Question about auditions and inclusion

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

One of the things that Theatre@First has been considering over the past couple of years are ways to be more welcoming and inclusive as an organization, ways to celebrate the diversity within our theatre community, and ways to reach out more vigorously to our entire community.

If you're a local actor, I hope that you already know that we are holding auditions for our March 2012 production of Pride & Prejudice next week. If you didn't know and are interested, please visit our website for more info and to make an appointment.

We work hard to make our auditions as low-stress as possible, given what an inherently stressful situation it is. As the director of this show, I want to do everything I can to encourage interested actors, to help them to give their best performance in auditions, and to communicate that each actor receives my full consideration.

Here are some of the things we're already doing: We try to project a welcoming, supportive environment. We include a section about diversity in our mission statement. We put the readings we'll be using on our website, so that they're not really "cold". We don't ask for resumes or head shots and our audition forms don't ask the actors to give us their age or any information about their appearance. We provide water and snacks. We try to explain our process as much as possible. We have people whose main job at auditions is to mingle with the actors, focusing on the new faces, answering questions, making a personal connection and helping everyone to relax and feel comfortable with us.

A recent article has me thinking about stereotype threat and considering whether there are stereotypes likely to be activated in the audition situation and whether there are ways to mitigate that potential.

If you have any suggestions or perspective to offer, I'm interested in your thoughts.

Comments

[lac.livejournal.com]

I am looking to get into doing some local theatre actually. I've always wanted to and never have. Now, as a slightly older version of my younger self (heh...I'm 42), I am not sure if I've sort of missed the boat there. Although, I don't particularly look my age, which is a blessing really. I'd like to audition but never having done it, the whole thing kind of unnerves me. But I suppose the best thing to do would be to just do it. So, I'm more worried about ageism and not being an actual local actor at this point.

Lots to think about...

[plumtreeblossom.livejournal.com]

We are lucking to have snowballed some good age diversity -- gone are the days when at 40 I was one of the oldest. I'm 47 now and there are many older than me getting cast. Go forth and audition, whippersnapper! ;-)

[lac.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I think I will.

[lillibet.livejournal.com]

You'd always be welcome. In P&P there are roles for a wide range of ages. On our audition forms we ask about acting experience--the ticky-boxes are "first show," "some," "not for a long time," and "many, many shows". We've had many actors begin acting with T@F and are very excited to bring new people to the stage.

I'm not gonna lie--auditioning can be stressful. I'm going to judge you and probably reject you, along with most of the other people auditioning--that's the job and it's not a fun part of it. But I will also be impressed that you stand up there on the stage, glad to have you there, and pleased to meet you. Please do consider it, either for this show or a future one.

[miss-chance.livejournal.com]

On our audition forms we ask about acting experience--the ticky-boxes are "first show," "some," "not for a long time," and "many, many shows"

Hmmm... this has me thinking...

If I were maybe sorta considering auditioning (which I'm not, but that has to do with time-allocation issues and nothing else), I would find this very reassuring. Those ticky-boxes sound non-threatening to me. BUT If I hadn't read this far into this post b/c I'm generally interested in T@F's efforst on this topic, I wouldn't know how non-threatening the audition form is.

I wonder if it makes sense to put the audition form (assuming it's not that long) up in a jpg behind a cut, when you announce auditions on DSLJ? I mean, If I were scared to audition because it sounds intimidating, I might not go to the T@F website to see the resources there. But if I saw these friendly-sounding ticky-boxes in the anouncements, it might help me feel like this is something for me.

The question about gender above, f'rinstance. If I had been discriminated against for my gender-presentation frequently enough, I might start from a position of assuming that auditioning isn't for me. But if I saw what plumtreeblossom described-- only boxes asking what gender roles I'm comfortable playing, and not a question asking my own gender--that might put a little more at ease.

Which is all to say, I suspect your process is already quite unthreatening, and I wonder if you can somehow reveal more of it in the actual audition announcement?

[muffyjo]

The form is on the website

[lac.livejournal.com]

Thank you! Rejection actually does not bother me too much. My family is one of a performing bent and my mother was a stage performer and was in a band so I think if she thought I got pissy about rejection, she'd be annoyed. Plus, I work craft fairs with my jewelry and no one rejects like someone who thinks your stuff is crap.

So, I would expect to get rejected but that wouldn't stop me from trying again.

[bex77]

It would be great to see you at auditions! We have a diverse range of ages in the casts and crews. I don't know or care about the ages of actors, but I think all five actors in our last show were your age or older, and several of those auditioning were in their 70's. And I'd guess that actors in our last main stage production ranged in age from early 20's to late 60's. Also, we average about 50% new actors in each show. The last show, three of the five actors were new to us.

If you don't get cast this time, I hope you'll consider helping out in other ways. It takes a lot of people who are not acting to put on a show. And we have a lot of fun off-stage.

[lac.livejournal.com]

Actually, I would be more than happy to help out in other ways...it's a nice way to get involved.

Thanks so much!

[dpolicar]

Speaking as a 42-year-old T@F regular (cast in several plays, including some lead roles, directed a few times, active in the steering committee): please audition!

[lac.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the encouragement! I actually did make an appt to audition and I appreciate all the encouragement.