Outside Actors Flock to Common Casting

Responding to a growing chorus of complaints from undergraduate actors, the Harvard-Radcliffe Dramatic Club (HRDC) has decided to conduct a review of its casting procedures this fall, club leaders said at a meeting last night.

The review comes amid concerns that too many actors from other area schools participate in the four-day Common Casting process, pushing aside Harvard students in campus shows.

Non-Harvard students have always auditioned but HRDC President Daniel A. Cozzens ’03 said the number of non-Harvard actors has risen noticeably over the last three semesters.

“It seemed that in previous years all [the] kids were Harvard students and you had to try hard to find those who were not,” he said.

In particular, some musical theater productions drew more actors from outside the University than from within, a trend some attributed to Boston-area conservatory students who may come to the casting process with more musical traning than many of the Harvard students.

HRDC estimated that 250 actors and actresses auditioned for nearly 20 shows represented in the casting event last week, which streamlines the auditioning and casting process for actors, directors and producers by allowing actors to audition for numerous shows. The analysis will examine who auditioned, who received parts and who was accepted.

Other area schools, such as Emerson College and the Boston Conservatory, do not prohibit non-students from participating in their shows but, in practice, they use very few outside actors.

Harvard College rules dictate that at least half of the participants in a College-sanctioned student organization must be Harvard undergraduates.

This fall, the production of Pippen cast about one-third of its performers from outside the University and the production of Cabaret is operating very close to the 50 percent limitation.

“We are proud that we have a very open community,” said Margaret S. Lehrman ’04, the coordinator of experimental theatre for HRDC. But she added that some actors are upset at the loss of acting opportunities to outside students.

But Jeremy W. Blocker ’04, who is directing Pippen, defended the idea of opening casting beyond the College.

“It’s a fantastic thing in terms of improving the quality of musical theatre at Harvard,” he said.

In their meeting at the Loeb Drama Center last night, HRDC leaders said they would wait for the results of the analysis before taking any official action on Common Casting procedures.

—Cassandra Cummings contributed to the reporting of this article.