Running Auditions

Auditions for OUDS shows must adhere to the OUDS Audition Guidelines, which should be read in full before commencing a casting call. Please get in touch with any questions about the content of the Guidelines. Actors have the right to submit welfare feedback regarding breaches of the Guidelines.

In running auditions, make sure to be equitable, welcoming, and unbiased. Regardless of whether you have a preconceived idea of what a certain character might be like, be open to new ideas: your auditioners may surprise you! OUDS Committee strongly condemns discrimination in the audition process.

If you’re having trouble setting monologues for auditions, or need some inspiration, check out the OUDS Monologue Bank.

Running a Rehearsal Room

You’ve got your cast, now onto the fun bit! Rehearsals will vary massively depending on what the show is, when/where it’s on, who’s in the cast etc., but in general it goes like this…

Read through

You tend to start most projects with a read through that involves the entire cast coming together to read through the script top to bottom. This is also a nice chance for everyone in the cast (and I suggest you invite the crew as well!) to meet, get to know each other and so on. It’s also a good chance to do admin-y things like hand out scripts, tell the cast when you’d like them to be off-book (= to have learnt their lines by), talk about how the rehearsal process will work and answer any questions anyone might have.

If you’re doing a musical it can be helpful to start with a week in which there’s a music intensive so everyone learns the music. You’ll of course keep working on the music throughout the rehearsal process, but it allows the cast to know the music by the first blocking rehearsal, which is a really exciting and fun thing to hear so early in the rehearsal process.

Scheduling

When you move on to more regular rehearsals, everyone will want to do this differently. You may want to work with When2Meets, which are free online spreadsheets you can send to the cast to fill out so you can work to their availability. Generally speaking, you want to be sending these out at least a week before the week they’re about, as it’ll take at least 2-3 days for the cast to fill them in, a day to schedule rehearsals and then 2-3 days after that to find rooms for all those rehearsals, by which point it’ll be the week in question.

Finding rooms

Tips for finding rooms – once you’ve cast the show, you may want create a list of who’s from which college and then contact each person to see if they know of any rooms you can book in their colleges, in case you need to get them to book those in the future. Then you can compile a list of rooms you can try to book and who to go to ask (it’s also a good idea to check how much notice they’ll need to book those rooms e.g does it need to be a week in advance or can you book them on the day?). 

In the Rehearsals

Now for the creative side of rehearsals. This again comes very much from you and what you like to do so the running of a rehearsal will be different show by show. That said, if you’re not sure what a rehearsal looks like, I’d recommend assistant directing before you think of putting on your own show. That will give you a chance to see how different directors run rehearsals and might even give you the chance to try it out a bit for yourself . Then, when it gets to your chance to direct your own shows, whilst you’ll be figuring out what your directing style is, you’ll have some ideas from previous shows you can fall back on if you’re not sure where to begin.

As always, please also read the welfare guidelines as they have info on how to run rehearsals in line with welfare advice. This includes everything from staying on track with the timeline of your blocking, to looking out for every member in the cast, to keeping a kind, supportive and productive environment . Also, if there are any cast activities outside of the rehearsal room e.g pub trips or club nights a) make sure EVERYONE is aware it’s happening and knows they’re invited, b) make sure not all these activities are alcohol-based. Remind your cast, too, that it’s ok to go home, work and rest.