<p>In addition to the “politics” of high school show casting, this discussion also raises by implication the question of what the objective of high school theatre should be. Should it be a “training ground” and show case for the most talented students, for students who intend to major in theatre in college, or should it be a broader educational process that seeks to draw in a variety of students to cultivate an interest and understanding of theatre, to provide an extracurricular activity that is ripe with all sorts of learning and growth opportunities ranging from the technical theatre skills necessary to build a set to the self confidence and presence that comes from performing on stage. Where the philosophy of a h.s.'s drama program falls on this spectrum will certainly influence how casting decisions are made. And while a certain level of production values needs to be maintained to be able to stage a viable show, does it always need to be the most talented kids, the “best”, who get cast, who get the principal roles? Or should opportunities be spread around among those who are capable but not “as good as”? What we are talking about is HIGH SCHOOL, where, in the public sector at least, there is a mandate to provide a “free and appropriate public education”. Shouldn’t at least the philosophical underpinnings of this extend to an area such as theatre and performing arts that is so critical to the cultural development of students (as well as to other growth and learning experiences)? </p>
<p>My daughter, who graduated from a BFA MT program and is now making a go at being a working actor, attended a public junior high (7-9th) and senior high (10-12th) each with about 1800 students in a community with broad socio-economic and racial diversity. When it came to the theatre programs at both schools, in looking back, there were a number of barriers to broad student involvement. First, all students had to raise $300 through ticket sales and program ads to participate in shows and if you failed to do so, the rule was that you would not be permitted to participate in the next semester’s or next year’s show(s). For seniors, this was treated as a graduating financial obligation like library overdue book fees and the school policy was you could not attend graduation unless the fees were paid up. For many students, this was a meaningful financial barrier. Then there was a clear issue of favoritism when it came to casting principal roles. There was a running joke/commentary that one family with daughters was trying to create a dynasty and the Momma Rose made sure that her daughters were cast in principal roles in every show. For some reason the directors succumbed to the politicking. In addition, remaining principal roles and featured ensemble roles all seemed to go to the same kids who traveled together through the grades from the junior high to the high school. For each show, it seemed that the question was not who got a particular role but what role did student A get, student B etc.</p>
<p>When my daughter entered 7th grade, she started out in a very minor ensemble role. By 9th grade, she had become one of the “inner circle” students always cast in a principal role and by 11th grade was the “go to girl” for all of the soprano leads. While we never approached any of the directors other than to congratulate them on the shows and express how much fun our daughter was having, at the time we put great significance on how our daughter was cast because by 10th grade she had decided she wanted to attend a BFA program and early on we thought her resume would be an important part of the process. Of course, we came to understand that the resume was not such a critical piece and that far more important were the years of voice and dance training and the summer intensives she attended. Her involvement in shows was the "raison d’</p>
<p>Michael, you bring up a very good point, particularly in a public school. School isn’t really the same as the regular theater world. Their mission is educational in nature. Perhaps a school is trying to give this experience to as many kids who want to participate and wants to give a chance at a lead role to different kids each year or whatever. That issue doesn’t exist in regular theater because education (or greater participation) is not part of their mission. So, keep that in mind, as hard as it may be if your child is not chosen to have a big part. </p>
<p>Michael, that is something that at your school that those who participated in the shows had to each raise $300. That would be tough for some kids to be able to do. It was not like that at our HS. I vaguely recall that each cast member was supposed to secure ads for the program of about $50. But if someone did not, I don’t recall not being able to participate or any other consequence down the line.</p>
<p>First of all, I am always depressed to hear about colleagues who appear to make decisions out of bitterness or due to feeling intimidated. I am sorry for your frustration lucymom because I am a mom too and I know it can hurt both you and your child. </p>
<p>Michael, I want to add on to what you have brought up. As a HS educator myself, one who is involved in casting decisions for our shows, I can’t tell you how many variables come into play. We are teachers first and directors second. The students are humans with needs first and actors, singers, dancers second. You cannot begin to imagine what a responsibility it is to make these decisions and I can guarantee you that we think A LOT about every kid who doesn’t get cast or gets a smaller part than they wanted—it can be overwhelming and most teachers really care about ALL of their students, but everyone cannot get the lead or even cast at all. Rejection is part of the learning lessons of life and frankly with a kid now in college who has been blessed with many, many lead roles throughout her life, I wish she had a few more rejections earlier. College auditions and casting at college has been a rude awakening her freshman year.<br>
Several other thoughts came to mind: we do have some students who do shows outside of our school and we see this as a plus not a minus…unless the rehearsal schedule outside of school has many conflicts with the school schedule. Students who are only doing the school show can begin to get hostile as those students who have outside shows begin to be seen as ‘favorites’ or ‘special’ or who get to miss rehearsals because of outside commitments. Maintaining a sense of ensemble within the cast of a show is a very important element to its success.<br>
Another big issue that goes to the philosophy of the department. Some students have had the advantage of parental support that provided them with voice and dance lessons etc. For many other students at our school who do not have either the financial resources or the parent support but have raw underdeveloped talent–public school may be the only place where they can get the training and the opportunity to develop that talent. This is a tricky equity issue.
Another thing that noone has mentioned is that teachers are under a lot of pressure to maintain high numbers of students to continue to offer arts programs at the school. If the casting always go to the kids who are training outside of school, and if there is the perception that it doesn’t really pay to be in the class in terms of casting shows–it can have serious implications for enrollment into classes. (Yes, if the class is a quality class then the skills should be developing and those students should become competitive in the audition pool–however, if a student is coming in with 6 years of private voice and studio dance classes-it is very unlikely that a new student could bridge that gap in a year or two)
There are so many issues and so many differences between casting at the high school level vs. college or professional theater. High school programs (except at performing arts schools) are filled with many students who do theater for fun. It enriches life for ALL people whether they wish to pursue it for a living or not. We WANT that to be the case also because those students who take arts classes but go into medicine or law or education or many other fields become our future audiences for theater and dance and music. If they don’t experience the art on stage, it diminishes the chances that they will become lifelong supporters of the arts.<br>
There are just so many variables for casting at high school level. Best thing to do is enjoy the production, be the best possible ensemble member you can be, take on leadership in other areas…help with sets or costumes or assist the director with the three million jobs that need doing for a show. Be a positive force in the production, practice the art of maintaining relationships with the people in charge. This will not be the last time that you don’t agree with the decisions of the directors…but if you start burning bridges now that will be your habit instead of building them. That practice will come back to haunt you.</p>
<p>Wow, I missed a lot of discussion while typing my last post intermittently as I walked away from the computer to do other things.</p>
<p>lucymom, I agree with you that this can be tough on high school students who don’t have the tools to deal with these situations and put them in perspective simply because they are young, don’t have much life experience yet and are at a stage in their lives where emotions frequently control reactions. It’s often tough for parents too because we often get sucked into being our kids most fervent cheerleaders. But part of our job is to help our kids maintain perspective and encourage them to take things in stride, to encourage them to pursue their goals even when faced with disappointments - even as we bang our heads against a wall ;).</p>
<p>I also agree with what soozie and alwaysamom posted. In college, there were semesters that my daughter was cast in principal roles and semesters where she was not cast at all even though her school stages about 6-8 shows a semester. It served no purpose to dwell on whether she should have been cast when she was not, whether she would have been “better” in a role than another, whether someone with “less” talent was cast when she was not. It’s just the way things are and if a young performer is going to emotionally survive in the world of performing, they need to just roll with it and then squeeze every bit of juice out of the opportunities that do come along with a full appreciation of each of those opportunities. My daughter also reflected in school a perspective that someone else’s successes did not diminish her. She could appreciate and share in the successes of her classmates without regard to her own casting status. Some of the most gratifying experiences she had, on more than one occasion, were when she and a friend had call backs for the same shows and they worked collaboratively together coaching each other for the call backs. She recently engaged in the same collaborative process with a college friend when both of them were invited to audition for the ensemble of a professional production of Aspects of Love. Rather than view each other as competitors, they wanted to help each other be the best they could be at the audition in the hope that they would both be cast and could enjoy working together. </p>
<p>Another perspective that my daughter developed early on in college was that more important than the role in which she is cast is that she simply have the opportunity to be on stage. While everyone would like to be the “star”, it’s just not going to be that way for everyone and anyone is not going to be the star all the time. It’s all about the performing and being part of the artistic process. This is a perspective that all high school performers who desire to pursue performing in college and as a career need to develop.</p>
<p>In this regard, I would never nor would my daughter ever treat as insignificant or “beneath her” getting cast in the ensemble. Not only is ensemble work another opportunity to be on stage, to perform, to learn and grow, to be part of the artistic process that makes a show, it is hardly trivial. It is an important part of the glue that holds a show together. And, out in the real world, it’s an opportunity to work! As alwaysamom states, looking down at ensemble work is just not a healthy attitude for any performer to have (and it is also very much off base). My daughter is currently an understudy in a professional production of Miss Saigon. In the ensemble are 2 actors who usually get leading roles. In this show, the decision was made to use them in the ensemble. My daughter had one of them as an instructor in her BFA program and knows the other from various performing related milieus. They are professionals who bring to their ensemble work the same dedication and commitment that they bring to their leading roles. My daughter is still waiting to hear about her ensemble audition for Aspects of Love. She would do cartwheels if she got it. Serving as an understudy, being in the ensemble will be important and worthy both for the experience she gets and for the value these roles bring to the production.</p>
<p>CalMTMom, just saw your post and could not agree more.</p>
<p>I appreciate your insight, and had not thought about the dynamics of running a high school program. It is likely very difficult. I will let you know that the director cried when my daughter was crying to him. So! I need to recognize that he has a heart.
I’ll admit I needed some of the attitude adjustment you all forwarded to me, and your perspectives are very worthwhile. It is very difficult to watch your kids be in pain. I can be intellectual about it and know they will grow from the experience. But at the time, your instinct is to be just about as immature as they are and to be mad and upset. Other parents don’t help, as they call to say, “I can’t believe he wouldn’t cast her! Is she going to quit the show?”
Luckily the show is not until next fall, time will take care of some of the emotion, and she will be ok. I realize it could be something far worse than a high school musical.</p>
<p>Lucymom - there are some positive aspects about having a smaller role in the school musical/play. Firstly, your daughter’s availability for outside training in voice/dance/drama. My daughter played mostly ensemble or small feature roles for her freshman, sophomore and junior years in high school. During those times, she took weekly voice lessons, multiple dance classes (ballet, tap, jazz and hip hop) and an occasional community theatre role. This really built up her MT skills set. During her senior year, she had the leads in both the fall play and spring musical. It was so time consuming that she had to drop her voice and dance classes in order to keep up with with long afternoon rehearsals, academic work and auditioning every weekend for college MT programs. </p>
<p>More importantly, perhaps, is the wisdom that she garnered from her “lesser role” experiences. She has discovered that her love of theatre is genuine and that every role REALLY IS important to the success of the show. She knows that there will always be someone else who will be favored or more talented who might get the role over her. She has learned to compete with herself only and to learn from those whom she admires. She has come out very grounded in reality. It is for these reasons, above her talent and potential, that her father and I have decided to finance an education for her in MT. </p>
<p>Lucymom I think you are right and the hardest thing of all as a parent is to see our children hurt, and to see them learning the terrible lesson that things are not always fair. Though I would never argue a casting choice, I have grappled with questioning the “process” on occasion because I do believe that when you are dealing with children, efforts should be made to make sure that the process makes sense to them. For example, when my daughter was in middle school, the music teacher had auditions for solos in a concert, then she went and “gave” a solo to a girl who hadn’t auditioned, and who had a very weak voice. Of course as adults, we all know that there had to be SOME reason for this, but the other kids were apoplectic. I actually felt sorry for the girl who got the solo. So I did email the teacher to let her know that I thought the process was flawed, and that she should either have auditions OR just pick who she wants for the solos, but by doing both she was sending the kids a very confusing message. The teacher never responded to me, and in all honesty I’m not sure I would have sent the message were my daughter not leaving that school anyway, but I thought she should have the feedback regarding how this affected the kids. Another example: my daughter knows 2 teenage girls whose father is directing a popular musical locally this summer. A casting call was printed in the newspaper for ALL roles, and teens came from all over many towns to audition (my daughter did NOT because she will be away), but the director’s 2 daughters (no big surprise) got the 2 big female leads, and most of the other parts went to friends of theirs. These girls ARE talented (as are many of the friends), but it left a sour taste in the mouths of others who auditioned. People on facebook are saying they won’t go because of the audition process. <em>sigh</em>. I think the director could have saved himself a lot of grief by just pre-casting some of the parts up front, and auditioning for the other parts. I did notice that in a big story about this production in the newspaper, it did not even mention the director’s name. Unfortunately giving feedback in anything like this can come off as just sour grapes, but sometimes when politics or ineptitude gets really glaring, something just has to be said! Never an easy call because of the “bridge-burning” fear, and the sense that in this field you just have to learn to “suck it up and move on” - and that is largely TRUE - but kids should maybe be dealt with differently. That said, I would NEVER want to be the one having to make these decisions, and I appreciate the high school drama teacher’s perspective.</p>
<p>My kids started in the business at very young ages. They quickly learned that rejection is part of the game - whether it is based on perceived favortism or not. We always responded after a rejection with “I guess they were looking for purple!” And my kids knew that no matter hard they tried, they would never be purple! It was just a fun way of saying “C’est la vie!” When they were cast - we could say “I guess they were looking for me!” Time has passed and kids are pretty grown up, but college daughter still sends me texts saying “Guess they were looking for purple!” instead of saying that she was rejected.</p>
<p>Also, despite extensive resume and training, etc. S2 has yet to get a lead in a musical at his performing arts HS. He jokes that he is working on his “featured actor” Tony award, which, after all, is still a Tony!</p>
<p>At my daughter’s public performing arts high school, they have an official casting policy which I think addresses the situation very well - its too bad more high schools don’t publish their approach to casting (and stick to it):</p>
<p>"We will do our best to give a role to each Level III and IV student at some point in each season. We will also try to refrain from having anyone monopolize larger roles. It is our preference to spread the larger roles among a variety of students so that students can have more equitable experiences. It is possible for a student not to be cast in a role when that student had the most promising audition, because this is educational theatre.</p>
<p>Casting opportunities include:
The department’s main stage productions.
The All School Musical [casting is open to all students]
The Black History production [casting is open to all students]</p>
<p>Students are cast on the basis of:
Their audition.
The level of their union card.
Their participation in the season ticket sales campaign [students have to sell a minimum of 4 season tickets at $50 each]
Their involvement with the department.
Their suitability for the role.
Their seniority.
Professional attitude and behavior
Other roles they have had.</p>
<p>Learning to make the most of a role you would not have chosen leads to the biggest growth opportunities. The process of casting is difficult and done carefully. Please know that we are doing our best and that the truth of this career includes the ability to not take casting decisions personally (no small accomplishment).</p>
<p>Level I and II students are not eligible for the department main stage productions. As with most pre-professional training programs, the first two years of class time are devoted to learning the craft. Level I and II students will perform at the end of the year in Showcases of short plays."</p>
<p>My son’s theatre director says that it is the guys that determine what show will be cast. There are so many talented females but not so many boys, which limits the shows they are able to do. Many times it is not the most talented girl who is chosen but the one who fits the part best who gets the lead.</p>
<p>Wow EmsDad that policy is so well done!! I bet they don’t get a lot of complaints from parents OR kids. Really, people just want to understand the process, and if it is laid out and stuck to, it seems fair and understandable. Hats off to whoever wrote it!</p>
<p>mommybug…I have to concur with your son. It is OFTEN the men in the department that determine even which show we are able to do and then, by elimination, which females can play successfully opposite those men. It kind of stinks for the girls
EmsDad–I actually like this idea of posting the philosophy and think we might take that and tweak it for our school. Casting shows is the worst part of my job…hands down.</p>
<p>On the other hand, my D went to an all girls high school, so could never rely on what males from other schools may or may not audition! The girls all knew this and in a reverse of the history of theater, the females knew they may be cast as pirates, policemen or whatever the need was at that time.</p>
<p>This was done at times when I was in school, and it appeared to increase the odds. If high school is about education, wouldn’t that appear to help more kids by allowing more of them to learn the responsibilities of holding a larger part? Or is it just too much of a pain in the butt for the director?
I agree, sometimes a chorus part is a blessing, as my kiddo was in a show this past winter with a community theater group where it allowed her to have a new experience but not have a six day a week rehearsal schedule as some productions require.
However, at their high school, they are expected to attend every rehearsal, are not allowed to leave early for voice lessons, dance, etc., and at times are sitting around trying to do their homework in the dark auditorium while they wait for the director to get to them. And, high school shows take months of rehearsal because so many of the kids are new comers.Part of what is frustrating is to have such unprofessional conduct on the one hand, but require kids to treat the high school show as if they were on Broadway.
I have heard from some of you who had more serious kids that your kids just stopped being involved in their school programs as a result of the craziness we’ve discussed. But, that seems like a bad idea too!
It is a tough call of what to tell your kid. There are life lessons of course in all disappointments, and you can’t avoid that. But, do you put them in situations that are frustrating to keep an unreasonable person(the director) happy, when you know that it is likely they will not be treated fairly? In life, you’d try to find another job if your boss was a jerk. In high school, do you just stick with it? or, move on.I would imagine as professional actors there are some directors and theater companies you would just avoid, or I imagine, some places that just would never cast you so it would be a moot point.</p>
<p>@lucymom: sounds like you are plagued with a really bad director. Even in middle school, my daughter’s director posted daily cast call sheets with specific rehearsal schedules to minimize kids sitting around (just like a “real” production). He used an outside music director and a choreographer to optimize everyone’s time: when the chorus was dancing with the choreographer, the leads would be working on their solos with the MD, and the character parts would be doing scenes with the director, etc. If a lead was sick, the director would adjust the daily call sheets. The kids learned that to be in a show you have to check the call sheets every morning. Despite having lead roles, my daughter rarely had to attend more than 3 nights a week of rehearsal. The shows were very good.</p>
<p>The cost of the outside consultants were very reasonable and the money was rasied as part of a school-wide “Evening With the Stars” program where each art department put on a showcase and a silent auction was held for donated items. This was just a typical urban middle school, not a performing arts school.</p>
<p>The director was a BFA graduate of Wright State and a super guy.</p>
<p>Our HS blessed with a large theatre dept with several teachers/directors. My kids have been the favorites of one of the directors and “not so much” with another. Our biggest complaint is that the head of the dept loves to pick shows based on the technical challenges, rather than appropriateness of the casting pool. Great for the tech dept, not so much for the actors (My daughter almost caught pneumonia when they staged Metamorphoses in the winter) He is also a playwright and has the kids stage all of his new works - and not all of them are winners. My kids would just like to be in shows that someone has heard of, and wants to come see! They turn to community theatre to do “popular” shows.</p>
<p>I feel pretty blessed after reading all these posts. My D’s director is as fair as he could possibly be. Casting is based on talent and seniority. He does sometimes double cast a show if he has a ton of talented seniors to give everyone a chance. We just did Les Mis though so double casting that would have been difficult. My D has worked her way up the ranks and in most cases it has been fine. Of course, there is still drama involved with unhappy parents and kids. Probably never going to end that!</p>
<p>I am so concerned that so many of you have such high stress levels over this issue. I understand the disappointment when not cast in the lead that one covets. I understand that, if you are a parent, how you feel for your child’s pain and the frustration at not being able to do much to make it go away.
May I, non-secularly, offer the Serenity Prayer, “…grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change what I cam, and the wisdom to know the difference.” Please be at peace with the truth that casting is not always fair, and, when there is some logic to it, it may still appear wrongful in the eyes of those who do not get the prime roles. This is true at every level of performing arts. Some schools, directors, companies, programs, etc. are better at seeming a bit more consistent than others seem.
Even when an effort is made, for example at Emsdad’s school – this is still easily manipulated to be whatever the whim of the director wants it to be. Anyone can say “it was the audition” – what does that mean – only the way whoever is casting interprets the audition. “Suitability for the role” – again, subject to whatever wild meanderings of how the direct interprets what is appropriate to the role. “Professional attitude and behavior” – how subjectively could that be interpreted? Now look, I do not want to nit-pick through these things – but I assure you that when the cast list goes up at that school there are many more kids that are majorly disappointed with their casting than there are kids that are happy. This is true every time a cast list goes up in any and all high schools (and colleges). The only way you will ever have control of casting is by being the director (or maybe producer). So, what to do – first you should try to be happy for those who did get the leads – be a team player, then go home and cry into your pillow, get it together, and then enjoy being in the production – in whatever capacity. To carry stress or resentment with you is frustrating and destructive and will not change anything. It is like “tying to keep a wave upon the sand”. Bottom line – let it go.</p>
