Artistic Associate - Casting

ABOUT ARENA STAGE

Arena Stage was founded August 16, 1950 in Washington, D.C. by Zelda Fichandler, Tom Fichandler and Edward Mangum. Over 65 years later, Arena Stage at the Mead Center for American Theater, under the leadership of Artistic Director Molly Smith and Executive Director Edgar Dobie, is a national center dedicated to American voices and artists. Arena Stage produces plays of all that is passionate, profound, deep and dangerous in the American spirit, and presents diverse and ground-breaking work from some of the best artists around the country. Arena Stage is committed to commissioning and developing new plays and impacts the lives of over 10,000 students annually through its work in community engagement. Now in its seventh decade, Arena Stage serves a diverse annual audience of more than 300,000.

JOB DESCRIPTION

As the Artistic Associate - Casting you will be responsible for all casting for Arena Stage productions and developmental work, serving as Local Casting Director and coordinating all out-of-town casting. Reporting to the Associate Artistic Director, this position will brainstorm and supervise the curation of short companion pieces for each season production, working with outside artists and managing their timelines and budgets. You will be a key representative of the Artistic Team both out in the community and within Arena Stage!

Requirements

DUTIES & RESPONSIBILITIES

Casting:

• Primarily responsible for casting the productions, workshops, and readings in such a way as to promote and maintain artistic excellence.
• Attract the best artists to Arena by creating and maintaining relationships with actors, agents, and other casting directors.
• Creating lists of local and national actor ideas for each upcoming production.
• Maintaining a database of local actors.
• Running all day-of logistics for auditions - including scheduling, set up and staffing.
• Contracting New York (or other out of town) casting directors for projects as needed.
• Attend all New York (or other out of town) auditions, offering any support needed and offering feedback

Community Artist Engagement:

• Lead the curation, creation, and direction of short companion videos for each show in the season.
• Attract the best artists for these pieces by establishing relationships with artists outside of the theatre realm.
• Participate in and coordinate scouting activities seeing work out in DC and beyond.
• Support Artistic Development Special Projects.

Season Planning:

• Member of artistic team, support Arena’s season planning process by reading scripts, scouting productions nationally, and brainstorming ideas of playwrights, plays, directors, designers, and actors.
• Serve as a spokesperson for the team internally and externally on artistic matters, at the direction of the Artistic Director and Associate Artistic Director.
• Supporting new play development projects – casting and other specific tasks as assigned.
• Attend first rehearsals, production meetings, on stage rehearsals, tech, previews, and at other times in the production process as needed.
• Mentor Artistic Fellows such that they receive an education in casting.

SKILLS & QUALIFICATIONS

• Experience as a casting director, producer, and administrator for a large professional theater
• Passion for collaborating closely between artistic organizations and the larger community of artists
• A keen eye for the potential in artists, especially actors
• Ability to run the audition room, with instincts for when and how to offer feedback that will be nutritious and productive
• History of developing and maintaining relationships with a community of artists
• Quick, creative problem-solving
• Self-motivated and organized work ethic
• A solid understanding of the DC talent pool, and of New York casting companies is helpful but not required