Posted on August 15, 2006 at 12:39 am

I’m very excited about “13” these days. We start casting in a couple of weeks, Dan and I have been ripping the script into little pieces, I’m in the middle of two new songs, Todd’s got some amazing ideas about how to stage the horror movie and the football game, we’ve got an incredible set of designers, it’s completely gonna rock! (That’s how the kids talk these days.)
Meanwhile, I’ve gotten about forty e-mails exactly like this:
Hi, I’m 14 years old and I’ve been performing in theatre since I was 8 years old and have recently starting training with a vocal coach. I read on playbill.com that you were going to start casting for your new musical “13” soon and I would love to try out for the production. I love your work and my favorite musical is The Last Five Years, so to be able to even audition for you would be an honor. If you could just send me an email telling me when and where auditions are I’d be really grateful! Thanks!
And so, here’s the deal: I want every talented teenager on Earth to come in and sing and dance for us, there’s a part for basically any type of kid out there, the show needs you, the THEATRE needs you. But: we are only auditioning in Los Angeles at the moment, and it is our hope to cast everyone locally. So if you don’t come from Southern California, you’ll have to get here to audition, and once you’re here, you’ll have to figure out how to stay here. I wish we could be like American Idol and audition all over the country, but that’s not going to happen.
Now that that’s out of the way: if you don’t have an agent, OPEN CALL! Yes, there’s an open call for the actors on Monday, August 28 at Center Theater Group in downtown L.A. Sign-in is at 9:00am, auditions start at 10. (If you’re a musician who wants to be in the band, the open call for that is Sunday, August 27, same place, sign in starting at 10.) All the information can be found by clicking here and downloading the pdf.
If you do have an agent, we encourage you to have your agent submit you to our casting director, Erika Sellin. The casting breakdown can be downloaded here.
Now if you have any further questions, you can e-mail them directly to casting@centertheatregroup.org and someone from the amazing casting department will help you out. But before you send that question, here are some things you need to know:
1. Yes, I meant it when I said we were only casting in L.A. right now. Also, we are only doing one day of open calls, and that day is August 28. If you can’t make it, you can’t make it, but that’s how it goes.
2. The breakdown says we’re looking for actors aged 12-17. In truth, if you look 17, you’re not going to get cast. This show works when everyone looks, acts, and sounds like they are 13 years old. Any older than that and the show starts to seem false. So if you’re 20 but your friends say you pass for 13, they’re wrong. On the other hand, if you’re 11 but you think you’re really good enough to hold your own in a room full of older kids, you should give it a shot.
3. Read the flyer and the breakdown carefully so you don’t mess up something obvious, like not bringing sheet music.
4. As of right now, ALL ROLES are OPEN.
5. You should sing something that makes you sound great, and you should bring two options, a real Broadway option and a real rock option. For your audition, pick the one that you do best but be ready with the other one. Don’t do a song you wrote. Don’t do a song you don’t know. Don’t do a song you’ve never sung with a piano before.
6. Boys: It doesn’t matter to me if your voice is changed or unchanged, there are parts for all kinds of boys’ voices in this show, so bring ’em on.
7. For the band: We’ll teach you the material at the open call, it’s not that hard but it’s a real rock feel, and there are a lot of specific licks and lines you’ll have to play, so if you can only play a couple of chords or if you’ve only ever played classical, you’re probably going to be in over your head.
There’s probably something I’m forgetting, but I’ll update this posting if anything comes to mind. Meanwhile, I’m really stoked to start putting a cast together, and it’s going to be AWESOME.
Rock on, people. I’ll be back soon.
J.