Caitlin Howard
Arts and Entertainment Editor
Theater and dance students entered the audition room in person for the first time in over a year on Thursday, September 2.
This is the first time the theater and dance department has been able to hold in-person auditions since March 2020 due to COVID-19. Students simultaneously auditioned for the first two productions of the season: “Welcome to the White Room” and “Urinetown.” Those auditioning needed to prepare a brief section of a show tune and a monologue.
“Welcome to the White Room,” the first theater and dance production of the year, will be directed by KSC alumnus Jacob Lavoie. Lavoie did not respond to The Equinox’s request for comment.
This semester will also see the first large-scale musical since theater and dance put on a production of Stephen Sondheim’s “Company” in 2017. Directed by theater professor Kirstin O’Brien, “Urinetown” will begin performances in November.
Junior Jayson Cassetta said he is drawn to the big ensemble nature that “Urinetown” offers. “I love big ensemble shows,” Cassetta said. “They’re so much fun to me. And I’ve done so many small shows, even just been stage manager, and I’ve even [been] assistant stage manager [for] small shows, but I really want to do a big show again and be in a big show, I think that’d be really fun.”
Similarly, junior Mary Graham said the underlying topics addressed in “Urinetown” interested her. “I hadn’t known much about “Urinetown” beforehand, but when I listened to the music, I thought it would be so much fun to perform and hopefully be a part of. I really love the fun feeling songs, while also having serious undertones and addressing interesting topics,” Graham said.
O’Brien added, “It’s a musical about socialism, classism, there’s some political satire in there. There’s political heavy commentary, suggestive and literal. And it’s funny, it’s very exaggerated, it’s very expressive.”
Cassetta has auditioned for a handful of KSC productions in the past, but is devoting a new focus to this round of auditions. “I guess this is my first like, I’m trying for real, main stage show, which is kind of exciting, and also nerve-wracking at the same time,” Cassetta said.
In contrast, Graham is new to the theater and dance audition process. Although it is only her second time auditioning at KSC, Graham is looking forward to working with her peers in the theater department.
“This year I’m mostly excited to be working with a new director,” Graham said. “I’m not sure if I’ll get cast, but if I’m not cast, I plan on trying out for the Directing I shows. This way I can work with a new director and be helping out a peer.”
O’Brien expressed her passion for the audition process, “One of my favorite parts about being in this business is the audition process,” O’Brien said. “It’s the one time where actors, performers, dancers, whoever’s auditioning… get to choose the material, that works with the criteria, that suits them the best. And so walking into a room and owning… what you can do, and showing the people behind the table that you should cast me, it’s such an awesome energy.”
Caitlin Howard can be contacted at
choward@kscequinox.com
