Every child gets a line?
The question you're answering.
Login to flag as inappropriate
Hello fellow theatre artists and educators!I've been doing children's musical theatre for over 2 decades, and I have seen a disturbing trend happening over the past few years that I would love to get your opinions on.It seems that lately I have had a LOT of parent complaints around the casting of the musicals. They don't understand why I can't give every child a speaking role. And they imply in their emails that it is not a product of the fact that the shows just don't have lines for 30-60 characters, but that it is, in fact, my fault that not everyone gets a line.Have any of you experienced this? I hate to admit that I may be a relic. Back when I started doing theater, people won their role. You auditioned, and maybe you didn't get in and maybe you did. Often times, just being cast was a major victory in itself.Then at the community theater level, companies started popping up that removed the competition of auditioning altogether. They introduced "if you pay... you're in." And now it seems to be evolving (devolving?) into "I paid, so my kid should have a role that must have at least one line, if not more."I spend an inordinate amount of time trying to explain the value of an ensemble, and that the popular shows that they all want to do are just not written for 30+ roles, and that sometimes a young actor is not yet READY to take on a role. It has required writing up contracts, handbooks, and holding parent conferences to set expectations on casting. And yet I still get the complaints.Am I going crazy? Anyone else experiencing this?
2 Answers
Believe me when I say you're not the only one experiencing this problem! This is an issue that seems to be, at least from my persepctive, permeating the modern children's theatre. It's become especially worse since the advent of "production fees" to participate in a children's show. I work with a company that doesn't require its students to pay to be in a show. Instead, we ask the parents to volunteer so that they understand exactly how much work goes into putting a show together. Even this, though, hasn't been enough to keep us from having these same complaints you're describing.
To be honest, I think this "every child deserves a line" philosophy derives a lot from parents who don't understand the mechanics of theatre. We live in an age where scores aren't kept at children's sporting events so that everyone can be a winner, and I think that mindset has spilt over into children's theatre because parents don't understand that this isn't a one-size-fits-all solution.
The sad fact of the matter is, I don't think there's any way we can stop this problem cold turkey. All we can do is continue to educate kids and parents so that they understand two fundamental things:
1.) Rejection is a part of theatre. It's a fact of life. At some point, you have to learn to deal with that.
and 2.) Ensemble is just as important an experience as playing a principal character. It allows an opportunity for an actor to really get creative and learn how to build a well-rounded character.
Like I said, I wish this was a problem with a simple solution, but I honestly can't think of one. It's truly sad to see theatre going this way.
Thanks Sean! I am so glad you didn't reply with "we just rewrite the script to split up all the lines between every child"!!
I have actually been asked to do this many times, and the thought of trying to explain to a parent what a license agreement allows makes my head hurt! :)
I guess we just keep doing what you said -- trying to soften rejection and stressing the importance of working your way up to a lead.
I know at the children's theater level we are seeing the largest group of people who are just "tipping their toe in" for the first time, and that ultimately 90% of them will not continue in the activity. But I still feel that it's important to not just pass them up to the next level without having them learn those 2 key fundamentals you listed.