I direct for a high school and am also the school's choir director.

I've always done no-cuts shows, but that turned out to be a disaster with my last production (too big of a show, too many in the cast, and all of the production staff I was supposed to have quit right before rehearsals began).  Thus, I've finally decided to do a small show.

We selected "The Pirates" by AA VanGilder, which really only has room for about 12 actors- 4 males, 5 females, and 3 extras.  I had auditions on Monday and Wednesday, and lamented Wednesday night about the casting.  I had 5 guys try out- easy enough; the four male parts and the last guy gets to be an extra and an understudy (one of my better guys is a bit squirrely).  Then I had SEVENTEEN girls try out for basically seven parts.  I had a couple of reliable seniors- just not the strongest actresses- who barely made the cut for extras (and I had to expand the cast to 13 to do that), but I was able to justify that because all the leads were juniors or seniors.

AND then I had a freshman girl come in yesterday (Thursday) who was sick on Wednesday when she wanted to audition.  She blew almost everyone else out of the water, so now I'm faced with a choice- bump one or both seniors off the bottom, bump another freshman who I had as a featured extra, or just expand the show again to 14.

My biggest concern, honestly, is a fight scene at the end of the show where all the extras were going to play guards against the main characters.  Originally it was supposed to be three guards and the pirate captain against the four main characters, and then the pirate switches sides to turn the tables.  If I expand the cast to 14, the numbers in that scene become 6 against 4 and then 5 on 5 when the pirate swaps sides.  Makes sense from a dramatic standpoint, but it does mean two more swords to rent/buy/make and two more combatants on the relatively small stage.

I guess the reality is that if I cast 5 extras instead of 3 (1 freshman, 2 sophomores, and 2 seniors), one or more will probably quit, especially since (except for the freshman) they all have had bigger roles in the past.

Thoughts?

I hope everything works out for you.  I imagine that it must be extra difficult making casting decisions in a school situation.

We have had similar issues with my theatre company and others that I have worked with. It is guaranteed with teens that you will have kids drop. I am currently doing a show that we started with a cast of 30 people. Two weeks before we open we are down to 14 cast members and one that has been whispering to others that he is going to quit.

If people don't drop, why not have people off to the side watching and reacting to what is going on? If your stage is as small as mine is, too many fighters ends up not only looking like a cluttered mess, but can end up being dangerous. We did Cats a few years ago and the swordfight with Growltiger vs the Siamese, we put half the cast on the sidelines to just watch and react.