Guidelines Governing the Conduct of Auditions
The Auditioning Panel
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An Auditioning Panel shall be selected by the WAOS Committee.
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The Auditioning Panel shall always consist of five members and must include the Director, Musical Director, and at least one WAOS Committee member. If possible, one member of the Auditioning Panel shall be external, but with no obvious unfair bias.
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The WAOS committee member shall always be appointed to be the Chairman of the Auditioning Panel and shall oversee the decision of the Panel, exercising judgement where necessary, in the best interests of the Society.
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The WAOS Committee shall appoint a secretary who shall not be a member of the Auditioning Panel but who shall take notes of discussions and decisions made by the Panel.
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Every effort shall be made to keep the Auditioning Panel consistent throughout all auditions. However, If a member of the Auditioning Panel cannot attend an extraordinary audition date or a second audition date (see The Audition Date and Second Auditions), another appropriate individual shall be selected by at least a quorum* of the Committee to take his/her place according to the rules above. The Individual shall not be a current (or already successful) auditionee, nor have any obvious unfair bias.
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Auditionees
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An auditionee must be a fully paid-up member of WAOS.
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New members who do not get the part they auditioned for and/or are not accepted into the company may, if they wish, have their membership subscription returned less a £20 audition fee. New members who do not get into the company are welcome, of course, to remain fully paid up and to attend rehearsals, help Front of House or backstage during show week and participate in members’ social events.
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Auditionees must deliver completed Audition Application Forms to the Production Secretary no later than one week prior to the audition date. The contents will remain confidential to the Production Secretary and he/she will prepare schedules, differentiating between those wishing to ‘audition for’ and ‘be considered for’ the specified parts for use by each member of the Auditioning Panel.
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Audition Application Forms will be available at the first rehearsal for a production and can also be downloaded from the Society’s website – www.waos org
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The Audition Dates
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The audition dates shall be set by the Executive Committee.
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Auditions will be ‘open’ (auditionees for the same part will be asked to vacate).
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The Production Secretary is responsible for the smooth running of the auditions. This responsibility will be delegated before the audition if the Production Secretary is auditioning.
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In addition to the main audition date the Executive Committee will set an earlier date. This additional date represents a reasonable adjustment to accommodate those members who have advised the Executive Committee of a disability.
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If a Society member, through genuine difficulty, is unable to attend the scheduled audition dates, an additional extraordinary audition may be arranged, prior to the audition dates provided that:
a. consent has been obtained from at least a quorum* of the committee;
b. the Auditioning Panel is present
c. this extraordinary audition date is made available to other auditionees in a similar predicament.
If a Society member is unable to attend either the scheduled audition dates, or the extraordinary audition date, he/she may only audition for any parts that have not been cast at the main audition (see Second Auditions).
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Guidelines Governing the Casting of Principal Parts
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A list of principal parts shall be published by the Director in advance of the audition date.
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Dialogue and musical numbers required for the audition date will be made available to members at the first rehearsal for a production.
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Smaller parts not requiring audition (ie not on the audition list published by the Director) may be cast primarily from the membership at the discretion of the Director.
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On the audition date, the Auditioning Panel shall endeavour to cast all of the principal parts which appear on the audition list published by the Director.
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If the Auditioning Panel wishes to consider an auditionee for a different role from the one auditioned for, and one for which there were auditioning candidates, then that may only be done without further auditions where, in the opinion of the Auditioning Panel, the two roles concerned are similar and no other member present has expressed a wish to be considered for that part. Where the two roles are basically different and/or other members have expressed a wish to be considered for the part, then those wishing to be considered will be invited to audition for the new role in addition to the auditionee concerned either on the audition date or at second auditions (see The Audition Date and Second Auditions).
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In certain circumstances, it shall be considered impossible to cast a principal part;
when there has been no auditionee;
when the auditionees have been cast in other principal parts;
when the auditionees do not meet the minimum standards required by the Auditioning Panel. -
If, in these circumstances, it is impossible to cast a principal part, the Auditioning Panel reserves the right to ask any Society member present on that date to audition, provided that:
he/she is not a member of the Auditioning Panel;
other Society members present on that date are offered the same opportunity. -
If, after these rules have been observed, it remains impossible to cast a principal part on the audition date, a second audition shall be arranged (see Second Auditions).
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The Production Secretary will contact all those who auditioned once it is agreed that auditionees can be informed of the Auditioning Panel’s decision.
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A Production Fee must be paid by all members participating in a show. The fee is set by the WAOS Committee and will be announced at the start of the first rehearsal after casting is complete.
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Second Auditions
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A second audition shall only take place if:
a principal part/parts cannot be cast on the Audition Date (see Guidelines Governing the casting of Principal Parts)
consent has been obtained from at least a quorum* of the Executive Committee;
the Auditioning Panel is present (see Auditioning Panel). -
The second audition date shall be set by at least a quorum* of the Committee.
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Society members shall be given at least 7 days’ notice of the date for the second auditions and the parts to be auditioned. Usually this shall be given at the first full chorus rehearsal after the Audition Date and by email to fully paid-up members.
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Society members should give 3 days’ notice to any member of the Production secretary of their Intention to take part in any second audition.
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Guest Performers
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It is the duty of the Director and the Auditioning Panel to cast the principal parts in such a way as to stage the best possible show.
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A guest performer may therefore be asked by the Committee to audition for a role at Second Auditions provided that: it is not possible to cast a principal part from the Society’s membership on the Audition Date (see Guidelines Governing the casting of Principal Parts); consent has been obtained from at least a *quorum* of the Committee.
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A guest performer shall be encouraged by the secretary to join the Society as a paid-up member and shall pay the current performance fee.
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If a guest performer is under the age of 16 (or in full time education) he/she shall contribute 50% of the current performance fee.
*A quorum* shall comprise 5 Committee members, one of whom must be Chairman, Secretary or Treasurer.
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Witham Amateur Operatic Society
May 2015
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Registered Charity No: 265029