The Other Side of the Table: What Auditions Look Like to the People Who Do the Casting
Friday 04/11/25, doors open at 5:00pm ET, interview starts at 5:30
Community Gathering on Zoom - register with the bright red reservation box to receive the Zoom link. These gatherings are a service for the theater community and are offered free for TRU members; we ask that non-members help keep us running by buying a ticket, making a
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member.
In the room: Robin Carus, casting director; Cody Lassen, producer (How I Learned To Drive, A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet, Indecent, Spring Awakening Deaf West revival); Denis Jones, director/choreographer (Tony noms for Tootsie and Irving Berlin's Holiday Inn, Honeymoon in Vegas; plus Kennedy Center Guys and Dolls, NY City Center ENCORES Paint Your Wagon, Eurydice at The Met); and Tamra Pica, producer and casting director. Many actors are terrified of auditions, others love the process. Not all of them understand it from a casting person's perspective. We've invited a casting director, producer and director-choreographer – the three main voices in the process – to share their experiences, both live and virtual. And how they differ. Who does what, best practices for running a professional session, what they each look for and what they each wish every actor would know when they come into the room. Part of the TRU Audition Conference for Theater (ACT).
Panelists
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ROBIN CARUS
(Casting Director, CSA) has cast everything from iconic commercials to groundbreaking theatre to independent films and television. Current projects include the Antonyo Awards (Apollo Theater), The Remarkable Mister Holmes (North Coast Rep), Hits! The Musical (National Tour), Pay the Writer (in development) Recent Film: The Thursday Night Club, Green Flake Recent Theatre: Surviving The Rosenthals (Teatro La Tea), Chicken & Biscuits (Queens Theatre). Robin won the Webby, Telly, Hermes, Davey Awards for her contribution to Project Sing Out! She cast virtual benefits and fundraising events for Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan, Fair Fight and the Warnock/Ossoff campaigns in Georgia, the Hudson Guild, the New Works Virtual Festival for the Actors Fund, the World Union For Progressive Judaism, and Hadassah International. For almost 10 years she was the Casting Director for TheatreworksUSA, America's oldest and largest theatre for family audiences, where she solely cast over 200 national tours and countless works in development, as well as their Off-Broadway series at the Lucille Lortel Theatre - including a revival of Seussical. She is a proud member of the Casting Society of America.
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DENNIS JONES
is a two-time Tony Award nominated director and choreographer whose work has been seen on Broadway, across the country and around the world. On Broadway, Denis received Tony, Drama Desk, Outer Critic’s Circle and Chita Rivera nominations for both Tootsie and Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn, and choreographed the Broadway production of Honeymoon in Vegas. Denis’ range of recent work includes three New York City Center ENCORES! productions (including the critically-acclaimed Paint Your Wagon), LA Opera’s Eurydice (soon to be featured at New York’s Metropolitan Opera), Signature Theatre’s brand new production of A Chorus Line, The Public Theatre’s Shakespeare In The Park production of The Tempest and the Broadway-bound new musicals Chasing Rainbows: The Road to Oz and Piece of My Heart, The Bern Berns Story and Dangerous the Musical. He has been proud to work with many of America’s most prominent regional theaters including Paper Mill Playhouse (Mary Poppins, Smokey Joe’s Cafe), The Kennedy Center (How to Succeed, Bye Bye Birdie, upcoming), Williamstown Theatre Festival (Forum, She Loves Me), Hartford Stage (The Flamingo Kid), The MUNY (42nd Street, Chicago), The Goodman (The Music Man) Goodspeed Musicals (Thoroughly Modern Millie, Band Geeks), The Maltz Jupiter (Chicago, La Cage), Seattle 5th Ave (Elf, Damn Yankees), and The Marriott Theatre (Honeymoon in Vegas, Holiday Inn).
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CODY LASSEN
is a Tony-nominated theatre producer and live entertainment consultant. Broadway productions include Indecent, the Deaf West Theatre revival of Spring Awakening, and the revival of Paula Vogel’s How I Learned to Drive. Recently off-Broadway A Commercial Jingle for Regina Comet was the first new musical to open since the pandemic began. He has been part of the producing team for other Broadway productions including Tootsie, What the Constitution Means to Me, Torch Song, The Band's Visit, Macbeth and Significant Other. Upcoming: the first revival of Titanic, The Flamingo Kid, Steven Sater & Duncan' Sheik's Alice By Heart and Burt Bacharach's Some Lovers. In addition to producing his own projects, Cody consults for producers, theaters and agencies to help them discover how they should market their shows for the best chance of financial and critical success. Previously, he was the director of marketing for Los Angeles' Center Theatre Group and its three theaters: the Ahmanson Theatre, Mark Taper Forum and Kirk Douglas Theatre. He is an active member of the Broadway League, the National Association of Musical Theatre, and serves on the Board of NY’s Vineyard Theatre. More info at codylassen.com
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TAMRA PICA
producer and casting director for Write Act Repertory. Tamra's theater and television work spans 33 years and over 250 productions as a prop designer, AEA Stage Manager, producer and casting director of plays, musicals, dance and ice shows. She produces both Off Broadway, as well as, managing the Los Angeles theater presence for Write Act. Recent credits include the long-running Frankenstein, Wicked City Blues, and Swing. Other credits include: Lili Marlene, Caldwell’s Bomb for the New York Venus/Adonis Theater Festival, Renewal, Your Name on My Lips at Theater for the New City and the long running musical Fabulous! Queen of the New Musicals where she served as a casting director and producer. Alongside theater, Tamra’s work production, casting, and development television work can be seen for companies such as Disney, Sony, Cartoon Network, NBC Studios, TBS, CBS, MTV, ABC and FOX. She currently works on the animated Disney series Mira, Royal Detective.
