That Tall Blonde at the Callback — Same 3 People
Everyone comments that the Bay Area theatre scene is so small. Everyone knows everyone. Which is true, but it’s also true that Bay Area Theater Folks has 15,000 members. And there are 7–10k members in several other local Facebook groups. That is a LOT of people. Now granted, they are not all actors — these groups include many behind the scenes folks, musicians, artistic staff, designers, etc. But our community is big — probably one of the bigger markets in the US, even if we didn’t make Equity’s top ten US cities to work in. But we have a problem (especially on the Community side) many have lamented. This griping is done mostly behind the scenes, but the voices have gotten a little louder recently as people become more comfortable about speaking out regarding casting more diversely. Here’s the problem I hear: we see the same “3 people” in most of our leads. Granted, I exaggerate, it’s more than 3 people; but it’s a pretty small group that often is landing those plum roles in area theatres. And even in smaller roles and ensemble there are many area theaters with reputations for only casting “their people”. Where “who you know” is often more important than “what you know”.
This gripe is for SURE some sour grapes and jealousy. But I don’t think it’s entirely unwarranted. Sure, we could tell these folks “get more training” and point out that they just couldn’t make the cut in a competitive market. But I think we should be actively looking at ways to engage MORE people in theatre rather than less. The fact is we need more butts in seats. I’ve seen firsthand that less active performers often sell a LOT more tickets (and these new audience members are often newcomers to your theater), vs. the folks who had 4 leads last year, and whose family & friends have been there/done that.
Every casting panel wants to get the best show with the least amount of backstage drama, so I totally get why so many directors and places have their favorites and love to cast their friends. I, myself, was a “favorite” at DMT for a short amount of time in my 20s when I went show to show. But the practice of casting “who you know”, or the person with that stellar resumé of amazing lead after lead has few unfortunate side effects:
1) It demoralizes your possible talent and shrinks your pool. Who wants to lose the role after role to the same person? Or audition time after time only to see the same names on the cast list as last time and the time before that? I think many give up too soon (2 auditions and they are saying “they never cast me, I’ll go elsewhere”). KEEP TRYING PEOPLE! But casting panel — realize this is likely to happen if you are constantly casting around the same core group. Especially when that core group IS the board, the artistic staff or close relatives. You appear very insular and like a clique, and people learn to avoid you. Unfortunately, almost every company has this problem (some worse than others), so when “elsewhere” doesn’t appear much easier, these people (talented people — not just delusional people!) give up on theatre entirely. I hate seeing that happen.
2) You automatically are less diverse in your casting. These “same 3 people” are almost exclusively white, thin and conventionally attractive. Please do NOT let “but I haven’t worked with them before” or “but they don’t LOOK like how I see the romantic lead” enter your conversations in the casting room. Let that person you’ve never heard of knock your socks off. Don’t be so short-sighted that you are creating a carbon copy of the original Broadway cast.
3) It bores your audience. While there are definitely people I love seeing over and over on cast lists, I ALSO am sometimes so over seeing someone I’ve seen a lot. Your subscribers are a huge component of keeping your theater afloat. And they are seeing your whole season. Do you think they want to see the same faces in every show? EVERYONE LIKES VARIETY!
4) It shrinks your own personal network. Good directors who have built a good reputation will draw a lot of talent to their auditions. But if you are casting the same group each time, you are passing up the opportunity to further expand your network. You may have who you need this time, but what about 3 projects from now when you just can’t find the right person for that critical role, or you have an actor drop the show right before Sitzprobe and you need someone fast? You need a broad network of talent you can pull from, and it takes work to build this.
So last but not least, two actions I think theaters can take to combat this problem head on. First action: hire a new director once in a while. It automatically opens you up to some new faces (even if you are trading one set of favorite faces for another it will still provide some variety). Second action: be straight with us, and precast it. What??? I thought you were arguing for newer faces and more diversity? The last thing we should do is precast, right? In an ideal world, yes. But sometimes we KNOW that you’ve got your heart set on your muse. Do EVERYONE a favor, and let us know that the role is NOT AVAILABLE. It really helps us to tailor our audition for the role that is attainable. It keeps us from the heartache of showing up time and time again only to lose the role to that same person. It helps YOU lock in that person firmly before they entertain other offers. And WHEN you do this, be extra open to new faces ALL AROUND this person. Go out of your way to give your audiences something new and unique, even if they’ve seen this person in lead roles 20 times before. Maybe set a goal of a certain number of “new to you” faces in every show? Take a second look to see if you have a diverse group in not only race, but in age, body size, and physical ability. Then post that cast list and make some theatre magic.
