Politics

[BroomstickBoy]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 1:56am

Why oh why in community theatre do people play politics and favorites?

I recently gave a good audition for the King and I, auditioning for Lun Tha, and the director's son also auditioned and got the part. He had issues with high notes and strained a bit too much. But he got the part because the musical director, to the director's dismay, said he gets it and that's that.


At Grease, I auditioned for Danny and Kenickie and lost both parts to the local high school students. I was more confident singing and acting than the other guys who couldn't do crap with the parts.

Is regional theatre just as bad?

[Emily-Anne]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 4:44am

Harsh isn't it? You'd think in this day and age of supposed equal rights that people who have a really outstanding talent would be rewarded for their efforts. But No! It's still all about who you know and who you are.

But don't get me wrong, it can go against you too! When I was 13 (god that makes me feel ancient!) I auditioned for a place in the top Dance Company in Cornwall. My Mother had been the Co-Founder of the company back in the 80's and was, at the time, still heavily involved as Co-Artistic Director. When it came time for my audition, she sat back and refused to vote on the panel, which was perfectly fair. The other Artistic Director didn't want to let me in because she thought we would argue during rehearsals and create an atmosphere. It was only due to the two other panellists that I got in. I was in the company for 5 years and we never had a difficulty working together.

In fact I then went on to be taught by her when I studied my BTEC ND in Dance. The only problems came when I got really good grades and to this day still doubt my abilities, as a small part of me says I only excelled because of who my mother was.

So it's not that easy for us either! I just hope those talentless weasels know they didn't deserve the parts they were given!

[forni-kate]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:50pm

Ack, community theatre politics are the worst. The local theatre here will barely let you audition if you aren't related to someone already working with the theatre. It's pretty much only four familys who have 6 or 7 kids each that RUN that place, and have for years now.
Me and my friends have completely boycotted their productions due to the outrageous casting decisions they've made.

[WalveMalve]

Posted: 2/3/06 at 3:59pm

I find regional theatre to be different mainly because equity tends to be involved and because the goal of the theatre is to make money. Therefore, they expect they will cast the best possible cast that will produce the best product and therefore bring in money. Community theatres tend to have untrained directors that are, well, from the community. They generally will have a consistant audience size regardless of the quality of the production because people go expecting unprofessional talent at work.

Every company I've ever worked for that actually payed me seemed to be less political overall. In all my middle and high school productions, my best friend always out did me and got cast in lead roles while I was mostly in the ensemble occasionally getting a line here or there. Meanwhile, I was getting cast in supporting and lead roles in professional (but usually non-equity) companies. So go figure.

I think your best option is to find a different nearby community theatre or to just hope that things improve.

People will always be cast in lead roles when they don't deserve them or aren't fit for them. This can also be due to pre-casting, not just political reasons. When a director is very familiar with their audition pool, they tend to pre-cast the show and have auditions just as confirmation that the actors are interested in being in the show. Now, to be fair, in small theatre organizations with steady audition pools, it's the best option because it would be terrible if you decided to do Sweeney Todd, for instance, but had no one audition with the vocal range for the title role -- precasting, unfortunately, helps prevent this. Once a role has been pre-cast, it's hard to select someone else for the part since you've driven an image into your head and can't picture anyone else.

Also, keep in mind, that community theatre directors on the most part tend to be less inspired than professional directors and are good at providing obvious direction and will select the actors who reflect this limited, uninspired vision or are simply an echo of a performance they've seen before or heard on a cast recording.

[Overthemoon6]

Posted: 2/4/06 at 2:19am

OOOOO.. I HATE community theater politics! They let in all the old faces, and they won't take a chance on some new people!

[Magical_Ms._Mistoffeles_72]

Posted: 2/4/06 at 8:42pm

I personally love community theater, having done it for a very long time. In fact, it changed my life. But then the one I work with is very tolerant of all kinds of people, and will let anyone (19 and under, as it is a Children's Theatre company) in if they have talent and are suited to roles. But I agree, losing roles to politics sucks though for me politics has a more predominant role in highschool theater