Hey,

   Have any of you directors out there had auditions for just one actor before your actual auditons?  I have an actor very interested in auditioning for me for a play I'm directing.  My auditions are in mid-November.  He's going to be in South Africa on business when I have my actual auditons. He wants to audition for me.

  Have any of you done this for  a very interested actor before?   Just wondering. I suppose if I'm really impressed by what he does then I could hold off my call backs but that would push them into December.  I really want to have the play cast by then.

  Any sage advice out there. Do I audition this guy?  I have seem him on stage and he's a fairly goood actor.  He played a lead role.

Sidebar note- Male actors up here are very difficult to find as the large number of CT's.  A lot of time CT's are phoning and begging actors to come out to auditions. 

I say to give him the private audition. 

A) Male actors are few and far between.

B) He has a legit excuse for missing the official auditions

C) You might want to kick yourself if he is "the one".

We often schedule private auditions at our theatre in the days or weeks prior to casting the show.  I always try to have my producer, Board advisor, and/or assistant director present.  I always announce at the regular auditions that I have conducted a private audition.  I  tell them how many people auditioned, but don't inform them of the names of the auditioners.

As long as the person has a legitimate excuse and is not just expecting preferential treatment, I don't seen anything wrong with it.  (We don't generally have call-backs, so that isn't an issue).

Thanks for the advice. I will give him his private audition and have arranged for somebody I know who is planning on auditioning to come and help with the readings.

     If I feel I need him at call-backs, epecially to read with his romantic interest, then I'll move my call-backs.  They'd only be moved by 10 days.  And play doesn't start rehearsing until early in the New Year.

     I'll keep you posted. 

I definiately would do a private audition if I could schedule it.  You already know he is motivated to be involved in your show because he contacted you. Go for it!  Like someone else said, it is better than having to kick yourself later, if the "right" person doesn't show up for auditions. 

I would like to add to make sure you have at least one other person with you during the audition session--preferably the casting committee.  There are many reasons for this advice, besides having someone else who can refer to the audition when decisions are being made a few weeks later.  Also, I would videotape the private audition, so you can remember what he did.

(I sometimes don't remember how someone auditioned a week later, let alone 2 months later.)

Originally posted by castMe B-M-D.  Would you start a new thread and explain what a casting committee is and what it does.  Thanks

Will be happy to once the dust settles on the board outages.   I've had to re-do a couple or three postings having had them disappear after clicking the post reply button while in an outage.

Just a word of warning from a BAD experience I had.  Many years ago, I was publicly and privately promised the role of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof.  The guy who directed told EVERYONE in the theater group that if HE got to direct, I was going to play the role.  I know, may sound a bit pompous but I wasn't the one saying it.  AT ANY RATE, when the auditions came around and the director conducted those auditions, I was THE ONLY one auditioning for Tevye at all - out of well over a hundred and thirty auditioners.  I read with every stinking combination in God's green world as the ONLY Tevye candidate there - who 1) WANTED THE ROLE and 2) WHO READ FOR THE ROLE.  TWO DAYS of auditions were held with call backs.  The day the decisions were made I was told that they wanted me to do LAZAR WOLF the butcher.  Seems they PRE-AUDITIONED someone who had gone on HIS BUSINESS TRIP (but who had done the role 10 years prior) BUT who was NOT at auditions, NO MENTION OR ANNOUNCEMENT was made that the role was NOT available (they HAD PRE-CAST him before he even LEFT) and during the audition process NO-ONE ELSE READ for the role AT ALL - but ME.

Needless to say I TOOK the role because I wanted to do the show...graciously accepting the "secondary" role in this case.  People who had heard the public declarations were livid that I was not playing the role.  I did whatever I possibly could to quell any dissatisfaction about it being totally the pro (while steaming under my breath to myself).  But I did it graciously.  Well when I told the guy (WE HAD TO SHARE A DRESSING ROOM) what had been done he was totally pissed off that they had done that to me and would have gladly declined had he known.  As it was we got along GREAT he and I.  He however, was drunk at just about every performance, I NEVER know what lyrics I was going to have to make up to RHYME with him in TO LIFE, and I literally blew him off the stage at every performance - NOT TRYING to - just that I did because he didn't know what the heck he was doing or where he was most of the time.

SO I said all that to say this - if you DO PRE AUDITION someone for a particular role - be honest to the rest of the auditioners and let them know that there are others who have been seen before who could not make it to auditions for business reasons/conflicts and that EVERYONE would receive a FAIR ASSESSMENT as to who gets the role.  OR DON'T PRE-AUDITION someone who can't show up to auditions.  It's fair either way - and HAD I been told, I wouldn't have had to work so hard to "fill-in" while the director matched people up with the Tevye who wasn't there that they had already cast...leaving me to do it all and then be offered a secondary role...which by the way, I am glad I did.  Because 10 years after that I got to DO Tevye and while I COULD have done it before, I was glad I had 10 more years to learn the role.  THEN when I did it, it was the best I could possibly do.

Tony Di