Casting
We are still in the casting phase of Pig Farm, and intend to have the cast settled upon by the beginning of next week. It is a surprisingly involved process, both in terms of getting the word out to the actor community and hopefully a large turnout, as well as finding the right actors for the roles.
The latter of the two is an interesting issue, really, because of how incredibly subjective it is, but also because it isn’t something one tends to think about when seeing the show as a final product. Hopefully the production will be engaging and unified enough that it wouldn’t occur to an audience member to wonder about how the particular actors were chosen; it’s just a necessary fact that these are the people portraying the characters on stage. But there is such a plethora of factors that go to determine it—everything from chemistry between actors to hair and eye color—that the odds that it could have been some other combination of actors on stage (and therefore, a completely different show) are pretty great.
For anyone who’s curious, here’s how our process works:
Director (in this case, Mark) and casting director (in this case, me) sit down and talk about what the director is looking for in each of the roles. Depending on the director, this can be a very clear picture, a wide open question, or some combination of the two. Actors are then brought in both by open call announcements and by invitation, which is based on familiarity with the actor or the actor’s work. Or a hunch, or a recommendation.
Whatever the reason, the actors then prepare scenes from the play and are paired with other actors under consideration, or a designated reader, and perform them, sometimes several times. After this, the director and whoever else is present confer, decide who fits the roles best, and schedule callbacks, which is essentially a more intense version of the same process.
Once callbacks are completed, practical considerations like schedule availability, salary, and (in some cases) union status come into the discussion; the director et al makes the final decisions; and the casting director contacts all the actors to either offer them a role or graciously thank them for coming and ask that they come back for future auditions.
Seems fairly straightforward, right? It never is. There are so many actors of talent who come to these things that talent itself is the least relevant factor in making the decisions—it comes down to things like how well an actor physically fits the part, how they take direction, their particular chemistry with other actors. Things largely out of the actor’s control.
We’re nearly at the end of this one. Check back with us at the start of next week for an update.
The latter of the two is an interesting issue, really, because of how incredibly subjective it is, but also because it isn’t something one tends to think about when seeing the show as a final product. Hopefully the production will be engaging and unified enough that it wouldn’t occur to an audience member to wonder about how the particular actors were chosen; it’s just a necessary fact that these are the people portraying the characters on stage. But there is such a plethora of factors that go to determine it—everything from chemistry between actors to hair and eye color—that the odds that it could have been some other combination of actors on stage (and therefore, a completely different show) are pretty great.
For anyone who’s curious, here’s how our process works:
Director (in this case, Mark) and casting director (in this case, me) sit down and talk about what the director is looking for in each of the roles. Depending on the director, this can be a very clear picture, a wide open question, or some combination of the two. Actors are then brought in both by open call announcements and by invitation, which is based on familiarity with the actor or the actor’s work. Or a hunch, or a recommendation.
Whatever the reason, the actors then prepare scenes from the play and are paired with other actors under consideration, or a designated reader, and perform them, sometimes several times. After this, the director and whoever else is present confer, decide who fits the roles best, and schedule callbacks, which is essentially a more intense version of the same process.
Once callbacks are completed, practical considerations like schedule availability, salary, and (in some cases) union status come into the discussion; the director et al makes the final decisions; and the casting director contacts all the actors to either offer them a role or graciously thank them for coming and ask that they come back for future auditions.
Seems fairly straightforward, right? It never is. There are so many actors of talent who come to these things that talent itself is the least relevant factor in making the decisions—it comes down to things like how well an actor physically fits the part, how they take direction, their particular chemistry with other actors. Things largely out of the actor’s control.
We’re nearly at the end of this one. Check back with us at the start of next week for an update.
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