Maybe Not Good News?
We went to the callback. My optimism about this play is gone.
There were about 30 of us at the callback. The youngest among them were boys who still appeared to be in their teens (Artistree is a first and foremost a for-profit children's theater and workshop, so they must come from their high school productions.) We were split into two groups. One group was in one room to go over dance steps. The other group went to the back room to read lines. Kevin and I were in the dance group.
The routine was simple, but even though I have a good dance vocabulary and am a decent mover, I don't pick up choreography quickly. I was flubbing the routine even though I could do all the steps easily. Kevin was lost in the proverbial sauce. Amanda was in my group and nailing every step. Then the two groups switched and Kevin and I went to the back room to read.
We were broken into groups of four to read one scene that contained dialog between three of the gangsters and a cop. It was all male roles. I read the cop. In Kevin's group he read for both the cop and another gangster, but not the gangster role he was supposedly auditioning for. We were never asked to sing again. Kevin had been diligently practicing Fugue for Tinhorns for the past few days hoping he would be asked to sing it. Nobody asked us to sing anything. After we all read, several actors were asked to stay and read/sing further. Kevin and I were sent home. Some of Kevin's friends were shocked he was sent home.
The next day Kevin had a DM discussion with someone who auditioned and is a big supporter of Artistree. She thought the audition was fine and not problematic at all. She explained to Kevin that the director's vision was to do some gender-bending and cast women in some of the male roles (even though it seemed there were enough men auditioning to fill all the male roles and then some). Nobody ever told us this. The callback email stated we were being called back for the roles we said we wanted to audition for. It seems the stage manager who wrote the callback email was using the information on our audition forms without informing us what the director's intentions were. The director didn't state her intentions either during the callback or the initial auditions. I don't like that kind of communication - or lack thereof.
If Kevin isn't being cast as a gangster, I don't think he will be cast. His dance skills won't get him into the chorus. I suppose I still have a shot at the chorus, but now I don't know if I want to be in it without Kevin. He will do his best to be supportive, but I know he will secretly be resenting me. I also don't want to sit around rehearsals resenting the lead actors, especially when I think I gave one of the best singing auditions I ever did. There is part of me that hopes I'm not cast so I don't have to make the decision.
If this crew continues to be as discombobulated and bad at communicating as they have been in the past week, I suspect it will be a while before I hear from them, so I'm not going to sweat it. It is what it is.