As the Central Kitsap High School theater club begins preparation for its next musical, “The Addams Family,” nerves shake students as they prepare for and perform their auditions. Due to “The Addams Family” having a selective cast list, the competition was fierce between the scores of drama members.
“For a musical, there’s definitely a lot more involved pieces to an audition than a standard play,” director Zachariah Timm said. “Mostly because we have to check for stuff like ability to sing in vocal range, and then also affirm they’re fit for the role. Usually there’s going to be some component involving choreography and ability to learn choreography in some auditions, depending on if the musical is a super dance-heavy show or not.”
For musical auditions, the individual process takes place over two days, while standard play auditions only require students to show up for one day. The first day consists of solo singing auditions, while on the second day students focus on acting. They pick from a selection of short scenes to read with a small group, a partner, or by themselves.
“I entered into this last fall having no idea what this musical was, but I quickly fell in love with it,” junior Miles Borer said. “It’s an incredible story, and it’s really intricately made. There’s a bunch of different interweaving plot lines that still work together, and the music is amazing.”
Since its origin as a cartoon, “The Addams Family” has gone through many different iterations and mediums. The musical tells the story of a spooky family and their daughter, Wednesday, as she brings her new boyfriend, Lucas, over for dinner to meet her family. The production follows this dinner party between two very different families.
“I feel really good about it,” Timm said. “I think that CKHS has a lot of great talent, both in terms of acting ability and vocal ability. We saw that during our last musical, ‘Legally Blonde,’ and we’ve had a great turnout so far. We’re excited for the students that are in the room.”
The first day of auditions is all about a student’s vocal ability. The actors begin with their rehearsed solo, the only part of the audition that is preparable. While other actors are singing their solos, the rest of the group rehearses ensemble songs.
“My main concern whenever I’m in auditions is, obviously, you don’t have a mirror in your face, so you can’t tell if the facial expressions you’re trying to make is what you are actually making,” sophomore Juancho Perez said.
After the two-day audition process, the acting and vocal directors come together to discuss the performances they saw. There are a variety of things to factor in, from availability, to singing, to acting ability. Finding a perfect actor for every role can be difficult, with each actor having a multitude of strengths and weaknesses.
“Overall, the process is really about checking to see where skill level is at, but then also try and identify fit for the role,” Timm said. “We do a lot of different exercises, like cold readings or prepared songs or movement exercises, to check for those abilities and then compare that against the available students, then the casting.”
