BackStage Utah

In recent months there has been a sudden surge of angry rants in the audition section of Backstageutah.com, most of them complaining about the boogeyman of community theatre, unannounced pre-casting.� These have, in my opinion, damaged the dignity and goodwill of the local theatre community. Instead of continuing to get frustrated and make the same arguments in all of these threads, I�m writing this letter to just say how I feel about this subject and hopefully leave it there.

I more than understand the frustrations of the audition process. As I�ve repeated enough times that some people are getting sick of hearing it, I�ve more or less retired from acting because of them. The casting process is brutal and discouraging. And I can�t agree with those who say to just persevere and the good parts will come. I suppose it depends on your definition of �good parts�. In the process of 20 years, more than fifty plays and somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 auditions, the parts I wanted never came. Whether this was due to �type� or the fact that I just wasn�t as good an actor as I wanted to be, I really don�t know. It doesn�t much matter at this point.� �After putting aside emotion and taking a hard look at it, I realized the roles weren�t going to come, and that I was never going to be happy with the parts that were coming. I�m not suggesting this as a course of action, just stating that I feel it was a good decision in my case. Moving on has made me a happier and more fulfilled person.

But, as much as I hated the discouragement of dealing with typecasting, favoritism, etc, I have to be honest and say these things were not mistreatment. Actors want to see an audition as an athletic competition. If you �dig down deep� and nail the audition, you�ll get the role. It doesn�t work that way, and, you know what? It shouldn�t, necessarily. You may very well have given the best audition that day. You may well be a better actor/actress/singer/dancer than the person they cast. Or you may not. Either way, casting is about realizing the production team�s vision of the show, not about picking who had the best day there, or even who the most all around talented person is. In addition, as frustrating as it is to feel your time was wasted, please consider that, even in a small audition, the production team is trying to coordinate many different elements, and dealing with a number of actors. As great as it would be to expect them to give equal attention to the opportunities and emotions of every single auditioner, that�s not a fair and reasonable expectation. Their minds must first and foremost be on the show. The majority of directors and producers I have known over the years have genuinely not wanted to hurt anyone�s feelings. But it�s unavoidable. All it takes is two people who had their hearts sets on the same role. One of them doesn�t get it, and their feelings are justifiably hurt. It can be painful to miss out on something that�s really important to you. I certainly know it was for me. I�m still seriously smarting over auditions that took place in 1998, 2001 and 2004.

So, what I�m saying is, you don�t need to have a positive attitude. The sun may very well not come out tomorrow, and pretending it will when the evidence shows it won�t may not help you or make you happy. But hiding under the mask of anonymity to take shots at the theatre or director who hurt you won�t help you or anyone else. It will only create more bad feelings. And, even if you�re being open about your identity, give some thought to your public statements. The likelihood of any actor�s perspective about any audition ever being accurate and unbiased is very low. Publicly badmouthing the people and organization for who you auditioned just simply isn�t very classy or very smart. It has all of the dignity, credibility and persuasive value of restroom grafitti.

Finally, let�s examine what �pre-casting� is and isn�t. It IS, officially or unofficially, making an advance decision about who is playing a role and not giving anyone else consideration for the role. While this would in theory include having people read for the role �for show� and not taking them seriously, that�s impossible to prove, and even if you  feel certain of it yourself that�s more likely jealousy and anger speaking than it is a reasonable interpretation of the circumstances.

Pre-casting is NOT casting a friend, a relative, or a favorite that typically plays the leads. Arguments could be made for or against any of these practices. That�s another subject. It could be favoritism, it could be lack of imagination, or it could be an honest choice that said person was who the director and/or producer felt best fit their vision for the role. But it�s not pre-casting. It�s not �basically� pre-casting. It�s a completely different, unrelated animal.

In closing, I�m just asking people to think before they speak, and not hurl accusations out of anger. There is no potential for good in that. The theate community isn't made up of heroes and villains, just imperfect people who are, for the most part, just trying to do their best.

Thank you,
Paul Gibbs,
a.ka. Dark Knight

Rosie Poppins wrote on Jun 19^th, 2010 at 5:08pm:


Thank you. That is a very kind thing to say.

Being an actor wanting to land that role, as well as being a director having had to deal with the audition process, your well-written letter was much needed as a reminder or an eye-opener to those in the theater community.

I moved to Utah a year ago and have found it a little difficult to "break into" the local community theaters here.... at least in comparison to my previous 6 years in CA. However, I never blamed not getting a role on pre-casting. I realize that you need to get your face out there and to meet people also, and I have enjoyed visiting various theaters and meeting everyone during auditions.
   And to respond to someone else's comment.... a director must have a vision for their show and casting normally coincides with this. Sometimes, adjustments have to be made depending on who shows for auditions. However, even if someone auditions wonderfully, they may not get cast because of something as simple as being to old/young/thin/large/tall, etc. This happens to everyone and it won't change.
   DK, one thing I can't necessarily agree with in your letter is the thinking positive. For me, I have to keep my hopes up and wear my "rose colored glasses". It is what keeps me going.
   I think I'm rambling, so I'll end for now.

Silent Knight wrote on Jun 19^th, 2010 at 4:02pm:


DK I actually just started a letter on my computer similar to these sentiments that I was going to post here, you beat me to it. Reading between the lines it sounds to me as people have been using the phrase �pre-casting� as a term that means �The director did not cast me and it hurt my feelings.�� The reactions of late to casting decisions have simply had me floored. I am glad I am not the only person to feel this way and I applaud your forthrightness and your timely words. A general definition of "pre-casting" was needed; the phrase is far too often used incorrectly. Stating that someone has been "pre-cast" after an audition might make certain auditioners feel better, but stop to think how these accusations make the person who was cast in the lead feel; how does it make the director feel? I for one applaud those directors and theaters that have, of late, been attacked and unfairly accused by auditioners who have been overlooked for their general class in not attacking back.�

DK I also appreciate you signing your letter but for other reasons entirely that would better be discussed in another subject.

sassyjose wrote on Jun 19^th, 2010 at 9:27pm:


Thank you. You can PM if that is something you wish to discuss. Or start a thread about it. Either way.