Mary Poppins Jr. Audition Information Cast & Crew Information and Expectations Contract Welcome and thank you for auditioning for this year s 7 th & 8 th grade winter musical Mary Poppins Jr. We are so excited for this year s production. Contained in this packet is vital information that both parents, cast and crew members will need to know. Please take your time and go over the contents then sign and return the last page by your students first audition day. No student will be allowed to audition without this form completed and returned. The most important piece of information that you need to know is the show dates and times. Performances for Mary Poppins Jr. are Friday, February 8, 2019 at 7:30 pm and Saturday, February 9, 2019 at 2:00 pm and 6:30 pm. Cast and crew members are not allowed to leave in-between the Saturday performances. Audition Days Audition Days for Mary Poppins Jr. are Monday Oct. 22nd, Tuesday Oct. 23rd, and Wednesday. Oct. 24th. You must attend all 3 audition days to be considered for a role. Each audition day is something different: one day is acting, another is singing, and finally one is dancing. Acting Auditions: On acting audition day you will be put into audition groups. You group will be given a short scene and each person a role. The group will have time to practice before being called to audition. Once your group have auditioned you are free to leave unless otherwise instructed by the director. Singing Audition: We will all meet in the chorus room. Students auditioning do not sing in front of the group. Everyone goes individually in the chorus room. You will be asked to sing a show tune of your choice. A show tune is any song from a musical. See Mrs. Hillman if you need help choosing a song. Singing auditions run longer than the other audition days because we take everyone individually. Students may leave after they have auditioned. Dancing Auditions: Please wear clothes and shoes in which you can dance and NO FLIP FLOPS. This is for your safety. You will be taught a dance, you will have time to practice it several times, and then you will audition in groups of 6 or 8. Students may leave after they have auditioned. Call Back Auditions: On Thursday, Oct. 25th we will be holding call back auditions. We have call back auditions when we have more than one person we can see in a specific role. The purpose is to see more of what we need to make the best possible decision. We do not call back people for every role. Do not worry if you are not called back, this is no reflection on whether or not you have made the show.
Audition Behavior Expectations During auditions we expect all participants to behave in a respectful manner. Anyone acting in a disruptive or disrespectful manner will be asked to leave and will not be allowed to continue in the process. Things you want to think about before auditioning It is very difficult when we cast a student in the show and then they drop out. Not only have they taken a spot from someone else, but it causes a major disruption for everyone. So here are some things to think about before you make the commitment to audition. The Time Commitment : Being in a musical production is a huge time commitment. In the beginning cast members may only be at rehearsal 2-3 times a week. However, that will increase to 4-5 times as the production moves forward. Scheduled during the week rehearsals are from 3:15-5:00 pm. (or 5:30 pm) Saturday rehearsals are 9:30 am-noon. Two weeks before the show we start with tech rehearsals which run until 6:00 pm or 6:30 pm once we add costumes. We ask that you please take a look at your student s after school schedule and your own to make sure, that if the student is cast, the commitment can be made. A detailed character breakdown schedule will be given to the cast and crew at the first rehearsal Monday Oct. 29th 3:15-5:00pm. Grades : There is nothing worse than when a student has to drop out due to poor grades. Play rehearsal is not an excuse for not doing your homework. You need to find the balance between school and after school activities. This is also where you need to look at your schedule and decide if you have the time to do both. Girls Basketball: This production and Girls Basketball run on the same schedule. It is impossible for students to do both. Play rehearsals and basketball practices/games are at the same time. We have students in the past try and it hasn t worked out. Casting Casting is the hardest part of our job. As much as we would like to cast everyone, we cannot. We take casting very seriously and no decision is made lightly. If you are not cast, please do not let it stop you from auditioning in the future. Important information if your student becomes part of the Cast or Crew Our Website: All information, forms, schedules, and everything else you will need to know can be found on our website www.rotolodrama.weebly.com. This site will be the main form of communication. The expectation is that it will be checked at least once a week to get up-to-date information. We also now have a Facebook page called Rotolo Middle School Drama. That will be updated at least once a week as well. We ask that you also follow us on Twitter at Rotolo Drama @Rotolo_Drama. This will give you up to the minute alerts as to when the website has been updated, also if rehearsal has been
canceled due to weather or illness. There is a Twitter feed on the website and a link to Facebook also. Participation Fee: There is a $25 participation fee. The fee can be paid online or by check made payable to Rotolo Middle School. If you write a check please write your child s name and Musical on the memo line. Also, please put it in an envelope with your child s name and Wizard of Oz written on the outside. Please give any check payments to the Main Office and not to me. The fee is due by Wednesday, January 17, 2018. If there is a hardship please speak to Student Services, they can help. Mandatory Parent Meeting: If your student is accepted as part of the cast or crew, at least one parent or guardian is required to attend the Mandatory Parent Meeting on Tuesday Oct. 30, 2018 from 5:00 pm - 5:30 pm. This meeting will start right after their first rehearsal ends. Behavior Expectations: We want to make sure this is a positive and rewarding experience for everyone. Respect towards all involved is our #1 rule. All student handbook rules apply. All Cast and Crew members are expected to: Be respectful to all adults, cast and crew members. Be at rehearsal on time. Come to rehearsals prepared. Stay in your designated rehearsal area. Be responsible for all of your personal belongings. Clean up after yourselves. Listen and follow directions at all times. Have a positive attitude. Any of the following behaviors will result in IMMEDIATE dismissal from the production: Bullying. ANY disrespectful behavior towards any member of the production. (i.e. talking back to adults, causing backstage drama, etc ) Swearing. Stealing, taking, or touching anything that is not yours. Refusing to follow directions. Disruptive behavior. Inappropriate behavior. Consistent unexcused absences from rehearsals. Consistent bad attitude. Any behavior administration/directors deem harmful, or counterproductive to the production.
Rehearsals: Cast members are expected to attend all of their scheduled rehearsals. As it was stated before, being in a musical production is a huge time commitment. All schedule conflicts must be into us by Oct. 31, 2018. All dance rehearsals in which your student is involved are mandatory. If you miss more than 2 dance rehearsal days you will not be in the numbers that were rehearsed. If you are sick please have them stay home and get better. Please do not come to rehearsal ill, you will only make yourself worse and possibly infect the rest of the cast. Cast and crew members are encouraged to bring a snack to eat before rehearsal. These are long days for the kids, and we find a healthy snack beforehand gives them the energy they need to make it through. Tech Week Rehearsals and Attendance Policy: All tech rehearsals are mandatory for cast and crew. We cannot stress this enough. Except for serious illness, we will not accept excuses for non attendance, late arrival, and early departure. Any student arriving late or leaving early, for a non emergency reason, at any time during tech week, will only be in the show starting at, or up until, the time they missed. No cast member will be allowed to leave tech rehearsal until they are dismissed, even if we are running late. Although we try as hard as we can to end on time during tech week, sometimes this is not possible. Before we can release cast and crew members, we have to give performance notes and comments, make sure costumes are hung up and everything is cleaned-up and put away for the next day. Tech rehearsals are imperative; this is when we run the production to establish timing for light/sound cues, costume changes, set changes and all the fine tuning that needs to take place. This is impossible if we have cast and crew missing. School Day Preview: On Friday, February 8th all Mary Poppins Jr. cast and crew members will take part in the school preview shows. This means these students will be involved with the assemblies that day and not in their regular classes. Pick-up Policy: Students need to picked up and dropped off in the back by the cafeteria doors. All cast members must be picked-up no later than ½ hour after the end of rehearsal. If pick-up times are going to be difficult, let us know and we can help find you a carpool alternative. Any cast member picked-up later than that ½ hour, 3 times will be dismissed from the cast. Parent Help: We can use all the parent help we can get. Between set construction, backstage, hair and makeup, costumes, bake sale table, tickets, publicity, and more, we
need parent volunteers. There is a parent volunteer form on the website we ask that you fill out. Bake sale: We have a bake sale table at every performance. This helps us raise money for future productions, and has proven to be very successful. This table is very popular and we come close to selling out every year. Every family of the cast and crew will be asked to donate baked goods.we also ask that everyone contribute bottled water or soft drinks, a list will be provided after casting. STAGE: STAGE is our parent booster group. They are very important to our productions. This year they have provided us with the funds to bring in an outside sound and lighting people to enhance the production. They will be selling the extremely popular Fan-O-Grams and flowers again and we will need parent help to man that table also. Please consider becoming a STAGE member because by supporting them you are helping to support us. More membership information and fundraising events can be found at http://www.stagebatavia.org. Publicity and Photos: In order to publicize and promote this show, photos will be taken. Some may be used by STAGE our booster group on the program, web page, press releases and in other social media to promote our show. A parent needs to initial this section of the permission form for their student to participate. Contact Information: Our door is always open, and we invite you to give us any suggestions or comments you might have. Parent communication is very important to us, so please feel free to contact us at sherry.poulos@bps101.net and kathleen.hillman@bps101.net, if you have something on your mind. Thank you so much for your help and support, Sherry Poulos Producer/Director Kathleen Hillman Music Director Maddison Kozar Choreographer
Signed Contract and Permission Form (This form needs to filled out, signed and brought to the 1 st audition day) I have gone through the following packet with my student,, and we understand the following: We understand that participants must attend all 3 audition days. We understand the behavior expectations and consequences. We understand the time commitment to this show and are willing to make it. We understand that there is a $25 participation fee for cast and crew and it is due by January 17, 2019. We understand that we are expected to check the website at least once a week for the latest information. We understand that all schedule conflicts are due to the Directors by Oct. 31, 2018. We understand the Tech Week Attendance Policy. We understand that, if casted, we are required to attend the Mandatory Parent Meeting on Tuesday Oct. 30, 2018 at 5:00 pm in the cafeteria. We understand that participants will be taking part in the school day assemblies on Friday, February 8, 2018 and will not be attending classes that day. We understand and give permission for publicity photos to be taken and used. Parent name printed Parent name signed and dated Parent email Student signature