On the list of RWS Entertainment’s wide variety of projects they cast are a number of theme parks. Whether it’s Hersheypark in Pennsylvania, Europa Park in Germany, or one of many others, the casting team searches far and wide for entertainers who are right for the available gigs. RWS casting director Katie Proctor and senior creative producer Carlos Avilas audition and place talent in parks all over the world. They’ve traveled to places like London, Germany, Australia, and around the U.S. to find performers, from the traditional to costume characters, princesses, and acrobats. Theme park work might be an unexpected route on your larger career path, but Proctor and Avilas share why it’s an excellent education for performers at all levels. If you have Broadway ambitions, you might want to try landing a theme park contract first.
What is the audition process for a theme park through RWS?
Katie Proctor: A lot of our auditions are general. It’s rare that we hold an audition for a specific park; most of the time, we’re holding an audition call for singers and singer-dancers, or a specific call for costume characters or princesses. We’ll hold an open call for performers who sing radio pop songs and some contemporary musical theater to see how they add a performance element onto a song naturally. We try and gauge their personality when they’re in the room, because while we have some parks that people are specifically coming in for, we have a lot of awesome parks that people don’t always know. It becomes us looking at not just their talent but their personality in addition to their background. We have a form that they have to fill out, and one of the questions is “Do you enjoy performing for children?,” because we have a lot of kids’ parks. Then we look at both their audition and their personality and see where we think they would fit best, both as talent and as a person. Carlos Avilas: As a company, we’ve really latched on to the idea of “one audition, endless possibilities,” because we do have so many auditions for such a variety of projects. You might come in for one and get an offer for something completely different.
READ: Why Every Actor Should Try Working in a Theme Park
What skills are you looking for in those general auditions?
KP: First and foremost, they have to have a really fun personality. It’s one of the first things I gauge when someone walks into the room: Do they seem inviting? Do they seem welcoming? So much of theme park performance is being yourself and knowing how to entertain. CA: From a producer perspective, what really matters with theme parks is that connection with guests. In traditional musical theater, a lot of times that fourth wall is there and you’re in the scene. In theme park shows, that wall goes out the window. We want people who can connect with and inspire the person in front of them. For a lot of kids at these theme parks, it might be their first introduction to live entertainment, and that might inspire them to become a performer themselves. Singing, dancing, and talent is a given, and we know through rehearsal that is something that we can refine and strengthen, but something you can’t teach is how to have a fun, positive, upbeat personality. Some people are great at it, some people are good at faking it, and some people aren’t. So for Katie, it’s gauging that.
How are these jobs different from more traditional live performance gigs?
KP: What makes it so special is that connection, engagement, and lack of a fourth wall. We’re looking for people who have a good pop sense and a super strong sense of movement, but really, what they need is that energy and that connection that will read. When you’re at a park, it’s what makes you want to stay and watch a show instead of stand up and get a funnel cake or ride a roller coaster. Not only are they talented and maybe singing pop songs that you know or dancing in a way that makes you want to dance along, it’s captivating. CA: The friendships and the summer that you have are unlike any summer you’ll ever have. When performing, it’s that connection to the audience, but the connection with your cast, too. It’s the ultimate fun summer job, and it’s because your job is to make people happy, give hugs, and have a good time. I think that’s infectious to an audience, but then it’s infectious within your cast, because the goal that we have for all of our casts is to learn something, work hard, and make money for the summer, but also for them to have the time of their lives and to create memories. It opens it up to so many possibilities.
READ: What to Know About Auditioning for a Theme Park
KP: The other thing that is so great about these summer contracts, especially if you’re still in college or right out of school and your ultimate goal is to book that long-running production, [is that] nothing trains you better than a summer at a theme park. Once you’re in that long-running show, that’s wonderful, but how are you going to keep it fresh when you’re six months in? How are you going to know if you have the stamina, both physically and vocally? I’ll tell you that the kids I’ve seen coming out of colleges who are the most prepared to go into the long-running production contracts are the ones who have come out of theme parks, because they know how to repeat the same show three to five times per day, six days per week, for four months. They get to the end of the summer and say, “Wow, I know how to take care of my voice. I know how to have fun but also get rest. I know how to do the same show over and over and over and [make it] still as enjoyable the 100th time as it is the first.” It really trains you for what you want to be doing in the long run. CA: It’s musical theater boot camp to the extreme. It’s a lot of work, and that part I don’t think we should shy away from. It is a lot of work, but the gift is that you’re performing all the time. You learn really quickly what you’re strongest at and what you need to work on, which is great for most. In the beginning of the rehearsal process, we tell the cast that of course they’re going to learn the show and we want them to do the show well, but I always encourage them to also think about what they want to improve on in that contract and make that their goal. If they build it into part of their routine every day, they’ll hit that goal.
What skills are prioritized for theme park performing that might be different from performing on a traditional theater stage?
KP: No matter what you’re auditioning for, you need to have a connection to the material. In that sense, it’s the same as the kind of things that maybe they’re being trained for; asking, “Who are you singing to? What is it that you want? What is your emotional connection?” No matter what you’re singing, if you don’t have a connection to it and you don’t ultimately have a reason for why you’re singing it, nothing’s going to come across and you’re not going to relate to the audience because you’re not relating to what you’re singing. Where it differs is so many people like to say, “Oh, well, this character is singing this,” and that’s what they hide behind. As soon as we say, “It’s just you on a stage. I need to see you having fun, I need to see your connection to it,” that’s where we start to differ, because once you break down the fourth wall, it is just you. How are you getting us engaged? Are you even looking at the people behind the table? Are you engaging the audition panel as opposed to making it clear you’re living in a different world? CA: From a performance standpoint, one of the biggest differences is that theme park shows are a marathon, not a race. A traditional show on Broadway is 2 hours of running the race. In a theme park show, you’re doing intense 20-minute cardio workouts, and then you have the break, then you have another 20-minute workout. The shows are much shorter—the average show is about 20–25 minutes long—but you end up doing five to seven of those performances spread throughout an entire day.
Want to audition for more performance opportunities? Check out Backstage’s theater audition listings!