Author Topic: Informing auditioners they have been cast  (Read 3623 times)

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stagemanagerluana

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Informing auditioners they have been cast
« on: Apr 20, 2017, 03:55 pm »
Question...

How does everyone here let auditioners know if they have been cast or not?  Do you physically post a Cast List?  Make personal phone calls?  Mass email?  Personal email?

I work at a small community theater.  This will be my 8th show there.  I normally call every auditioner personally, but recently found out some of the other SM's don't do this. 
« Last Edit: Apr 20, 2017, 04:47 pm by stagemanagerluana »

Michelle R. Wood

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Re: Informing auditioners they have been cast
« Reply #1 on: Apr 20, 2017, 07:58 pm »
In the professional world the SM wouldn't be the person making those calls, since it's a hiring situation. In community theatres, though, there's a huge amount of variety. Back in my community theatre board member days, it was the responsibility of our directors to call their casts. Sometimes these shows didn't even have a stage manager yet (yes, really).

Here's a pro tip from those days: we would make phone calls beginning with the leads and working our way down, waiting to call the "not cast" list last. If for any reason someone bows out of the show at this point (which, especially in the community realm, is prone to happen), you don't have to un-un-cast someone, and can move people up without anyone being aware of a problem. We were especially mindful of this situation when working with children casts.

Speaking from personal experience: don't assume actors will check back the website if they don't hear from you personally. I was once cast in a show and didn't realize it until I checked the website a few weeks later to see if they were selling tickets yet, just a few days before rehearsals were set to start.
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stagemanagerluana

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Re: Informing auditioners they have been cast
« Reply #2 on: Apr 26, 2017, 08:59 pm »
Thank you for responding!

At the community theater I work with, I am approached months ahead of time to SM a show.  I've never had any of the directors make their own phone calls; it's always been me.  (They don't want to be the "bad guy".) 

Normally, how I've done it is to start with the leads and work my way down the list.  The longest it's taken to get thru the entire list is 3 days because of leaving messages, returning phone calls, etc.  (I also have a regular day-job so I can only make phone calls in the evening.)

One theater here has sent out individual emails to let people know they've been cast.   (That would actually work great for me...)

Joshua S.

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Re: Informing auditioners they have been cast
« Reply #3 on: Apr 27, 2017, 11:03 am »
I feel like in the age of technology we now live in, you shouldn't have to spend 3 days making phone calls.  I worked for a rather large community theatre for a couple of years, and they always just posted the cast list, in both a physical location and on their website and never had any issues with this process.  The process was also made very clear during auditions though about when callback/cast lists would be posted and where to look for them.  If you're the one doing this for every show or at least a good portion of them, then I would definitely be proactive about finding a more efficient and effective way.

stagemanagerluana

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Re: Informing auditioners they have been cast
« Reply #4 on: May 02, 2017, 01:48 am »
Joshua,

I know, right?!??  Most shows I do take just 1 or 2 days.  But one show I did had a really big cast and it took FOREVER to actually speak with EVERYONE.

I'm meeting tomorrow with the director of the upcoming show and I'm going to talk with him about this.

Thank you!