask me about any of it, except maybe the location of different theatres because she is navigationally impaired. LOL. I guess I am more than just a little naive in thinking that everyone auditions and has a chance to land a role. I was wondering how one “breaks into” these companies. She is not planning to audition for the Asian role, but I was asking the question if it would be inappropriate. I guess I should have asked her, but she was at work and this forum is such a wealth of knowledge, I thought I would ask you all! Besides, she would roll her eyes at me. :D</p>
<p>It takes a lot to educate ourselves in the world of actors! My daughter started as a child so most of the information I had to learn as she was young. I do agree that my daughter has little patience for my input or questions now that she is older and can handle it all herself.</p>
<p>FWIW I think that she should audition for the Asian role since they say “prefer” and you just never know what they will or won’t find. At lease she’ll get seen by the casting director and they will in all likelihood make notes (hopefully positive) on her headshot for future reference.</p>
<p>If you would like some interesting info for your own use there are some forums you can peruse - Backstage.com message board and Delphi Forums PARF board are two I recommend. Your daughter probably already knows about Backstage; the PARF board is for parents of child actors but I find very helpful and informative.</p>
<p>Backstage.com is also a good source for upcoming industry auditions- theater, film, tv, commercials, dance, etc so it is worth subscribing too. Actors Equity has a casting call site that lists upcoming auditions in the Eastern, Central, and Western regions for free.
Be aware that if your daughter is not Equity she can go to these calls but she needs to get there very very early. Equity actors are seen first, and if there is time and the numbers allow, non-equity are also seen. Unfortunately more often than not these days non-Equity have better chances at non-Equity calls since business is down and lots of NYC actors are out of work so it is harder for non-Eq to get seen at Equity calls. My daughter has several friends out on cruise lines, with Disney, and non-Eq national tours right now- another way to save some dough for the BIG move. Hope this helps. BTW, unfortunately, pre-casting is common.</p>
<p>Thanks for the info. I know my D is more up on these things than I am. Every now and then I try to throw out some tidbit of information that I learned on CC just to impress her. Ha. She’s always surprised when I know something she doesn’t, which isn’t often, but it makes me smile. 
I try to stay out of her business. That’s why I asked you all these questions and not her. I shouldn’t have been so naive about the pre-casting, I guess.</p>