a theatre production!?

Question:Heres the issue: there is a theatre teacher that has been at our school for years, and now there is a new teacher. He has just cast a play w/ 20ish roles. The old theatre teacher did a musical earlier this year (i.e. auditions were last year). I was cast as the lead role. But this time i didnt get a part and niether did my friend...so we are planning to put on another production with the old teachers help. The issue is how do we convince the teacher to help us w/ out the new guy getting mad and thinking we are competing w/ him? BTW, we are just trying to give those who have true talent another chance because out of 70 tryouts, 2 advanced theatre students made the cast. and there are 60ish advanced students in all. He only picked kids from his classes.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: Heres the issue: there is a theatre teacher that has been at our school for years, and now there is a new teacher. He has just cast a play w/ 20ish roles. The old theatre teacher did a musical earlier this year (i.e. auditions were last year). I was cast as the lead role. But this time i didnt get a part and niether did my friend...so we are planning to put on another production with the old teachers help. The issue is how do we convince the teacher to help us w/ out the new guy getting mad and thinking we are competing w/ him? BTW, we are just trying to give those who have true talent another chance because out of 70 tryouts, 2 advanced theatre students made the cast. and there are 60ish advanced students in all. He only picked kids from his classes.

Okay I did kinda the same thing. My senior year they only did one production and I'm like I'm a senior I WANT MORE! So we approached the director and she said no, so we asked the ***. director and told her our reasons for wanting another. She was game, so we found a script help auditions and had everything arranged with the school. We told the old director we didn't mean to step on her toes we just wanted to see if our school could pull of another and give the seniors one last chance to be on stage.

First go to the old teacher and see if they're all for it. Go prepared. Find a script or have an idea of what you want to do. Try to make it a big production so more people get parts. Or maybe do just an advanced student production. If all goes as planned just tell the new guy you want to try and give the rest of the students who didn't get a part to participate. If he gets mad just tell him maybe next time find a production that can include more of the students.

You want this to go smooth because you don't want this guy to hold a grudge and never give you the part you deserve. Hope everything goes well.

PS Also if you have the funds a great idea is a fundraising production. That will be insentive for more people to get on board knowing its going for a good cause!

I am also a high school student so I can truly relate. Here is one thing you need to understand. Talent isn't everything in the theatre world. Size, hair, eyes, attitude, the list goes on an on. Every director is different and each of them has a different prerogative. He might have been looking for fresh talent or maybe he thought that the cast needed to have a different feel. For whatever reason, you need to accept that.

With that in mind, and to answer your question, you should definitely try to put on something of your own. At my high school, student directed plays happen all the time. You need to request space to rehearse as well as your auditorium or theatre and get to work. Make sure you clear it through the theatre teacher first (as a respect issue), get funds on your own (don't use drama club or theatre money), and be respectful. You should be fine if you explain your situation.

Finally, we need to discuss one of the lines in your question. You said those with "true talent." You need to be careful. The people who received those roles wouldn't appreciate that slander. The director of the play you auditioned for thought those people were better for the role than yourself. It sucks, I know, but you need to move on. There will be people who don't cast you for the most ridiculous of reasons, but you need to respect that. Here's a piece of advice I, luckily, acquired a long time ago: The theatre world is small. Very small. You'll never know when you might be working with or auditioning for someone in your past, so it's important to handle every situation in a professional manner. I hope this helps.
God Bless,
Evan

Hmm, if the old teacher is still at the school, you could run into problems. If he has retired or gone on to someplace else, I don't see any huge conflicts. After all, if you are in theater you should be getting experience somewhere. Look for facilities in the community, perhaps.

I alos had theat problem. many of the other students did not like the new theatre teacher but the teacher DOES know that it comes with the territiory. Sometimes its not all about fame and it may be better to let others increase their acting talent. If you confront the new teacher he wouldnt be too mad since he probably knows its bound to happen anyways.

see if you can find a different performance venue. My favorite drama teacher in high school, Earl Byers of Cal High was actually the speech teacher. Mr Matthews did all the productions during the school year. Mr Byers taught drama during the summer and that was when I took his classes. He started an improvisation group that performed without conflict with Mr Matthew's productions.

Talk to your teachers. Tell them of your concerns. As long as everything is out in the open, there shouldn't be a problem.