Despite the flippant title for this blog post, there is no 14/48 "casting couch." An average of 50 artists from the greater Seattle area and sometimes beyond participate each 14/48 festival weekend. Shawn Belyea describes the process by which the Steering Committee meet and nominate artists to participate in the festival which is no easy task. Each of them come to the table with a list of artists with whom they've worked or seen their work and think they've got the chops.
Part of the mission of 14/48 is to continually introduce new Virgin talent to the experience while balancing this unpredictable element with returning Veterans (though even Veterans can lack predictability. In fact, predictability is the antithesis of everything the festival stands for but it helps to have certain known variables factored into the randomness of it all). Volunteering for the festival is a great way to meet the Steering Committee and put yourself on their radar, though there is no guaranteed sure-fire route to getting invited. In short, the Steering Committee need to know you and see your work around town. So keep working and building relationships in Seattle theater. It's a rich, diverse, talented community and it's up to you to stand out!
1 comment:
This is only partly true.
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