INSIDE THE CASTING PROCESS

from FPC Newsletter, August 2023

with Jonathan Bank

People say directing is 90% casting. Some might quibble over the percentage, but there’s no question it’s the key to making a good show.

The process begins with “open call” auditions, also known as an EPA (Equity Principal Audition). The rules are entirely dictated by the collective bargaining agreement, down to how many members you must see per hour. I’ve been attending EPAs for more than 25 years, it’s a point of pride for me. “Worthy but neglected” applies to actors as well as plays, right? I often see as many as 200-250 actors in a single day.

I use “sides” for our open calls—brief scenes drawn from the play we’re casting. I started doing that long ago so I wouldn’t have to listen to actors doing contemporary monologues laced with profanity—but sides are the best way to assess whether an actor is a good fit in the play, which is the purpose of auditions in the first place. Reading from the script reveals if the actor and the director “hear” the play in the same way. Sometimes an auditioning actor can help a director understand what a scene is supposed to sound like which is really fun, “Oh, now I get it!”

What most people don’t understand about the casting process is that we’re not separating good actors from bad actors. There are lots of good actors and not so many bad ones. The casting process is about identifying the actor that best fits the part. It’s rare that we end up deciding between three different people, or even two. One person tends to feel “just right”. When that’s not the case, we keep looking.

After the EPA, we move into scheduled appointments, which are arranged by our casting director (Stephanie Klapper). Agents receive a “breakdown” describing roles and they submit (suggest) clients for specific parts and Stephanie decides who gets appointments. She will also seek out actors who might not be submitted, or actors who don’t have agents. Usually a few actors from the EPA get appointments.

Actors get their sides in advance plus the full script. People we really like will get a “call back” in which they might read a different side, or just spend more time working with the director. Sometimes the call back is just a double check, “are they really as perfect as I thought they were?” Some actors might get the job without a callback, if we feel confident that they are right, which (continued

(continued from previous page) tends to happen more with smaller roles where we may not need to see a range. It’s rare that we offer a part to an actor without an audition, but if a director and I both know an actor we may happily agree without an audition.

Obviously, some actors end up in more than one Mint production. Stephanie will consult with me about people who have worked at the Mint before. By and large, even old friends audition, which is the best way to verify an actor’s “fit” for the part. We love familiar faces and I hope you do too.

Here are three Mint alums in the cast of PARTNERSHIP. Each made their Mint debut in the last year and have written a few lines about their experience.

“I have been extremely fortunate in my life to have had many special opening nights, but I will never forget BECOMES A WOMAN. Performing this play, its FIRST production, for Betty Smith’s 100-year old daughter was so deeply meaningful. An actual honor. We were proud to bring Betty’s work to life and, I hope, she would have been proud of it too.”

- Gina Daniels

WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON AT THE MINT?

by Jonathan Bank

There have been a number of articles lately about a crisis in our theaters, including a guest essay in the Times by Isaac Butler (my assistant/intern in 2001) under the headline “American Theater Is Imploding Before Our Eyes.” For me, the reader comments represent the true crisis. I’ve read hundreds of them from angry, disenchanted theatergoers, and not just in response to the Times piece, but to others, many taking issue with the choices that artistic leaders are making.

I received an angry email myself a few months ago in which the author wrote to ask, “What the hell is going on at the Mint and what exactly does it stand for in 2023?”

She continued:

The purpose of the Mint is, as I understand it, to revive lost classics in the spirit they were produced. NOT to reflect the times we live in now which happily are more modern and multi-cultural...Regular theatergoers at the Mint are getting dismayed by the woke casting choices being made in period dramas and the perception that the Mint is setting fire to its legacy… Why does not the Mint possess the courage of its convictions to do what it has always done?

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“Becomes a Woman was such a magical first, as my OffBroadway debut. The sweetest cast and company, and a true treat to inhabit Betty Smith’s Brooklyn. So excited to work at the Mint again soon (this time in Brighton!)”

- Madeline Seidman

It’s a testament to Elizabeth Baker’s nuanced writing and to Mint’s vision that we get to have these provoking, high stakes, and often hilarious conversations on stage. Her plays ask timeless questions like “What to do with an indomitable spirit?” and “Is your life your own?” and nobody’s answers are simple. When the characters enter into passionate debate, they won’t leave the stage until someone is changed. It’s thrilling to commit to that every night.

- Olivia Gilliatt

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I’ve decided to address the essential misunderstanding expressed in this complaint. Even theatergoers who are not complaining may share the author’s misunderstanding of the “purpose of the Mint”. If you don’t feel like reading all that follows, here’s a summary: Mint does stand for all the same things in 2023 that we have stood for the last 25 years.

David Barbour, co-President of the Drama Desk and critic for Lighting & Sound America, has reviewed all our work for the last 15+ years. He made this observation in a recent review:

BECOMES A WOMAN should forever put paid to the idea the Mint Theater trades in beautifully burnished antiques. The long-lost works that artistic director Jonathan Bank finds tucked away in obscure locations usually have something to say about the present moment…There’s no misty nostalgia here; rather, a vigorous dialogue between past and present.

Thank you, David, that has always been my intention. Twenty years ago, I wrote:

I believe the potency of a play’s message may be more fully felt if it was written in another era for a different audience yet is grappling with timeless issues that are still timely. This enables us to see our own questions in the continuum of history and experience a play’s insights obliquely without feeling confronted in a way that might raise our defenses.

A simpler way of saying that is I never wanted to hit an audience over the head But absolutely, the plays I pick are intended to be in dialogue with the world we live in now. I look for plays that deal with human issues that are both timely and timeless. I don’t see much value in doing anything else.

I responded to my email correspondent with a picture from our 1998 production of THE HOUSE OF MIRTH, to demonstrate that Mint does have the courage to do what we have always done, but I didn’t elaborate.

Why did I cast Mike Hodge in the role of Gus Trenor, the tycoon who befriends Lily Bart? For a few different reasons:

—Because he was the actor best suited to the role based on his audition. That’s the only reason an actor ever gets cast at the Mint—but everyone has an opportunity. Not only is that a good idea, it’s the law.

— Because the rehearsal room and the theater are my workplace. I want to work in an environment that reflects the world we live in now, not the world of 100 or so years ago when our plays might have been written.

— Because it’s another way of letting audiences know that we are not producing burnished antiques or misty nostalgia. For example, our upcoming production of PARTNERSHIP is tangentially concerned with corsets, which are irrelevant today but they do serve as a good metaphor for the way in which women (people) sometimes squeeze themselves into a shape that isn’t natural.

I hope the choices I make as Mint’s Artistic Director cohere into a playgoing experience that requires no explanation, but I understand that may not be the case. Thank you for taking the time to read this and thank you for your generous support. I look forward to seeing you soon and for years to come.

Image Credits:

Dear Friends,

I hope you are enjoying your summer. There are still a few weeks of August ahead, but we start rehearsals for PARTNERSHIP soon, the day after Labor Day. I’m looking forward to seeing our terrific cast around the table for our first read-thru of this charming, witty and wise play. We’ll make a video and share that with you as soon as we can.

I’m trying something new with this newsletter with the idea of bringing you behind the scenes, into the casting process, including my thoughts about multicultural casting in plays written for a monocultural world. We’ll try to keep it up with insight into other areas in the future.