The Audition Process

When Lauren and I began planning auditions, we knew we wanted to organize them a bit differently than those you typically experience at Wesleyan. I had been involved in so many wonderful conversations over the summer regarding theater at Wesleyan and took great inspiration from them all. Chatting at the Shades workshops, our own Curious Incident summer sessions, as well as with friends and other theater makers left me with these questions: What even is "talent"? And how do we create an audition that doesn't exclusively privilege technique and experience over passion and connection? I wanted to write the following post to provide a little peek into our thought and decision-making process regarding auditions.

By the end of the summer, Lauren and I realized our auditions would have to be done over Zoom. We discussed how to develop a warm and friendly environment despite the physical distance. How perhaps our introductions should be a bit more casual and involve asking questions about auditionees' lives so as to create a more personal connection. We also knew releasing an outline of the audition when we announced the dates would be extremely beneficial for anyone considering auditioning, especially in this new and unfamiliar format.

So we started by crafting this outline, which Lauren created and then edited with me and Malaika, our Community Outreach Coordinator. We first decided to have auditionees bring in a piece of text they were passionate about rather than simply a monologue. While everyone has access to a piece of text they love (a poem, speech, section from a book, etc.), only experienced actors may know where to find monologues (or may have them already prepared). For those overwhelmed by the task of picking something they were passionate about, we also included some suggestions on where and how to find that text. 

We then outlined exactly what the auditionees would do with the text (perform it and then work on it with Lauren for a few minutes), so they knew what to expect. We also explained the movement portion of the audition, recognizing that it might be particularly intimidating for some and emphasizing that people should move only in ways that feel good in their bodies. Lastly, we discussed how critical it was that auditionees not only knew what was expected of them, but also understood how they were being assessed, so we shared a list of what Lauren was looking for: people who took chances, who were comfortable exploring movement, and who were generally excited about the project.

All these seemingly minuscule details contributed to increasing the transparency of our process. You can find a lot of this information on the audition page of our website, too. Once we solidified the format of auditions, we began figuring out the logistics. 

First came creating the audition form. We decided to release the audition form and the audition sign-up sheet simultaneously in order to learn about our auditionees in advance, rather than mere moments before they auditioned. Beyond introducing us to those auditioning, the form also allowed us to prepare for any necessary accommodations, such as having scheduling conflicts and/or needing closed captioning or visual demonstrations. You can find our audition form here.

I personally felt strongly about changing the format of the sign-up sheet, too. Having auditioned for shows myself, I know it can be intimidating to see the names of everyone else auditioning, especially those going right before and after you. You can’t help but compare yourself and I didn't want that inevitable, competitive aspect to deter any performers from auditioning for our production. So instead of creating a Google Sheet, we decided to use Calendly, a free website that allows people to sign up for a time slot. Looking at our outline, we realized the typical five minute long audition slots would not suffice. Lauren wanted to spend time with each of the auditionees, to give us all a chance to get to know each other and to give them a chance to explore the work and the space! So we landed on fifteen minute slots instead. The description box on the side of the calendar included links to the audition form and the Zoom link for the audition itself. Additionally, once someone signed up for a slot they would receive a Google Calendar invite that also contained the Zoom link. While Lauren and I could see who signed up for each slot, the performers could only see which slots were available. 

Once we were cast, Lauren and I held 30 minute "one-on-one" (two-on-one sounds weird) meetings with each of the cast members. We discussed scheduling and conflicts, questions they had about their character and/or the script, their goals for the semester, and managing up. Managing up is a term that Lauren brought in from her experience at a summer leadership program. She asked each cast member what we could do to best support them and how they work best. And we received a variety of answers, which was fascinating! One cast member said they loved analyzing the script and ascertaining the motive behind all their actions prior to blocking while another actor preferred rehearsing the scene over and over in order to discover what felt natural and right. We returned to this question later in the week during our first full-cast meeting and shared what we each needed to work best as a team. We’ve made it a top priority since then to continue this line of communication, as it is of utmost importance to us that our entire team always feels supported. As soon as our strategy isn’t working for even just one individual, we need to make some changes!

Throughout this process people have shared with us that they felt more comfortable in both our audition and rehearsal space than in many others. While this is amazing to hear, it is also extremely helpful because it suggests that implementing some of these small techniques can actually be really beneficial. We’ve learned that taking the time to intentionally consider a variety of abilities and to ask individuals what they need makes such a difference. Further, that questioning precedent is crucial! We are constantly striving to make our undertakings (whether they be in rehearsal, on social media, or via Zoom) even just a bit more inclusive and accessible. We hope that the theater community at Wesleyan will continue to have these conversations and continue to broaden our collective understanding of how things can be done. Because they can be done differently. 

Written by Annie McGovern. At the time this was written, Annie (she/her) was a junior government and psychology major at Wesleyan University from Boston, MA. She was the Stage Manager for The Curious Incident. 

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION: a screenshot of the audition form on Google Forms. At the top is a large banner that says “THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG IN THE NIGHT-TIME” and has the Curious Incident Wes logo. The form itself is light blue with white text boxes. It has a title that says “CURIOUS INCIDENT AUDITION FORM” and then a block of introductory text followed by a first slot for “Name & Pronouns.” The introductory text can be found here]