YC Auditions for A Christmas Carol
Please read this page carefully before completing your application.
Announcement from the A.C.T. Casting Office
All currently enrolled YC students ages 8–13 are eligible to audition for A.C.T.'s 2011 production of A Christmas Carol. There are approximately 21 roles for students of all types and sizes that may involve speaking, singing, and dancing. In addition to students who are good actors, we are also looking for any students with strong movement backgrounds (dance, gymnastics, etc.) and great singers. Please note these and any other skills that might be useful on your application.
These roles are unpaid and are considered part of Young Conservatory training at A.C.T. Students cast in our production of A Christmas Carol will be enrolled in our Professional Performance Seminar and will be automatically transferred into that class from any other Young Conservatory classes they have enrolled in for the fall term. There is no tuition required for our Professional Performance Seminar for A Christmas Carol.
Students must be available to attend every rehearsal and performance from Tuesday, November 1 to Saturday, December 24. Rehearsals will take place at 30 Grant Avenue through November 26. Rehearsals will be held on weekday afternoons and evenings and on weekend mornings and afternoons. Monday will be the regularly scheduled day off, and Thanksgiving Day will also be a day off. Rehearsals then move to the A.C.T. Theater on Geary Street. Once rehearsals have moved into the theater, there will be some additional late morning hours on the weekdays as well as regular afternoon and evening hours from November 27 until A Christmas Carol opens on Tuesday, December 6. After the show opens, participants perform seven or eight shows per week through December 24. If a student is assigned to understudy another actor in the show, he or she will be required to attend all of the understudy rehearsals. A detailed schedule is available to download here (please note that this schedule is accurate at the time of posting, but it is subject to change).
Auditions for YC students will be held on the afternoons/evenings of August 31 and September 1. Each YC student will have an individual audition appointment and should plan on being at the auditions for approximately 30 minutes. Please prepare one minute of memorized text or monologue (preferably from a play, but it's also acceptable to take it from a favorite story) and a short song (also 1-2 minutes and preferably something you really like to sing—even "Happy Birthday") to be sung unaccompanied.
Callbacks, if necessary, are scheduled to take place on the afternoon/evening of September 6. Callbacks will include movement, singing, and acting. ALL STUDENTS WHO ATTEND CALLBACKS ARE ASSUMED TO AGREE TO ACCEPT ANY ROLE THAT THEY MAY BE CAST IN. We hope to finalize the casting for A Christmas Carol shortly after the callback auditions, but occasionally additional considerations delay our casting decision. However, everyone who is called back will be contacted whether they are cast or not.
After considering the commitment outlined above and reading over the rehearsal and performance schedule, interested students should fill out the application and return it to the YC by fax at 415.834.3210 or by regular mail along with your YC application as soon as possible, but no later than August 26. You will be called after we receive your application to set the time of your audition.
PlEASE NOTE: YOU MUST BE ENROLLED IN THE YOUNG CONSERVATORY FALL CLASSES TO BE CONSIDERED.
The Christmas Carol Experience
The Christmas Carol experience at the American Conservatory Theater is a rare and cherished one because it is our annual opportunity to bring together all of our constituencies on one project. Professional actors, our third year M.F.A. students, and our Young Conservatory all come together for this event. To help make this experience a personally gratifying one and to support the training of our young actors, each YC actor is assigned a member of the cast (usually an M.F.A. student) to serve as his/her mentor and to help guide the YC actor through the experience of working on a professional production.
In addition, and in compliance with California State Law, the Young Conservatory employs professional studio teachers who supervise and tutor the YC actors to help them stay on track with their schoolwork throughout the rehearsal and performance process.
A strong relationship exists between the Young Conservatory and schools in the area. Once a child is cast in A Christmas Carol, a letter goes out from Craig Slaight, the head of the Young Conservatory, to the head of each child's school explaining the involvement. To date, every school has been cooperative and supportive of the opportunity.
Parents of cast members have often organized a group to help with transportation, organizing meals, breaks, and other issues. Parents, however, are not allowed inside the rehearsal studio while rehearsal is going on. A quiet room is made available to students for those times when they are not immediately involved in rehearsal.
Role assignments are not held over from year to year. Each year the casting starts from scratch for the young roles in A Christmas Carol. A year can make a big change in whether a student is suitable for a particular role.
We are so grateful for your interest and look forward to seeing you this year!
