Low Audtion Turnout
Oh, my! What if you don't have enough actors audition to cover all the parts in the play? You may need to consider cancelling the show. "The Show Must Go On" only applies to theaters.
I've been blessed to have worked professionally in theatre for the past 30+ years and I've learned a few things about putting on plays. One is that there are fewer endeavors that give more joy and satisfaction than successfully producing a play before a live audience. The other is that there are few life experiences more agonizing and more hurtful to self perception and relationships than forcing the performance of a show that "wasn't meant to be."
If you gave your congregation two or three months notice of auditions, placed reminders in bulletins and posters on bulletin boards, made announcements in adult Suday School classes and during services-- I would say you did everything you could do to announce the opportunity to any prospective actors. Those who are interested will know about your auditions and it is safe to assume that everyone else is NOT interested (or at least, not motivated). Do you REALLY want to "convince" someone who is not interested to commit to the play?
Now, if you're just short one or two actors, chances are good you could find a couple people who meant to audition but forgot, or a couple who thought about doing it, but had some conflicts that they didn't think could be worked around. By putting the word out, you might be able to flush those out and still cast your show. But if you're short four or five people-- that's a lot to have to find. That's almost half your cast!
I was set to produce the show at my local church a couple years ago. We didn't decide until Christmas to do it. We had announcements in the weekly bulliten and I made a couple announcments during wornship services-- but we only had nine people show up for auditions (the script calls for 16). The pastor got her pen out and started listing all her "go-to" people that she could call on to be in the show. I told her no, that it was better to cancel the project. I didn't want to try to produce the show with people who had to be "talked into" it. The play is a good play, it's a wonderful experience for both the audience and the actors-- but it's not worth the agony I foresaw (BTW, we tried again a couple years later and had plenty of actors audition).
But it's your call. You are the one who has to make sure all the parts get cast, you are the one who has to show up at each rehearsal, you're the one who has to see that all the props, costumes, and scenery are taken care of. If you can still pull it off after having to beg, borrow and steal more actors, you deserve a special crown in heaven. I've been through that too many times and life is too short. This may sound cynical, but my days of "Hey, let's all get together and put on a show" are long gone.
And if the worse-case scenerio occurs and after auditions, you discover you have to cancel your show-- that still gives your pastor 6-8 weeks to come up with a Maundy Thursday service. For most pastors, that's more than plenty of time. Read THIS if you do end up cancelling.
But before cancelling, another option you may want to consider is to join forces with another church. We've heard wonderful stories about two churches in the same town (even different denominations!) getting together and presenting the show for their community. It was a wonderful experience in Christian Spirit for both the actors and the audiences. You're allowed up to three performances-- you could do one at each church!
HELP. If you find yourself in a situation where you are committed to producing the show and you find you have too many vacant parts after your auditions-- please contact us. The playwright, Kevin M Reese, has instructed us to patch you through directly to him to help you as much as he can. If needed, he will do all he can to adapt his script for your cast.