Auditions - Brian Greer

I apologize for the extremely late posting of all these blogs, however these are records from various rehearsals and conversations with actors.

Auditions are always a scary prospect, for everyone really. I’ve been at them on nearly every side: actor, director, stage manager, production manager. I don’t know if people realize that everyone is nervous. Leading up to the auditions, I had frantic thoughts running constantly. What if there aren’t enough people for the everyone’s show? What if there aren’t enough guys/girls for the desired casting? Then, the questions that apply to each individual director started. What if myself and another director want the same person? What if no one shows good chemistry? What if no one can do a French accent well? What if, what if, what if. There’s the “Magic If” in acting, but this isn't what Stanislavksi was concerned about.

Sure enough, more than enough people turned out for the audition. It was a luxury to see so many people interested in the production, with numerous people asking, “If I don’t get cast, can I work on the crew?” I love it when people are invested in the production itself rather than just being in it. It’s a luxury, really.

We had two evenings of auditions, with new faces both nights. People I had never seen before turned out. People from Linn Benton Community College showed up to be in the production. The word was out! The reception from those auditioning as well was great. They were excited about the shows, excited about the directors, and just excited. The energy was through the roof! It made the audition process fun and enjoyable, and clearly helped actors and directors relax.

At the same time, it was a tough audition. It was tough to deliberate through the various actors that read. Even though my cast calls for all men, I obviously paid attention to the ladies as well. Hell, there were strong enough actresses that I could have flipped the gender of my entire show. In the end, I stayed true to the script, and cast three talented actors that also fit the physical descriptions I desired. A great part was there was only one conflict in directors wanting the same actor. I was stressed throughout that we would all be fighting over the same people, but there was an abundance of talent and directors saw something in their choices that they wanted. A great process overall!