Casting 101

When I started working at the Playhouse almost four years ago, a mere neophyte to the world of regional theater, I was absolutely blown away by the quality of talent in each production. After my first show (Mary’s Wedding, I believe), I immediately felt foolish for shelling out all that extra money to go to Broadway. Our actors were just as gifted as those I had seen on “the Great White Way,” and for good reason: many of them have been staples both on and Off-Broadway for years. So, I wondered, just how is it that we go about bringing such talented casts together?

Fast forward a few years. With the 2011 season about to get underway, and some new duties under my belt, I was given the chance to find out. With Associate Artistic Director David Kennedy at the directorial helm of Beyond Therapy, I knew I was in for an informative (and hilarious) look at how we cast a show at the Playhouse.

Step 1 – The Brainstorming Process or “Who do we know…?”

I sit across the office from our fearless director David as he pours over a long list of actors sent to him by Janet Foster, the Playhouse’s casting director since 2009. After reading Durang’s script and having several in-depth discussions with David and Artistic Director Mark Lamos, she has used what David calls her “almost encyclopedic knowledge of actors” to create multiple options for him to contemplate for each of the play’s quirky and complex characters. He has a lot of talented folks to consider.

“The biggest challenge is to find actors who can embody both the off-the-wall qualities of the characters and their emotional vulnerabilities simultaneously,” said David, taking a moment to discuss the process. “Beyond Therapy requires actors to be funny but truthful. Now, why do I know this guy?” He points to a name on the list for “Bruce.” I quickly rattle off a few of the things in which I’ve seen this very funny fellow, which takes us on a tangent about what makes a great comic actor that has us dreaming about a whole new group of possibilities.

“It seems that so much of casting is about knowing actors and knowing what they’re capable of,” I say to David. “Lucky we have a casting director.”

He agreed. “Janet stays current with the hundreds of actors who are new to the business each year, graduates of acting programs and others who arrive in New York looking for work. There is no way any given director can be expected to do that, so it’s invaluable to have a trusted advisor who can introduce you to new faces.”

 Step 2 - Breakdowns & The Interest Merry-Go-Round

 Meanwhile, off campus, Janet is hard at work preparing a detailed description of each of Beyond Therapy’s characters, known in the business as “the breakdown.” Once she and David finalized this document and the Playhouse has held an open call (we’ll get to that in a second), Janet will distribute it to talent agencies and management companies on both coasts to drum up interest in the productions among the agents, managers and their clients alike.

Back at the Playhouse, I listen in as David conferences with Janet by phone. With a few ideas about the shape of his cast in hand and approved by Mark, he works with her to gauge interest and availability with a few of the actors he has in mind. Janet’s next step will be to contact their agents with the basic details of our production, and to get a feel about whether or not Beyond Therapy would be possible in their schedule or even of interest to them, without either side making any firm commitments. I laugh with David about the general vagueness of the process.

“It just seems so informal, and sort of passive…like we are this shy dude trying to ask a pretty girl to the prom,” I say, a little miffed at the notion.

David shrugs. “Well, as a director, I’ve always thought choosing a play was little bit like falling in love. I would imagine it can work that way for actors as well.”

Here’s hoping we can get six more fabulous actors sweet on the Playhouse in the next few weeks!

Step 3 – Cattle Call

With the offer process well underway, I head into to New York for the day to meet Janet for the first step in the audition process – Equity Principle Auditions or “EPA’s”. Lovingly referred to as a “cattle call” among actors, the Playhouse is required by the Actors’ Equity Association, the union for professional actors and stage managers, to hold an EPA for each production in our season to allow their membership to be seen by our casting and artistic team.

Over the next eight hours, we see almost 200 actors, many of whom have been waiting all day for a mere two minutes to audition not only for the Playhouse, but for a seasoned casting director like Janet. With her extensive experience both on Broadway and off, and in regional theaters across the country, a good impression with her can go a long way.

“For an EPA audition, always choose your song or monologue with the guidelines given by the audition notice,” whispered Janet to me after one auditioner’s monologue ran particularly long. “It is given for a reason,” she said with a wink.

A former performer myself, it is certainly an eye-opening experience being on this side of the table. I jot down notes on some particularly great audition pieces to share with a few of my grad school friends, and definitely get a few great laughs as the day progresses.

As 5:30pm approaches, we have a small pile of headshots and resumes – a group of actors to call in to be seen by David at the invited auditions. Success!

Step 4 – The Auditions at Last

With the EPA’s under our belt, the casting breakdown distributed and no luck so far with early offers, David is ready to schedule invited auditions. On the phone again, he and Janet discuss which actors have been submitted by their agents, who they will be calling in and some of the initial inquiries that are still outstanding.

“It’s so helpful just to have a conversation with someone you trust, whose tastes you share, so that casting decisions are being made as part of a collaborative process,” says David, after he hangs up. He heads to Mark’s office to review the plans for the upcoming auditions and call-backs. Collaboration, I’m finding, seems to be the key word in casting at the Playhouse.

 Meanwhile, I’m back to the task at hand: preparing “sides” (short cuttings of scenes from the scripts) for the actors to audition with. There will be several sides for each of Beyond Therapy’s characters, each giving the opportunity for the auditioners to show a different dimension of these complex people. With such hilarious material to work with, I’m having a bit of trouble cutting down the scenes to a useable length!

Once these are set and the auditions scheduled, David and Janet will head into New York again for two days of invited auditions, to be followed by a day of call-backs (when a select group of actors are invited back for a second audition). They will be seeing significantly fewer actors than I did at the EPA’s, giving them a chance to really spend some time with each actor and see what they can do.

Step 5 – The Call-backs

After careful consideration, Janet and David will call back their top choices for each character for a final day of auditions, aptly called “call-backs.” Putting on another of my many hats at the Playhouse, I put the call-backs on Mark’s schedule. He will join David and Janet for this final step in the audition process, adding not only the input of a fellow director, but also the insight of his artistic vision for the theater.

“I have to listen to my creative team,” Janet told me earlier today when I called her to confirm details. “I have to be able to envision what they see for a show and bring the actors with the potential to bring that vision to life into the room.”

From these call-backs and in council with Mark and Janet, David will make his final casting offers for our first production of the season. And the rest, I suppose, will be Playhouse history. I can’t wait to see what amazing talent, either new or returning, will be taking this stage this April.

Kim Furano, Artistic & Management Associate

 Spotlight on Nonprofit Theater

In the Playhouse’s 80 year history, it has operated as both a commercial venue and as a non-profit regional theater. Originally founded in 1931 as a commercial venture where Broadway producer Lawrence Langner could stage plays out of town before sending them to New York, the goal of each season was to produce plays or musicals that would have entertainment value with the potential to turn a profit once they were transferred.

Over the years, not only was making a profit for theaters increasingly difficult, there was growing desire amongst theater owners to be able to foster the creation of new work and become cultural centers in their communities. These sentiments led to a number of non-profit theaters popping up across the country; the regional theater movement began. Once the strain of trying to make a profit year after year was removed, these non-profit theaters were able to produce a wide variety of work, from the classic to the cutting edge, the familiar to the avant-garde.  Additionally, they were able to focus not only on the works on stage, but also on creating mutually beneficial relationships with the communities they served.

In 1973, Playhouse management made the decision to become a non-profit venue. By definition, a non-profit does not expect tickets sales to cover the cost of producing the season. To make up the difference between expense and income, non-profits have the ability to raise contributed income from outside sources including government grants, corporate sponsorships and individual donations. At the Playhouse, ticket sales cover approximately one third of the cost of producing the productions you see on stage and the variety of community programming that we offer all year long, including reduced-priced student matinees, our popular family program “Together at the Table” and our 2010 programming series “Window onto History: Perspectives on The Diary of Anne Frank.”

The Playhouse’s managing director Michael Ross took a few minutes to sit down with associate director of marketing Beth Huisking to answer some questions about what it means to run a non-profit theater today.

What is the role of the Managing Director in producing the Playhouse's 5-play season?

I like to think that my main function - in the very elaborate process of producing from scratch the plays and musicals we do on our stage - is to make sure we have the right support and resources (financial and human) for artistic director Mark Lamos and all the artists involved in our season. My job is to help create the ideal environment for these productions; helping make sure artists and audiences have the best experiences possible.

 How did you get involved in theater management and what do you like best about your job?

 Well, like a lot of people in this business, my love of theater started when I was young. I was very involved in my high school’s drama club, but when it came time for college, I decided to major in accounting - of all things. At some point I realized I could combine my interest in accounting with my passion for theater and work on the business side of running a theater. By the time I graduated, I knew I wanted to do exactly what I'm doing at the Playhouse – to run a prestigious non-profit theater. My first job out of college was in the box office at the Alley Theatre in Houston, where I had the opportunity to learn the ropes of the business from the ground up. From there I had the privilege of working at some of the best nonprofit theaters in the country, including Hartford Stage (during Mark Lamos' tenure there as Artistic Director) and eventually as Managing Director at Long Wharf Theatre and Baltimore’s Center Stage.

There is really so much that I love about what I do, it’s hard to narrow down what I like best…but I’ll try. Certainly working with incredibly creative and talented artists and artisans is a highlight. The passion and commitment to their craft is always inspiring. But what I like best about the role I play is the opportunity to be a “Pied Piper,” to be able to interest and introduce people to live theater performances. I strongly believe in the power of live theater to enrich and transform people’s lives - whether to see and understand something from a new perspective or just simply to laugh and enjoy themselves for a few hours. There’s nothing like it.

Why did you go into non-profit theater management versus commercial?

There is much to admire in the commercial theater world where producers and artists are committed to bringing out the best in a single production and, hopefully, making a profit for the production’s investors. I once worked in the commercial theater and thoroughly enjoyed the experience. But I’m a non-profit theater guy. I enjoy the on-going relationship a non-profit theater has with its audiences and community. I love the focus we place on enriching the audience’s experience of a show, providing programming that will foster our audiences understanding of our work on stage. I like to say that you can usually tell whether you are attending a non-profit or a commercial production simply by looking at the playbill; at a commercial production, you will find the usual list of actor bios, and crew names, but at a non-profit like the Playhouse, you will also find dramaturgical pages. From playwright’s view on his own work to an article about the times in which the show is set, the reader will have a more complete understanding of and a clearer context in which to place what they are about to see. The recent “Window onto History” programming series surrounding our 2010 production of The Diary of Anne Frank is an excellent example of how a theater can truly engage their audience in their work on multiple levels and even incite a community-wide conversation.

As a Board member of Theatre Communications Group – a group dedicated to the health and promotion of non-profit professional theaters in the United States – you have an insider’s view on what’s going on nationally in nonprofit theater. What are some of the more pressing issues these days for non-profit theaters?

I think our biggest issue in this tough economic climate is presenting the case for our own existence, in a way. What is the value of theater in people’s lives? Why is what we do important and relevant? Why does live theater matter? When so many worthy causes are struggling to help people make ends meet, it has become even more important that we as an industry are able to clearly articulate why our institutions are vital to our communities and, I think, to the country’s economy and emotional well-being as a whole. In my opinion, theater IS vital to a thriving community and a healthy society. During the Second World War, Winston Churchill’s finance minister said Britain should cut arts funding to support the war effort. Churchill’s response was, “Then what are we fighting for?”

What are the challenges the Playhouse faces?

Our biggest challenges right now revolve around our identity as an organization. As we’ve evolved over the years from a commercial, summerstock “Straw Hat circuit” theater to our present day non-profit mission driven organization, we haven’t always been successful in conveying our value to the greater community and all we can offer as a leading non-profit theater. Building our audience and support base for the work we’re doing now is vital to our future.

 Related to this, I think one of our challenges is to be better at getting the word out about what we do in addition to our work on stage. Much of our education and community programming happens sort of under the radar. I’d like the greater community that supports, or might consider supporting us, to know much more about all we’re adding to the vibrancy of our community.

What do you hope for when you think about the future of the Playhouse and non-profit theater in general?

My hope for the Playhouse is that, in this age where technology is more and more frequently replacing face – to-face interaction, that the Playhouse and theaters in general, will be looked to provide those rare moments of intimate human connection. A place in which people come together, audiences and artists alike to share in a story, to experience something – a moment of shock, of comfort, of joyfulness – together.  

Beth Huisking, Associate Director of Marketing

A Subscription Story

Have you ever wondered how your Playhouse subscription gets from our box office to your mailbox?  Join our Patron Services team for an inside look at how subscriptions are processed from start to finish. 

 Patron Services Associate, Alysia, is busy helping an audience member select their subscription package and seats. With currently just over 3,500 subscriptions sold for 2011, which averages out to 67 subscription sales per week.

Partner Spotlight: Triangle Community Center

For a community partnership that has really taken off, look no further than Westport Country Playhouse’s relationship with Triangle Community Center, out of which the brand new LGBT Night OUT pre-show event series has blossomed. This relationship has allowed the Playhouse to create new events that will attract a diverse array of audience members.

Chris Spiegelman, Triangle Community Center President believes that the partnership is a benefit for both organizations. “By joining forces,” he said, “there is a clear benefit for all as both our organizations expand their reach, touching more lives with meaningful events.” The Playhouse is given the chance to bring a new audience through our doors, and Triangle Community Center is able to offer their members an evening of entertainment in a welcoming environment.

Playhouse Director of Marketing David Byrd agreed. “It’s a way of getting people to the theater who might not ordinarily come,” he said. “It’s also a way of being with friends and family, however we define that.”

April 28th will be the first LGBT Night OUT event this season. This event, which began as single pre-show party last summer and is now part of a special subscription series, is one of the many community engagement opportunities the Playhouse has initiated here in Fairfield County. These community and business partnerships enhance the experience of coming to see a show at Westport Country Playhouse. Whether it’s a perfume workshop along with appetizers and wine for Ladies Night Out, or romantic music, roses and bubbly for Date Night, these evenings allow us to form a relationship with new patrons who are seeking an experience for their night out at the theater.

LGBT Night OUT at the Playhouse has aided TCC in furthering their mission of providing services to the gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgender community in order to strengthen their sense of pride, identity and visibility in the Greater Fairfield County community. By doing so, they work to foster understanding and awareness and understanding of LGBT issues. For Spiegelman, being at the Playhouse allows TCC members to say, “We’re here, we’re youth and seniors, seeing the same shows as the general public, having a wonderful night at the theater at a local place that puts on amazing performances.”

And the theater is what it all boils down to. Because, the fun of pre-show parties aside, the Playhouse strives to bring people together through the work we do onstage. “Theater is itself a communal experience,” said David. “It’s an experience we want to bring to and share with all members of our community.”

Camara McLaughlin, Marketing Intern