Casting Call

11th-14th June 2025 at the Headgate Theatre

Director: Amanda Powell, supported by Sarah White

Musical Director: Oliver Wood

Production Manager: Caroline Fritz

Introduction to “Back to the Past”
Join us as we travel back and forth through the pop & musical theatre decades, performing one ‘Musical Theatre’ and one ‘Pop’ number for most decades. Opening with the song ‘Back in Time’ from Back to the Future performed by the full company with ‘Doc & Marty’, who then narrate throughout. 

There is a mixture of full and half-company numbers, as well as small groups, duets & solos. This concert will include lots of singing with basic movements, and the occasional ‘flashier’ number. There will be plenty for cast members to do, whether they have a preference for dancing or only basic movements!

We would like as many members as possible to be involved in this fantastic and fun show – whether new members, past or returning!

Venue
We are extremely pleased to be able to perform this concert at the Headgate Theatre, one of our regular venues for performing shows. We anticipate a maximum cast size of approximately 30 for this concert, due to the size of the Headgate Theatre stage.

Required availability 
Those wishing to take part in the concert must be available on Sunday 8th June for the Get in & Band Call/Rehearsal at the Headgate theatre, Monday 9th June for the Tech Rehearsal and Tuesday 10th June for the Dress Rehearsal. You must also be available for the whole show run which is Wednesday 11th – Saturday 14th June. You will be required to attend the majority of rehearsal held on Mondays, Thursdays and some Sundays (see the proposed schedule section below for more details).

Pre-audition workshops
We welcome everyone interested in being in our concert cast, to attend our 2 concert pre-audition workshop evenings on Monday 24th or Thursday 27th February 2025 7.30pm – 10pm at Philip Morant School Dance Studio (Q-theatre block), Rembrandt Way, Colchester, CO3 4QS. You are welcome to attend both of the pre-audition evenings, as we will spend the first part of the evenings as a ‘meet and greet’ and opportunity for social connections. Both of the concert pre-audition workshops will be optional.  The creative team will be going through a taste of some of the chorus numbers for the concert at pre-auditions and you can access the music for this to download to your device on the One Drive.

Audition Info
Auditions will be taking place on Monday 3rd March, also at Philip Morant School Dance Studio from 7.30pm-10pm. 

We will offer the option of open or closed auditions, which you can specify on your audition form. Open auditions mean others attending the workshop and/or auditioning can watch/listen to your audition along with the audition panel. Closed auditions mean only you and the audition panel are present for your audition. Please note that it is completely normal to get nervous when auditioning and COS fosters a supportive audition process for everyone involved, whether auditions are open or closed. 

Casting is decided by an appointed audition panel (please see our audition processes for more information). For this concert the audition panel will be made up of Amanda Powell (Director), Oliver Wood (Musical Director) & Caroline Fritz will chair the panel. If you are not successful following auditions, you still remain part of the Society and are welcome to be part of the show in other capacities behind the scenes, an incredibly vital part of any production.

Audition requirements
Those auditioning should prepare a 1 min solo of a song of their choice.

Ideally this would be a song from the concert set list, which you can access via the One Drive. Or if you would prefer you can choose something that shows off what your voice is capable of and how well you can perform.  However, we ask everyone to provide a backing track to audition with (and links to tracks for the concert set lists can be found on the One Drive). We will have a speaker with a connection for phones (android and iPhone) and also a laptop, but tracks will need to be downloaded ahead of time as we do not have Wifi at the venue and mobile signal is not always strong. If you need help to download a backing track, Amanda is happy to help as long as she is asked prior to the audition day so she had time to download onto her device.

All interested members must complete the following audition form: COS Back to the Past Concert – Audition Form by Friday 28th February 2025 to allow us time to schedule the audition slots. 

To audition you must be a paid member of COS (aged 16 years or over), or for new and returning members joining us, pay your £10 membership for the 2025-2026 year slightly ahead of time (before auditioning). For existing members, please be aware membership will need to be renewed (using same account details as listed below) on 1st April 2025 in order to take part in the concert. 

New and returning members can pay the £10 membership fee by BACS to the following account using your name and MEM FEE as reference:

Colchester Operatic Society

Bank account no. 90238775      

Sort Code. 20-22-67

Please contact Natasha, our Secretary, on secretary@colchesteroperaticsociety.co.uk to let her know you have paid/joined.

Inclusion
To us, inclusion matters, so if you have any access requirement or need any extra support in order to participate in our workshops and auditions, please do let us know, and we will do our best to meet those needs where reasonably possible. However, it is important to note that we will have a maximum cast size and being a member and auditioning does not guarantee anyone a part in any show. 

Proposed Concert Rehearsal Schedule
As with every show and concert we produce, cast attendance to rehearsals really matters in order for all cast members to rehearse effectively, making the best use of the rehearsal time and ultimately produce the best quality production for our audiences. Whilst we understand there will be some rehearsals people might not be able to make, we would expect cast to attend a majority and ideally all of them, and wherever possible, to catch up on anything they missed by being absent, in their own time outside of the rehearsals. 

Any known/planned absences must be written on your audition form and we expect those cast to notify us of all absences (whether planned or unplanned) with a reasonable explanation and as much notice as possible in advance to our dedicated attendance team on attendance@colchesteroperaticsociety.co.uk. You should assume you will be called for every rehearsal (though if there are times that not everyone in the cast will be needed, we will endeavour to let you know as much in advance as possible) and our proposed rehearsal schedule is as follows:

Please note there are no rehearsals during school holidays and that it is vital that everyone cast attends the Sunday dates. We hope for all rehearsals to be at Phillip Morant School Dance Studio (in Q theatre block) except those in red, which will be held at an alternate venue, but these venues will be confirmed soon. NB – venues will be in Colchester.

Further details
Further and more specific details on the exact set list and cast size for individual numbers will be shared by the time of the first rehearsal on Thursday 6th March.

Please be aware that there will also be a show fee of £40 payable by those who are cast,

which goes towards rehearsal and show costs. 

Once cast, we will provide online copies of all sheet music/lyrics needed by cast but there will be an option to purchase a pack printed sheet music if requested (cost TBC dependent on amount of printing involved).

In line with our Inclusion, Equality and Diversity strategy, we want to improve access to our productions for cast members from a diverse range of socio-economic backgrounds and this bursary aims to enable those with low or no income, who can’t afford to pay their show fee to participate in our productions. If you are cast in this production and would like to apply

for a COS Bursary, it can be done here:  https://forms.office.com/e/CYN0iX3zys 

Once cast, you must either pay the show fee or apply for a bursary by Thursday 6th March 2025.

We look forward to seeing lots of you at our concert workshop(s) and auditions!

If you are 11-23 and interested in joining CO2 and the cast of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory please complete this form.

More details about the show will be made available on this page shortly.

Details will be posted here soon.

In the meantime please check out our Join us page