Making Cuts
Printed From: Community Theater Green Room
Category: Producing Theater
Forum Name: Directing
Forum Discription: For questions about handling shows, actors, crew, board members, children ...or do we repeat ourselves?
URL: http://www.communitytheater.org/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=5164
Printed Date: 11/27/24 at 9:49am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 8.05 - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: Making Cuts
Posted By: Legacy Theater
Subject: Making Cuts
Date Posted: 9/11/11 at 9:57pm
Hi everyone,
I have started a new community theater and we are going to be auditioning for the first time in the community tomorrow night. Our previous show was done with people I know. We have now opened up auditions to everyone. We are doing A CHRISTMAS CAROL and I will have about 35 roles to fill. As of now, I have 55 people signed up to audition. This is a great "Problem" to have. My question is about making cuts. I can cast 55 folks (if they deserve it0 as
1 - In your experience, if you cut, do those folks bad-mouth your company? I am afraid that if I make 20 cuts, that leaves me with 20 people who have a gripe with our company.
2- 55 people is a lot of costumes to make/rent/buy . . . However, that is 55 people selling tickets, getting excited about the show and spreading the word to their spheres of influence.
In your experiences, what do you think about making cuts?
Thanks :)
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Erika Hose
President Legacy Theater Company
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Replies:
Posted By: Majicwrench
Date Posted: 9/11/11 at 11:35pm
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#1 I am sure a few people I have cut have badmouthed me and/or the theatre group. I don't worry too much about it.
#2 55 people, so if you have 35 roles what are the other 20 people doing?? I do not like bringing in a lot of extra people just to fill the seats. More cast = more headaches. Actors with nothing to do are bored and just get in the way, and are likely to drag down the quality of the show.
Keith
I make cuts. It has to be done, it is the nature of the beast. Thanks them profusely, save their contact info, keep in touch with them about future shows.
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Posted By: Majicwrench
Date Posted: 9/14/11 at 3:50pm
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So how did auditions go??
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Posted By: MusicManD
Date Posted: 9/17/11 at 9:08am
In my high school shows, I'm always conscious of the chorus and making sure that ensemble is strong. And yes, I also appreciate that more cast members means more butts in the seats, especially in high school. With that said, I set an upper limit on the cast in my head and don't cast more than that.
For example, this year we're doing Seussical, and I knew I wanted a fairly large chorus to thicken the singing. I also knew that our stage couldn't handle much more than thirty, so that was my limit. 28 auditioned, so I was able to cast everyone, but with 31, I would have had some tough decisions to make. With over 50? A lot easier to make cuts (as it is, I am finding my cast to be too large for some of the choreography).
The director of the CT who got me hooked on acting said something like this: not getting the part is just another aspect of the craft. If you really want to master the art of acting, you need to get good at handling getting cut.
In my experience, making the show artificially large just so nobody is cut is not the wisest idea. Our CT does a major musical every year with no cuts. This year was willy wonka, and had a cast of over 200. That meant at least 180 of them were in only one scene each. Yes, it fills the seats and makes us a ton of money, but the production budget then gets sucked into costuming oompa loompas and squirrels who are onstage literally once before curtain call.
Just make sure you're not cutting the same people all the time or casting the same people all the time, and your reputation should be fine.
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Posted By: falstaff29
Date Posted: 9/24/11 at 1:47pm
I'm not sure that more people in the cast always means more people in the audience. You have to consider that actors with more insignificant roles are less likely to promote the show to as wide a group of friends and family, and not as many of those invited may come.
So, padding the cast with extras just to put more bums in seats may not pay off as well as you'd think!
As far as theaters developing bad reputations, I've said this before on this forum: I think open auditions are one of the biggest reputational mistakes theater groups can make. When I can see what the competition is doing, it becomes clear to me if the theater group is cliquey when I don't get cast.
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