A Short Play about Jesus' Last Supper
From the Viewpoint of the Women Who Served Him

Auditions Page

There are almost as many directing styles as there are directors.  What you will find here are my thoughts and opinions from my experience as a director-- which is tempered by my experience as an actor/playwright/producer/audience member/Dad.... (I think you get the picture).

Planning

  • SET THE AUDITION DATE. After you decide when your performance date(s) will be and how many rehearsals you need to have, you'll be able to set the audition day/time. I suggest having two audition sessions-- the main one on one of the evenings of the week you plan to rehearse, the other on a Sat or Sun afternoon. Having two sessions will catch anyone who wanted to audition but missed the first session. Remember that you are dealing with people who don't have "auditions" on their minds and may forget. Ideally, I try to have the auditions the week before rehearsals begin.
  • DETERMINE AUDITION FORMAT/PIECES. You will most likely have the auditionees read from the script (so make sure you have ordered and recieved the Performance Packet in time to print the pages off.  Remember:  you may NOT photocopy one of the printed perusal scripts). Decide which scenes/monologues you want them to use. See #4 in the "Audition Session" section below for my suggested readings.
  • ADVERTISE YOUR AUDITIONS. Make sure you have notices in your church newsletter at least a couple months before to get people thinking about it. Begin putting notices in your weekly service bulliten a couple weeks before. Make announcements-- or better yet, come up with a short dialogue to be delivered during a service ("Hey, Jenny, what are you doing next week?" "Oh, I'm going to try-out for the play our churchis putting on for Maundy Thursday....")
  • DOUBLE-CHECK FACILITY USE. Make very sure you have reserved your audition space, rehearsal space and your performance space. Check on what you must do if you discover you need an emergency extra rehearsal (or put an extra TBA rehearsal on the books near the end as a bumper)
    •

    Day of Audition

    Supplies to take with you:

  • Audition Forms
  • Pens/pencils
  • Signage ("Auditions Here", "Auditions this way," etc) and tape
  • Rehearsal Schedule and Calendar (so they can check their schedules)
  • Monologue pages (with lines highlighted for each monologue)
    •

    Audition Session

    1. Start on time.  Start showing them from the very beginning that you value their time and that you expect them to be on time, too.
    2. Go over each filled-out audition form to make sure they didn't forget something or if you have a question about something they wrote. There is nothing worse than sitting down after all the auditions to begin casting your show and discover that they didn't fill out their rehearsal conflicts or you don't have a phone number for them.
    3. Introduce yourself and the show - Let them know who they are auditioning for-- but don't give your life story or your resume, they'll get that during rehearsals. (don't risk sounding egotistical: "I've done this, and this....").  Spend time introducing them to the unique storyline of the show, the relationships between the characters, how the stage will be set-up during the performances, explaining the sequence of show, communion, show ending, etc.
    4. Assign monologues - I basically break the readings into four categories: Kids (boys and girls can read Rachel's monologue), Disciples (Peter's or Judas' monologue), Ezekiel (Ezekiel's monlogue), and Women (take your pick-- I usually use Magdalen's and Solome's monologues). You can tell by looking at them as to which monologue they might need to read. I usually give them copies of the monologues I selected after they hand in their audition form and have them read and pick one to perform. Give them 3-4 minutes to look the page(s) over.
    5. Monologues. I usually ask for volunteers first, then just go in order of their audition forms. I have them read the monologue (or, if you're short on time, about half of it), then stop them politely and ask them to look at it in a different way-- and tell them the different way I want them to go with the monologue. You can usually go with Character Motivation: "She's very shy opening up like this, let's see the point where she trusts the audience enough to open her guts..." or: "In her support group of women, she hasn't usually spoken up-- but let's see her be ready for an opportunity to open up to the group..." The purpose of having them do it over is to see if they can take direction from you -- and have it affect their performance. A very helpful skill for an actor.
    6. I don't usually have group scenes read. I can tell from the monologue all that I need to know. Because of the ensemble nature of the show, I don't really care about matching sizes or looks.  Besides, for a typical church production, we're lucky to have enough people audition to fill the roles.  If they can walk and talk at the same time-- there is hope for your production!  Ha.
    7. Announce when you'll be contacting them to announce the results-- and stick to it. Phone calls are very nice-- that way you get immediate notice if they accept the part. You could post the cast list on your church website and ask they contact you (then call whoever you haven't heard from). Assuming you have enough audition, I see no reason you can't begin contacting actors whithin a couple hours immediately following your final audition session. Don't hold notification off or exceed the time you announced you'd make your decision because your actors may conclude they have been passed-over and begin making other plans.

    Casting

  • Do a final check of each person's audition form to make sure you haven't missed any information-- particularly conflicts that may affect your casting decision.
  • Cast the show as you would a party. You want team players who can check egos in at the door. You want people who trust your judgement and can be trusted to handle the stress as well as the time and memorization responsibilities. I would MUCH prefer casting an inexperienced actor who is pleasant than a skilled actor who is a prima dona.
  • Make a list of all the characters and (using a pencil-- not a pen) begin matching actors with characters.
  • Ideally your pastor won't be in the show. If they are also officiating Communion, it may appear to become a "one-man show" and interfere with the message of the play. However, many pastors are pretty good actors (hmm, is there a reason for that? HA), so I can't foresee any other problem if your pastor wants to be in it. Get another pastor to officiate Communion, if possible. You probably don't want to cast a male pastor as Judas-- particularly if he will still be officiating over the Communion.
  • Using a calendar, mark all conflicts for each rehearsal. There's nothing worse than showing up for rehearsal and discovering that half your cast is at a women's retreat.
  • If you don't have enough people attend your auditions, READ THIS PAGE.
    •