The Hollywood Reporter: For the first time since the pandemic began, the actors’ and stage managers’ union will reopen its audition centers in Chicago, New York and Los Angeles starting Nov. 17. This is meant to encourage more producers to hold in-person calls, ahead of a coming mandate, after some performers expressed frustration with virtual auditions due to the cost involved and the feeling that their tapes were not being watched.
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Actor’s Equity Association has been a bit behind the times when it comes to in person things, especially when audiences are allowed to be unmasked these days and masks are hardly required anywhere, so none of it really makes any sense. Certainly it makes things more equitable to have virtual auditions, but nothing has really prevented them from having both. I definitely understand why dancers want to return to in person auditions because it is nearly impossible to do a dance call in a tiny New York apartment bedroom, let alone get it properly filmed. It certainly is a time to learn how to deal with hybrid auditions, but allowing for people to submit virtual auditions opens the auditions up to people further around the United States who do not live in or have access to travel to a bigger city like New York, Los Angeles, or Chicago. It also may help producers who cannot travel or who need to have a last minute audition.
Before reading this article, I didn’t even know that there were no in-person auditions happening right now. I just sort of assumed that when Broadway was back, so were in person auditions. I can see where the frustration is coming from for these actors. Buying and having equipment to record is very expensive. Even if you have a basic iPhone, that can cost you as little as $600. When you’re trying to find a job to have money, $600 can be a lot. And, you need to have space to audition, and chances are if you’re in this industry and looking for work, you are going to have a small living space. Even though we’re still in the middle of his pandemic, I don’t see the harm in returning to in-person auditions. Shows are back in-person and life has resumed back to normal for the most part. Actors lives should become a little easier once auditions become regular again.
I completely agree with the pretty neutral conclusion this article have. Videotaped auditions are not going anywhere, though neither are live in-person; take what you want and leave the rest. Essentially, there is no right answer here. What harms some people benefits other and vice versa. I was surprised to learn however that Equity was just not having any in-person auditions. I figured that since Broadway has been opened for what feels like so long now those would have come back at least partially. I have heard a couple of stories over the summer about the general nightmare-ish nature of videotapes for dancers specifically. It requires a lot of investment in order for them to look good. Though the emphasis should be on the dancer I dare to say that a neat room with a blank background and a ring light for uniform lighting could get someone a higher chance of booking a job than if it was just recorded on their living room with an iphone.
Finding the perfect balance for anything in theater is incredibly hard and it seems like the audition process is no exception to this. We are still struggling to find out what our new normal will be. As this article mentioned, there are benefits and detriments to both in person and virtual auditions. I think that what they are trying to do with hybrid dance auditions is a good idea. The virtual audition process was in some ways beneficial like how performers outside of New York could submit to a virtual call and how more performers could be seen daily but I can see how it would definitely have been very difficult for performers to find space to dance. For those who couldn't afford to rent studios, this may have been a severely limiting factor in their ability to audition. I'm glad our industry is working to find a solution that works better for everyone.
I had no clue that auditions stayed online whentheater returned and Broadway reopened. The first half of this article focuses on one of my main two concerns with virtual auditions which is cost. Theater especially in the professional world is so expensive and self tapes require a camera and pricy studio space to be paid for by the auditioner on top of equipment and all the other costs of being a performer. To me the delay of the return to in person auditions feels like a ploy by producers to make auditioners bear the cost of auditioning. For me as a technician and director during the height of the pandemic who had to audition both in front of and behind the table through self tapes by secondary concern was energy the energy from a performer in person vs being a camera is very different and it is often harder to gage who may be best for a part.
Theo
This is something that brings a little anger to me because I feel really bad for actors who do virtual auditions. I think at this point if we are letting so many unmasked tourists come into Broadway theaters, we can let actors audition in person. Doing the whole college process online through interviews and doing this alongside 40 different actors was an experience. Most of the schools were all virtual and they felt like they didn't have the same chance as kids before COVID. I feel like there is also this feeling of not showing your full potential behind the camera. For Broadway purposes I feel like a video audition does not show their full potential as well. The fact that most of these actors have to find their own space like the article said is crazy to me. I hope that soon auditions will go back in person and actors can get there full selves seen.
Virtual auditions should absolutely be here to stay. Obviously, in-person auditions are super important due to the nature of the work that we do, but there is nothing that says that a hybrid model won't work. There were absolutely growing pains, but the perseverance of theatre workers has shown that virtual models are possible, even if they aren't always ideal. Even more than that, there were many circumstances in which virtual modalities actually helped improve some aspects of theatre, like when it comes to the abundance of meetings that have to occur over the course of a show's run. Flexibility is key here, not only to ensure maximum equitability and accessibility but also to continue to work in a world that is still in a state of shift as we continue to deal with a worldwide pandemic (which really should have been dealt with by now, but I'm not even opening that can of worms).
It's hard to manage to be an art form so dependent on live performances and live auditions during a period after a global pandemic when the world is still recovering. Many people are getting sick, but that downfall in numbers from the height of the pandemic leads us to believe that we are on the up and up. I am glad to see that auditions are being held in person again because I believe that is the actors' preference; however, I worry that it will become a super spreader event during the winter. When I fear Covid cases will start increasing again. As these re-openings begin, I hope that there will continue to be reassessments of the equity rules as they stand because seeing and growing from the effects of the pandemic will be critical to the longevity of theatre.
I truly think it's great that they're opening in-person auditions again. Auditions in general are anxiety-inducing, but over Zoom they are even worse. Having to do it at home feels like you are trapped. Not being able to read the vibe of the room must be nerve racking because you don't have any idea on how good you did. You just join, perform, leave, and hope for the best. A crucial part of auditions is in-personness. Auditions is the moment for the director to find a bond with the actor to see if they are right for the role, and over Zoom that is super hard. COVID really took a hit on Broadway and just acting in general, and it is nice knowing that the world is somewhat back to normal. Although it is not 100%, we are on the right track with things opening up and vaccines being available.
It seems that virtual auditions are a bit of a double-edged sword. While it allows for more people to be able to audition, depending on the audition, it requires a larger space to tape than most apartments in NYC have. I think it’s a good idea to do a mix of both in-person and virtual auditions, not only does it allow for more people to audition, you don’t already have to be living in NYC in order to audition. But people feel that when they submit tapes that their work is not being seen, because they are not audition in person. It also seems that for the casting directors that the rise of virtual auditions is encroaching on whatever work-life balance they might have. So I guess the question is, will virtual auditions be something that comes more commonplace, or will it be phased out? And will AEA look into how virtual auditions affect their constituents?
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