My Tears-Free Audition Process

Casting Creatively: Distributing roles with the goals of creative expression, personal growth, leadership development and unity within the drama club students is one of our main goals in MAD Society clubs.  Sometimes this means that the leaders need to be satisfied with the aesthetic outcomes not meeting their preconceived expectations. 

I hope this blog post promotes drama clubs to value honor and respect, putting the need for a harmonious and motivated cast above the goal of creating a “perfect” performance. 

I’m going to give you 2 options for distributing roles/parts. In the MAD Society Handbook curriculum there are 4 kinds of performances: Spring Plays, Variety Shows, Dinner Theaters and Talent Shows. Pick the description of the show YOU are performing that works best with your specific situation.

1. For mature students: I recommend going part by part, student by student as you fill the roles/jobs for the upcoming event.  Start with the oldest participants (because they will be graduating sooner and should get priority). Give them 24 hours to pick a part/job.  Then move on to the next student until everything is filled. Or, have a ‘part picking party’ and get it all done at once. After everyone has picked one role, you can double up for actors who can handle 2 roles. Again, start with the oldest. MAD Society performances, skits & plays have things like optional roles, an opening skit, emcee parts, group improv skits, and narrators parts that can increase a students participation in the play if they want it.
2. For younger students or a newer drama group: Send out a simple questionnaire and ask students to pick 3 roles they would be happy with and be sure each student gets one of those 3 roles. After everyone has picked one role, you can double up for actors who can handle 2 roles. Again, start with the oldest. MAD Society performances, skits & plays have things like optional roles, an opening skit, emcee parts, group improv skits, and narrators parts that can increase a students participation in the play if they want it.

MAD Hint: Do not show students or guardians the full play scripts until each student is selecting their part.  This avoids students falling in love with a specific character and potentially not getting it. It also removes the ability for guardians to mull over parts with their student and potentially pressure them into doing something the student isn’t excited about. You CAN show them portions of the play the details of each character.

Note to you, the leader: because you are doing most of the hard work for this club, don’t feel bad if you want to give your children first choice for jobs and parts. Sometimes a student goes above and beyond in a particular MAD situation, or gets jipped for some reason when it comes to jobs/roles. If this happens, don’t feel bad giving that student first dibs as well. However, avoid giving special treatment without good reason. It will be noticed and it will create division among the students and their families. Just be honest with the whole drama club about how you want to honor (or restore) someone with first dibs for a part.

You might need to actually pick parts for your club if there are special needs that require different strategies. I have seen lots of people handle filling roles and jobs within their theater club many ways. I guess my one final piece of advice is to refrain from the typical audition process that gives false hope, makes unhealthy comparisons, dashes dreams and creates division.  Doesn’t life already come with so many of these things naturally? I know we can do better for our kids.

So, will picking one of these two casting options 100% guarantee that no one will walk away from your casting process without some negative feelings? Of course not. Valuing free will and learning to lead the beautiful humans who possess that free will is hard. But it’s worth it.

Check out my short blog post on the number one source for help when leading a ministry, The Secret to MAD Coaching https://www.madsocietyinc.com/blog/the-mad-society-ink-no-7

~Bethany

#TheaterTips #CastingCall #DramaLeadership #RespectfulCasting