RAT Re: Readings

[Chris Jeffries <cjeffries@seanet.com>]

>What ABOUT actors who do a reading -- and then 
>are replaced in the production by someone else?  Total bummer, if they were 
>hoping to do the play, even when they're told up front the 
>producer/playwright/director cannot commit.

Excuse me, if actors were told up front they are not guaranteed roles in 
the production, then actors were told up front they are not guaranteed 
roles in the production.  The End.  Any actor who feels exploited by that 
can simply say no to doing the reading; no one is being held at gunpoint.

Even if the point is not made explicit (though it ought to be, out of 
courtesy and to avoid misunderstandings) there is no law of theatre that 
says the cast of a reading must overlap with the cast of a production, 
even at the same venue that produced the reading.  Often there is a huge 
gap between who's available at short notice for the brief time commitment 
of a reading, and who's available and willing to commit to an entire 
rehearsal and performance run of a show.  Playwrights' and directors' 
conception of how roles should be cast can change, often as a result of 
readings.  Also, if those who did the reading were automatically cast, 
then what's to stop other actors from complaining they were denied a shot 
at auditioning just because they might have been overlooked or 
unavailable for the reading....  You can't please everyone; let us honor 
the difference between having a legitimate grievance and crying 
institutional unfairness every time we're not offered work.

CJ