Telsey Casting Office, New York City, Hairspray Equity Chorus Call 6-20-08
This past week during casting for The New York Musical Theater Festival casting director Daryl Eisenberg (website) was tweeting live commentary during auditions about the actors she was seeing before her:
“If we wanted to hear it a different way, don’t worry, we’ll ask.”Here's her full response, her twitter account page and a twitter search on the subject.
“Your skirt makes me think you’re Wiccan…”
“Who is that person in your headshot? it is def not the person standing in front of me.”
“If you are going to sing about getting on your knees, might as well do it and crawl towards us…right?”
When Actors Equity Association got wind of this behavior Ms. Eisenberg then released the following tweet:
“We have a quick break….for the record, we tweet when the actors are NOT IN THE ROOM.”
and
"There is NO rule/guideline against Twitter/Facebook/MySpace/Friendster. Freedom of speech. Ever heard of it?"
Here is the best part of her response:
"Look: I don't intend to hurt anyone's feelings when I Tweet. And I apologize to anyone who's been hurt by this. But, this is a tough business, and if there is something that is sabotaging an audition, chances are there are a bunch of actors who will also benefit from the feedback and avoid making the same mistakes.Thank you Laura H for sending in this story. You can see her sing with 4 other local divas in A Night With the Girls #3, August 31, 2009, at the Orlando Shakespeare Theatre. Tickets are $20 and proceeds benefit the Orlando Improv Festival.
When else have actors had a clear line of communication to casting directors beyond assistants, interns, and the dreaded submission box? I started a Twitter account to provide insight to the life of a casting director and have an open dialogue with actors/agents/producers. All too often is our role misinterpreted. For example, I get letters from actors asking for my office to represent them. That's not what a casting director does. The New York Times still refers to casting directors as casting agents. We are not agents. I tweet about the day to day events in my office, which of course includes auditions. My Twitter account is meant to be informative."