Our Actors Did Monologues for Casting Directors, and Got Auditions Right After
That headline is giving us a lot of happiness at Castiko.
On 22nd June, 2017, we did something crazy — we invited casting directors to a small venue, and put randomly selected actors in front of them to perform. We created an evening of monologues out of thin air, by simply asking our actors if they’d like to perform.
We began our outreach just 10 days before showtime, and we got 20 applications for our 10 slots. We picked out 10 at random, and informed them that they have to get a 3–5 minute monologue ready.
Still, we thought, this is not a huge number of actors, and we have no idea what the quality would be of the overall evening. We had never even met most of the selected actors before! But we decided to trust our instincts, and we thought: let’s give the actors a chance. We wanted to be the facilitators who supported creation and presentation, and we let the curation of quality up to the community.
And boy were we vindicated. The actors were called in for a short workshop two days before showtime with one of the most senior theatre directors in India. They got invaluable personalised feedback. They took it on, and on the 22nd, they lifted their performances to another level altogether. It was exhilarating.
With casting directors in the audience, the stakes were incredibly high. This was a singular opportunity for these actors to show what they can really do when they’re allowed to perform on their own terms. An audition’s mechanics are very different — just a few short minutes to prepare and present. At PAC.CITY, the actors had a lot more time, and the benefit of personalised professional guidance. They really nailed it.
After the performances, the actors met casting directors (and the audience) over dinner and dessert. Already we could see the value we had created: the casting directors took photos of the line up, asked for specific actors’ contact details, and then went and actually talked to actors they liked. It was magical. With the backdrop of an honest, skilful sharing of art, the atmosphere was naturally virtuous, kind and generous. The walls had come down, and appreciation was shared freely. It was quite lovely.
It’s been just 7 days, and we can already report that 3 of the actors have been auditioned by the casting directors in the audience for their upcoming projects. This was our ultimate aim — to create new opportunities for actors. Not only did we succeed, we also saw real results within a few days.
We also created a “help the actor” format — each actor asked the audience to vote on 3 questions they had about their performance. For example, one performer asked the audience to vote on whether they thought he had picked the right monologue — something that could give him some insight into whether he’s choosing the right scripts or if he needs to change directions. We also collected messages from the audience to the artists, and shared them later via email —
The real hero, as you can tell from the email screenshot above, was the audience. Everyone came in with such a vibrant energy, that it lifted the whole evening. The participation in our “Help the Actor” segment was great, and many members of the audience left messages for the artists as well. This is the stuff that actors live for — an audience, appreciation, and critique.
We are really encouraged and optimistic. We are already setting up event #2, on 30 July. Actor registrations are open (only Castiko Pro members can apply to perform), as are audience registrations.
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