Casting decisions for principal roles within a Society Production shall be made by a Casting Committee, the composition of which shall be agreed by the Society Committee for each Production, subject to the following conditions:
The Casting Committee shall be a minimum of three people, but wherever practicable shall be five people; and
The Casting Committee shall always include the Director of the Production; and
Where principal performers must demonstrate sufficient singing ability for the role, as determined by the Musical Director, the Casting Committee shall include the Musical Director; and
The Casting Committee shall always include at least one member of the Society Committee.
Auditions shall be in front of the Casting Committee either in person at an Audition or, by prior arrangement with the director, via an alternative method such as pre-recorded video.
The Casting Committee shall have the right to decide the particulars of the process, including (but not limited to) the use of callbacks and duets or other group auditions as needed.
In addition to the Casting Committee, an Audition may also have present one or more nominated person(s) to read lines, as determined by the director. Such person(s) shall not have vote(s) as part of the Casting Committee and must leave the room during deliberations.
2. Voting
Each member of the Casting Committee shall have one vote and all matters put to a Casting Committee vote shall be decided by a simple majority.
The quorum for any Casting Committee decision shall be three members.
The Casting Committee may itself decide how to structure the deliberation and voting process (e.g. whether a vote is required per character, or a single vote required to agree the final cast list, or otherwise), provided that no mechanism shall give any member of the Casting Committee greater influence on the outcome than another.
Members of the Casting Committee may, with the agreement of other members of the Casting Committee, elect to abstain from votes where they feel they would be unable to be impartial.
If a vote is tied, the director of the Production shall have the casting vote.
3. Deliberations
Following each Audition, the Casting Committee shall ensure that a written record (the “Record”) is produced summarising:
key points raised in discussion; and
the outcome of any votes.
The Record shall be sufficient to:
explain the rationale for casting decisions; and
support the provision of feedback to auditioning Members.
The Casting Committee shall appoint one member to prepare the initial draft of the Record.
The draft shall be circulated to all members of the Casting Committee for review and approval as soon as reasonably practicable following the Audition.
The Record shall be deemed approved when either:
all members of the Casting Committee have confirmed their approval; or
no comments or requests for amendment are received within a reasonable period determined by the Committee.
Once approved, the Record shall be submitted to the Society Secretary for archiving.
4. Confidentiality
All discussions during Casting Committee deliberations, including individual opinions and voting behaviour, shall remain confidential to those present.
No member of the Casting Committee shall disclose such information to any person not present, except:
As provided for in this Policy; or
As otherwise required by Society policy, including (but not limited to) safeguarding, complaints or disciplinary policies.
5. Feedback
Members seeking feedback on their audition should direct such requests to any member of the Casting Committee or Society Committee, who will notify the Society Secretary of such request as soon as possible.
Upon receiving a request for feedback the Society Secretary shall contact members of the Casting Committee requesting feedback about that Member’s audition.
The Society Secretary shall be responsible for collating and anonymising feedback from members of the Casting Committee before passing it to the Member requesting feedback, along with any relevant discussion.
Should a Member request feedback directly from a member of the Casting Committee, they must be told to direct the request to the Society Secretary. Members of the Casting Committee must not give feedback directly to the Member.