2 men for one act play urgently required

I urgently need 2 fairly attractive men! - one aged 30ish and one 50 something for a one act play at Stirling Theatre in August. If you think you might fit the bill, please call on 0412 670 449 or email me. Would love to hear from you.

To Julia Williams,
I have read your request for the 2 men and assume this is for "Fish Will Be Lovely".

I heard from an acquaintance who knows you, that you have cast the part of Elizabeth in the play. I have been wondering when you were going to call those who came along to the audition on 8th June, specifically myself, as I was the only one who auditioned for that part. If and when you finally called, if it was to offer the part to me, I had decided that I would not take it, for 2 reasons:
- the play was not really what I was looking for
- I found the audition process on June 8 very inappropriate.

You may recall on the audition day, that after quite a period of time had passed, that Christine Ellis rather abruptly asked you, "Well, what is happening Julia"? She was clearly speaking from a sense of frustration. Like Christine, I had sat there for some time, waiting for you to communicate some information about your perceptions of my reading. The fact that Peter Flanigan, and Barry Lefort, had already given their feedback to all those present, and stated who had been cast, only highlighted how lacking in communication and respect you were being towards myself and Christine Ellis. I recall you going out of the hall a couple of times, then making tea in the kitchen, without any word of response to either myself or Christine. I eventually approached you, while you remained behind the counter, and I finally asked you "had I done okay", and your response was "of course". I found your treatment that day, quite rude, dismissive, and insensitive.

I have been a member of Stirling Players for over 2 years; my involvement includes singing and acting, prompting, and backstage work. In all that time, I have never been treated the way I was on June 8, and am extremely disappointed in the way you handled this audition. I had actually thought earlier this week, to write a letter of complaint about the audition process on June 8, to Carryn Maddocks at Stirling, but have changed my mind about this now. I feel it is more approriate to direct my concerns to yourself.
J. Bartley

Please do not phone me now, as it appears you have made your decision. I believe that all people who put time and effort into attending auditions, need to be acknowledged by a phone call back (particularly when you made quite a point of gathering my numbers). I am sure you would expect similar treatment if you attended an audition.

Dear J Bartley

In the time it took you to write your email you could have picked up the phone and spoken to Julia about the issue which would have been far more courageous. Instead you decided to attempt to humiliate someone on a site viewed Australia-wide. Surely this is a personal issue between you and Julia or did you have some sort of an agenda?

You said -

"I had actually thought earlier this week, to write a letter of complaint about the audition process on June 8, to Carryn Maddocks at Stirling, but have changed my mind about this now"

Well maybe you should have. It would have been the appropriate thing to do. So why did you change your mind? You then said that you would take it up with Julia herself (and, as it turned out, the many others who frequent this site!!) but instead you decided to write a note in the classifieds. Aren't you now being a tad hypocitical.

Having directed a couple of times before and auditioned more times than I can remember I feel that we are all different in our approach to directing and its process and that's life. Whether someone phones, emails or writes a letter is totally up them. Just like it was your decision to audition.

My opinion, for all it's worth, is that you yourself could have handled this situation a lot better.

Regards

Alex McLennan

Here, here - well said Alex !

If e-mail could be portrayed as an image, I suspect that Josephine's message would have looked something along the lines of 'a little girl stamping her foot and folding her arms'.

We all have different approaches and techniques and theatre can somethimes be harsh - but each day brings a new opportunity and a new chance ......... we all choose our own destination - live with it.

Julia Williams is a fantastic writer and director - wishing her all the best for the one act season at Stirling.

Kind regards
Peter

Alex,
I did not have the details to contact the person by phone; also, I assumed that by replying to that person's original classified, she would be the main person accessing my response, i.e. it was unintended that it become generally available to others. (It was the first time I have used this option, so was not familiar with how it works)

No I was not intending to "humiliate" anyone as you say - I would not put someone else through an experience similar to my own at Stirling.
JB

Julia,
Re my e-mail of 30.6 responding to yours, it seems I made a techno error with this. I assumed that I was replying to you personally, not realising that "post" would put it on to the general screen. It came to my attention today when someone else responded to me. I apologise for this happening; I assumed the system was similar to the "reply" option of a personal e-mail.
My experience of the audition, ( and much less the outcome of it), remains unchanged. My feedback was only meant for yourself. We "humans" can all learn from our mistakes, I believe - my lesson has been that I should have checked with someone else re using this section of the ITA website.
JB

J Bartley wrote:
>
> I did not have the details to contact the person by phone;
> also, I assumed that by replying to that person's original
> classified, she would be the main person accessing my
> response, i.e. it was unintended that it become generally
> available to others. (It was the first time I have used this
> option, so was not familiar with how it works)
>
> No I was not intending to "humiliate" anyone as you say - I
> would not put someone else through an experience similar to
> my own at Stirling.
> JB

JB,
If you want to reply to someone directly, their email address is available by clicking on their name where it says "author" in their posting...it's not too hard to figure out.
I see that it seems to have been a genuine error, and you've apologised for that aspect of it. It seems both sides have been humiliated by your posting; 'nuff said.


But as far as your over-reaction to the audition process, I really suggest that you attend many, many more auditions and realise that, in general, you've not been treated any worse than most.

Yes, it's nice to have personal attention after an audition, and many small community groups do excel themselves by making a point of contacting unsuccesful auditionees...this is NOT the norm, and in the professional world it is virtually UNHEARD of.

I'm not saying this is desirable; there have been a few auditions where I have received helpful feedback, and one or two that have thanked me for attending.

But there have been hundreds more where I've been treated more like a number; not required to finish the entire audition; dismissed in a perfunctory way; or certainly ones when I've not heard from anyone once I've walked out the door. Even an audition for a multi-national producer (Disney) that flew me to Sydney at their own expense for a third call-back...after that, nothing. After all that promise, my agent was able to establish some time later that the role had been cast.
Not that I was hugely upset by this treatment...a pity not to get cast, of course...but par for the course as far as auditions go.



For your own piece of mind, let it build some strength of character, and just get used to it.


Cheers,
Craig

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