Walterdale is a community theatre and our mandate is to provide opportunities for anyone to get involved in theatre.  For that reason, we hold general auditions for all roles in a play.

Auditions can be formatted to suit the Director of the production.  However, since actors auditioning for Walterdale come with a variety of backgrounds and levels of experience, we recommend including cold reads in the format.

The following rules apply to the audition and casting process:

1. Auditions are open to anyone who is interested, whether they are Walterdale members or not.
2. Audition dates are set by the Artistic Director and information about audition dates and times must be distributed to as broad an audience as possible.

• If the turnout is large and more time is needed, dates and times can be added but must be promoted as were the original times.
• If someone wants to audition but can’t make the pre-set dates, they can arrange with the Director to audition separately.

3. The Director and other parties involved must stay at the theatre for the entire announced audition times and space should be left in the audition schedule for drop-ins.
4. The cast must be selected only from people who audition, and the Director must be willing to work with inexperienced actors.
5. Additional auditions can be held only if essential features of one or more of the characters such as age, ethnicity, or sex are not matched in the first round.  These must be scheduled in conjunction with the Artistic Director and be open to anyone who wishes to audition. 
6. No person can be guaranteed a role in the Production.  A Director may encourage people to attend the auditions, but they should not cast anybody before the entire audition process is complete.

Call-Backs:

• Call-backs (if needed) must be discussed with the Artistic Director and follow quickly upon general auditions. 

Contacting Cast and Non-Cast Auditioners:

1. No announcements or discussion of the cast with people outside the immediate production team should take place before casting is finalized.
2. Those to be offered parts should be contacted first by phone or e-mail and asked to confirm their availability.
3. Once all the roles are confirmed, those who auditioned, but were not cast, should be phoned by someone on the Production Team, preferably the Director, Assistant Director, or Stage Manager.  The caller must extend:

• An invitation to work on the show in another capacity
• Information on how to contact the Director if they want feedback on their audition.

4. Casting should be finalized by the deadline set for each show and the final cast list communicated to the Artistic Director. 

5. The Artistic Director should be kept apprised of any problems with the auditioning process. 

Departures from Cast:

1. If someone leaves the show after the casting has been finalized, the Artistic Director and Director(s) of Production must be notified immediately.
2. If the role cannot be filled from within the current cast or from someone who auditioned originally, the Director should work with the Artistic Director to find a replacement.