
Casting Policy at Platform Theatre Arts CIC
Guiding Principle:
Our guiding principle for casting is equality of opportunity for our young performers. Practically this means, during their time with Platform, the young performers will get the opportunity to experience playing leading roles, ensemble and supporting roles, multi-role playing and to understudy. There are also opportunities to take on back-stage roles if preferred. We also believe everyone within the cast & creative team are equally important to the success of the production and teamwork and collaboration is at the heart of what we do.
Casting Approach:
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We ask the young people who they would like to play or the type of character they would prefer to play. This is to gauge an idea of both the size of role they would prefer and where their comfort levels lie in terms of types of roles/characters. However, we do not guarantee roles based on preference.
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We consider any specific casting requirements for the play including age, gender & ethnicity where applicable. Where possible, we will strive to be open and fluid with casting requirements unless it is the playwright’s specific request or it would adversely affect the clarity of the storytelling.
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We consider how we can both best support and stretch our young performers with casting decisions, taking into consideration where their strengths already lie, but also where we can offer a challenge to allow them to grow as a performer. This could be in both the type of role offered, but also size of role.
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Practically, we consider factors that will support the production process of putting on a performance. This will include attendance of and attitude within sessions and where applicable, engagement with past performances.
We fully appreciate the disappointment that can be felt by our young performers when not getting preferred roles and we want to reassure that we never take casting lightly and spend a considerable amount of time coming to our decisions and are always open to explaining our reasoning behind casting decisions.
Casting Process:
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Group workshop auditions within sessions around the play.
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Reading small scenes from the play with others swapping around roles.
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Chance to work on a monologue from the play where applicable.
No need for pre-prepared speeches in front of a panel, rather a supportive, collaborative group approach.
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By signing up to one of our classes, you agree to the terms stated within this casting policy.