Auditions Continue... And For Algonquin Parents, "How much time will this take?"

Thanks to all who came out for auditions yesterday!  You all did a fine job, and haven't made the casting decisions easy for us.  Auditions continue today at APHS and will move to the Algonquin chorus room on Thursday.

I received e-mail from a couple of Algonquin parents asking for more scheduling details, basically how many days their students might need to attend rehearsals.  This is how I responded:

"I can't give you an exact number of rehearsals at this moment because it depends on how they are cast. Students in the carolling group will need to be at the HS from 11/28 to the show dates. Students working as extras in crowd scenes will need to be here roughly in the same time frame. If a student is cast in a larger role (a ghost, a Cratchit child) they would need to be here for much of the schedule. When we have the auditions we will discuss this with them. I'm going to put up a blog posting on this topic shortly, so look for more details there."

I know that is not a very concrete answer, so here are a few more factors and details to think about:

• If your child is very busy with multiple family and extra-curricular activities, and participating will potentially cause transportation and scheduling difficulties, please let you student know.  Maybe this isn't the right time to dive into theatre
• The schedule for this show is very tight, only about five weeks.  That means that actors need to be here without fail
• We will let kids know that there are small and larger parts.  If your schedule is tight, please make sure they audition for smaller parts.  Those students will not join the principal cast until the end of November, so you're only dealing with a few weeks.
• The show runs two weekends.  No, you cannot be cast if you can only make it to one weekend of the show.
• There will be singing groups at Alg. and APHS.  Students in small parts can be both carollers and have bits in the show.
• We try to keep rehearsals on schedule and on time.  That said, if cast members don't stay on task or don't have their lines ready, things can go later than scheduled.  At the end of the rehearsal period we may need to go later some days to get everything covered.  This is part of the nature of what we do, and part of working with kids.  Please be understanding if things get a bit off track certain days.  We will try to let folks know if we see a late day ahead, but can't always predict it.

If there are more questions out there, contact me and I'll try to get them answered.