Auditions: Come and Gone

We had two outstanding nights of auditions. 45 people came out! Many of them were longtime Walterdale members, but just as many were new to the theatre, and quite a few were auditioning for the first time ever. You have to admire that sort of courage; the very first time you try your hand at acting, and it's for Shakespeare (King Lear, no less).

My casting plot had originally been designed for 15 actors, with quite a bit of doubling and tripling. With such a large talent pool to draw from, I was able to convince my stage manager to increase the cast size to 19, which will make it easier on a number of actors (for instance, the actor playing Edgar will no longer have to scramble to appear as one of Lear's knights in Act 1, Scene 3).

I've never worked with a cast as large as this before. My SM will be responsible for scheduling them, which will be a herculean task in and of itself. But I'll be responsible for making sure they are all both a) doing a good job and b) having a good time. This might mean my own capacity for fun will shrink accordingly, but I hope not.

I'll post the cast list shortly, once we've called everyone back to confirm.