“Joy Dewing Casting provides efficient, creative talent solutions for theatrical, dance, musical, commercial, & industrial productions in an atmosphere of mutual respect & dignity” – Joy Dewing’s Twitter Bio. I just love the “atmosphere of mutual respect and dignity” it speaks so much to who Joy is!
After interviewing actresses, and filmmakers about juggling being an artist and mother, I thought it would be fun to explore the same questions with a Casting Director and was thrilled when Joy agreed to be interviewed. Check out her insights below and don’t forget to connect with her on Facebook and Twitter!
Joy Dewing – Photo by Geoffrey Goldberg
How do you juggle being a busy casting director and being a mom?
I guard my free time jealously. I don’t work weekends anymore unless it’s a real emergency (like when I had to work two weekends in a row to cast Soul Doctor because I only had two weeks to cast it!), and I don’t make any other plans over the weekend if I can help it — unless they involve my daughter. When I’m with her, I focus on her. I don’t check my phone (except to post pictures of her doing cute stuff on Facebook), I don’t work, I just enjoy her and make the time all about her.
Making the Swap
Why did I walk offstage and stay there? I hear you asking. Okay well I don’t but I have been asking myself lately.
I started performing at age 6 and it was my life for 10 years before I even thought about the people behind the scenes that make it all possible. Even then I didn’t think anything of it; I wanted to perform and teach and that’s all I knew. But then I worked on a professional pantomime and it changed my life! So why did I decide this was the career for me?
I could do it. Sounds simple but stage management came naturally to me. It used my organisational and communicative skills I already possessed. I also knew how a production ran from the actor’s point of view so all I had to do was swap that round to make it run smoothly for the actors.
I can’t sing. I can’t – not well anyway. At this point in my life all I wanted to do was perform in musicals – plays didn’t interest me that much. And I can’t sing well in public and I wasn’t that strong of a performer, so when I found that I could be part of a production without having to perform and I could do it well – well I was sold!
Female Characters
So now that I’ve disappeared for a short amount of time, I’m back to talk about something that’s been on my mind lately for several reasons. For this, we are about to dive into my childhood mind (I promise it’s less crazy than my adult mind, but you’ll see the connection soon).
When I was a kid growing up in the 90’s, like most kids, I had my favorite cartoon characters that I worshipped and wanted to be like. One favorite of mine in particular would be Simba from “The Lion King.” As a little girl, I LOVED the idea of being like Simba, being that free-loving little cub, and growing up to be the king and taking care of all the others. Being that leader and defending all from nasty evil lions is something that I even still strive for to this day. But I never had any interest in being Nala. In fact, the only female characters I loved as a child was Lisa Simpson, Pocahontas, Mulan, and the PowerPuff Girls. Other than that, you name the cartoon, and I can guarantee than I identified more with the male characters.
Now for many years (and quite frankly, decades), I went through a mini-crisis in my own head in regards to this. I couldn’t help but wonder why this is the case. I questioned my own feminine nature along with my gender identity to a degree from this. Most of you may know that I’m not super feminine but I’m no tom-boy either. Along with that, as I’ve gotten older, I realized how much I love being a female. I’m happy and grateful to say that I feel very comfortable in my gender and my heterosexuality, while still loving everyone else for who they are too. But there’s still something that I didn’t understand for the longest time: why is it that even to this day, I feel like I can relate more to male characters in cartoons as oppose to female ones?
In the past week or so, I had an epiphany that gave me the answer.
The Early-Blooming Actor
Kirk and Michael Douglas. James and Josh Brolin. Henry and Peter Fonda. Donald and Kiefer Sutherland.
And now, me, and my son.
Less than two years after my stage debut, my nine-year-old son has joined me on the boards. From the time he was tiny, he watched me taking classes, then going to auditions, and became fascinated by it. About a year ago, we actively started looking for a show we could do together. And now, we are in rehearsals together for “A Christmas Carol” — suitably, with me as Bob Cratchit, and him as one of Cratchit’s children.
It’s an interesting experience from a parental perspective. He has appeared in three abridged Shakespeare productions with his homeschooling co-op — as Caliban, Oberon, and most recently Malcolm in the Scottish Play. All of these were directed by my wife, with my assistance. Now he is working for the first time with a director he is not related to, and with actors he did not already know. I find myself having to tell him to address questions to the director, not to me, and to listen for cues and instruction. I am trying to separate myself from his part of the process as much as possible, while still being his dad (and scene partner).
Feeling Frazzled as a Freelancer
I love being a freelancer, having a good degree of control over my schedule and the freedom to pursue creative projects that appeal to my artistic soul. Even some of the jobs I take that aren’t as creatively engaging are great, because I know that they are part of staying in my field and keeping my skills sharp.
Who Died and Made ME a Director?
I’ve really loved taking Directing class this semester. We read Anne Bogart’s A Director Prepares, have intellectually stimulating debates about theatre and comment on each other’s directing styles (I am not sure who I’d be, but my friend Tom is definitely a Baz Lurhmann).
For our class final, we each must direct a ten minute play with a few actors, limited technical capabilities and what directing knowledge we might have absorbed in the past few months. So this past weekend, we held auditions.
I think I learned more in those five hours than I have from hundreds of past auditions. Being on the other side of the table taught me a lot, including the following:
- If I never heard another monologue from A Boy’s Life, Dogface or written by Neil LaBute again, I could be happy.
- Please know how to write a resume and slate your monologue. I didn’t think it was that hard. I started giving bonus points to the auditioners who knew what they were doing. And don’t get up in our faces during your monologue. It’s scary.
- If we ask you to read your monologue like you are homeless, cold, probably on drugs and talking to your lover while sticking your tongue and can you show us how far you can jump – we don’t hate you. We are actually giving you a chance. Possibly it’s a chance to salvage your audition or maybe it’s to save ourselves the trouble of holding callbacks so we can just hand you the role right there. Be willing to jump for us. Read more…
Sometimes You Just Gotta Rock Out
I’ve learned three very important lessons from one very simple Google search. The first: find your niche…when you truly love something you can truly succeed to your full potential. The second: don’t let the fear of not knowing where to begin hold you back…not trying is not a valid excuse. The third: money is not nearly as important as sanity…we all know this yet why do we choose to forget it so often?
Let’s elaborate: I’ve discovered my niche. One thing I’ve always known is that I was born to sing. One of the most common paths for a singer to pursue is a life in theatre…but singing in musical theatre requires you to sing as someone else, to become exactly what the writer envisions you becoming. Your creative freedom only goes as far as the director allows it. And though audience applause at the end of the show is rewarding, you spend two and a half hours performing for silent staring faces. Most disappointingly, if you don’t fit a certain archetype, say goodbye to singing the songs you want to sing!
I love the theatre and will continue to pursue it when the right opportunity arises, but I’ve never felt a perfect fit for this industry, I feel limited. Upon addressing these concerns, I was given the advice to look into cover band work….and have since never felt more alive and more complete as a performer. Quick advertisement: I get to sing anything I want. ANYTHING. Jazz, blues, rock, reggae, classical, musical theatre, country. More importantly, I get to sing them HOW I want. I can make the song my own, I can put a twist on it, I can take whatever emotional journey I want through the song, Oh hell I can even change the key if I want to make the song easier!! This might sound crazy to some of my trained actors out there but….I don’t have to take ANY emotional journey through the song if I don’t want to. I can just sing without having to plan my characters obstacles and objectives. There’s no blocking. Sometimes I dance around like a maniac and sometimes I stand perfectly still with my eyes closed. I don’t get notes at the end of my performance from the director, I just feed off the audience and gauge what they want me to do next.
The Green Room 