Auditions do help

As president of the Casting Society of America, I must take exception to David Mamet’s surprisingly myopic and dismissive thoughts about the casting process [“The Tyranny of the Audition,” July 10]. His assertion that the audition is a useless barometer of an actor’s suitability and his complaint that those engaged in the selection process are “fatigued, angry, self-loathing and confused” could not be more off the mark.

Regardless of how well an actor’s past work is known, the audition process can be an enormously instructive way to see how the qualities of a particular actor mesh with a role as written. Any qualified casting director, director or producer knows the audition provides glimpses of the connection an actor has to the material -- and it is this information, a snapshot of what is meaningful to the actor in that unique moment in his or her life, that so often results in casting choices that can ignite the work on-screen rather than misfire in the speculative guesswork Mamet endorses.

Instead of actors waiting for the moment their professional clout allows them to refuse the audition process and demand an “offer only,” they might take a more creatively generous approach: By auditioning, they enable the creative team to assess the particular qualities an actor would bring to the material; they provide an opportunity for the team to hear scripted material aloud, often for the first time, thereby helping define the true nature of the piece; and they might even avoid the embarrassment and negative fallout of being seen in a role for which they are not truly suited.

The casting process can and should be one of discovery and enlightenment. Consequently, Casting Society of America members must take exception to this article’s inaccurate characterization of the casting process. We are proud of what we do to optimize the work of every director, producer, executive and financier whose interests should be, and most often are, for the ultimate good of the production.

RICHARD HICKS

Los Angeles

Hicks is the president of the Casting Society of America.