It is extremely important that directors and other members of the audition panel have a clear plan for note taking during the auditions. Poor planning before the audition process starts will make the casting process much more difficult.
In order to effectively plan to take notes during the auditions, you must know what it is you are looking for. Having a list of the roles to be cast, with the essential skills needed to play each role is very important. These skills will form the basis for your notes. It is very easy to write a lot of notes during the audition and then discover afterward that these notes will not help you cast the show at all. It is very important that you know what you are looking for, and then keep track of how each performer measures up to these expectations. Using a rubic is an excellent way to do this.
An effective way of keeping track of your future cast is to use index cards. For one side of the card, auditionees put their name and any other necessary information. For a children's day camp, I used the following:
The questions can be easily targeted for the experience level and age range of those auditioning. The other side of the card can then be used for your own notes. Here is the rubric I often use for the other side:
Vocal: Comments:
Projection & Support 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Articulation 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Expression & Intonation 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Pitch 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Tonal Quality 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Tempo 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Script Reading: Part Read: ________
Reading Ease 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Speed 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Articulation 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Stage Deportment 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Character Development 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Interaction (with other reader) 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Physical Expressiveness 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Dancing:
Learning Ability 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Technique 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Expression 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Index cards are especially helpful during open auditions where you may wish to call on people at random. They also help when making casting decisions, as the cards can be spread out on the table and sorted by various criteria. Having a card for everyone for school shows is especially helpful when you want to make sure everyone gets a part. This makes it very hard to forget anyone.
