Steppenwolf Theatre Company Blog – Chicago Theater, World-Class Ensemble

We’ve been conducting auditions this week for Huck Finn, the show I’ll be directing for our Steppenwolf for Young Adults program this winter.

It is a challenging process. First, the audition mechanism itself is inherently fraudulent. The idea that one person should judge another’s abilities by a few minutes of exposure under supremely artificial circumstances rings ridiculous. And yet all theaters do it, for reasons of economy, convenience, adherence to democratic/meritocratic ideals etc. Have we simply found no better way?

Second, the onslaught of visible talent is at once inspiring and disheartening. All these skilled people want to do this crazy thing called acting in a play, and yet it is not possible to employ them all. For Huck Finn, we asked actors, in addition to preparing the “sides” from the play, to sing 16 measures of a folk song, a cappella. The number of actors who offered the disclaimer “I don’t really sing,” and then proceeded to offer heartfelt and perfectly-pitched renditions of “Amazing Grace” was staggering.

Lastly, I’m setting about casting a play the text of which, as a new work, may still undergo significant revision. It is possible I may cast an actor whose role is modified, even eliminated, or who may need to “double” into an as yet non-existent character, during the next month of workshopping and re-writing.

Fortunately, our casting director Erica Daniels assembled such a deep pool from which to draw, that the group of eight fine (and versatile) actors who will make up the cast offer some assurance we are starting on the right course. Now I have to not steer them wrong.

This entry was posted by Edward Sobel on Monday, October 2nd, 2006 at 9:01 am and is filed under Huck Finn. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.