Casting & Auditions

The Casting tab (visible to production leadership) runs the whole audition pipeline — from public signups to a finalized cast:

  • Create an audition: Add sessions (dates, locations) and set the slot length and capacity right in the session dialog — slots are created automatically when the session has an end time. You can also add individual slots at exact times with Add Slot, or fill gaps later with Generate Slots. Each session also appears on the show calendar as an Audition event
  • Publish a signup link: Share the public link anywhere — auditionees pick a time slot, state role preferences, note conflicts, and upload a headshot and resume without needing a CueCall account. Youth productions can collect parent/guardian and emergency contact details. The confirmation email includes a manage link where they can track their progress, update their details and their answers to your questions, switch to another open time slot, or cancel. The progress timeline is deliberately gentle: Callback and Offered appear as steps only once they actually happen for that performer, so nothing is promised to someone who may be released without either
  • They can fix a wrong answer themselves: Everything your custom questions collected is editable from the manage link, alongside their name, phone, and conflicts — so a mistyped T-shirt size or the wrong rehearsal nights ticked is theirs to correct, not an email asking you to retype it. Your form's rules still apply: a required question can't be left blank, and a multiple-choice answer still has to be one of the options you listed. Answers to a question you've since deleted are kept rather than quietly dropped when they save
  • Applicants can change their mind — until they check in: From that same manage link, a registrant can re-rank the roles they want (and change their "open to other roles" answer) right up until you check them in on audition day. After check-in the preferences freeze — the panel is already reading them for specific parts — while the rest of their details stay editable. Auditions that hide the character list, or allow no preferences, show the applicant their stored picks without offering a picker
  • Who is registering, and how old they are: Every public signup asks whether the person auditioning is completing it themselves (attesting they are 18 or older) or a parent/legal guardian is doing it on a minor's behalf. Choosing guardian makes the guardian's name and email required — an attestation that an adult consented is not much use without a way to reach that adult. Separately, Setup → Signup form has a Collect date of birth switch: turn it on for youth and school productions and the form asks for a birthdate, the registrant panel shows each person's age with a Minor badge, and the date carries over to their cast record when you cast them. Leave it off if you cast only adults — there is no reason to hold a birthdate you have no use for. Ages are always calculated from the stored date, so a cast member who turns 18 mid-run is shown correctly the next day
  • Cast members under 13: A CueCall account is always held by someone 13 or older. If a production collects dates of birth and a cast member is under 13, their collaborator invitation must be sent to the parent or guardian email on their profile — the guardian signs in, and the child's roster entry, scene assignments, measurements and costume notes all stay attached to the performer. Add a guardian email to the person's profile first; the invitation is refused without one, and the message tells you which address to use. Cast members 13 and over can hold their own account as normal, and a person with no date of birth on file is never assumed to be a child. The check runs again when the invitation is opened, so recording a date of birth after sending one still takes effect. One account holds the login for one performer, so a parent with two children in the same production is linked to whichever child's invitation they accept first; the other child's record, roster entry and invitation are kept intact and marked accepted — never merged into their sibling — and the parent can open every production their children are in. On a production the parent is not part of themselves, they get exactly the role that production invited their child as — never a role they hold on one of their own shows — and that access ends when the child is removed from it
  • Terms & your own waiver: Every public signup requires accepting CueCall's Terms and Privacy Policy (for minors, a parent or guardian accepts on their behalf), and the acceptance time is recorded on the registration. You can also upload your organization's own waiver as a PDF in Setup → Signup form — a participation waiver, photo release, or code of conduct — and registrants must read and acknowledge it before they can sign up. Both acceptance timestamps appear in the registrant CSV export
  • Hand out sides, sheet music, and tracks: Upload audition materials in Setup → Audition materials — script sides, sheet music, accompaniment or backing tracks, a dance-call video, anything up to 100MB per file. Give each one a title and a note ("Prepare 16 bars starting at measure 24"), and choose who gets it: Anyone with the link puts it on the public signup page so people can prepare before they commit, while Registrants only keeps it back until someone actually signs up — the right choice for licensed music you don't want on the open web. Registrants see everything the moment they register, again on their manage page, and their confirmation email tells them materials are waiting. Closing signups stops the public list; people who already registered keep their downloads through callbacks
  • Ask your own questions — in the format that fits: Setup → Signup form takes up to 20 custom questions, and each one picks how it's answered: Short answer Paragraph Multiple choice (pick one, all choices shown), Dropdown (pick one from a list), Checkboxes (pick any number), or a single Yes/no checkbox. Write the choices one per line, mark a question required if it must be answered, and use the arrows to put them in the order you want them asked. Every question also has a Description box — up to 1,000 characters of extra detail shown under the question on the signup form, which is where a policy belongs ("Tech week runs February 7-16; full-cast attendance is mandatory and conflicts may affect casting"). Keep the question line itself short — that is what becomes the column header on the roster and in the CSV — and let the description carry the explanation. Questions can run to 500 characters and each choice to 200, so a full sentence like "YES, I agree to attend every scheduled rehearsal from February 7 through February 16 without conflict." fits as an answer. Answers appear on the registrant's profile, labelled with the question you wrote. Questions added before answer formats existed stay paragraph boxes until you change them, and an answer to a question you later delete is kept and shown as "Removed question" rather than thrown away
  • "Open to other roles": Turn this on in Setup → Signup form and the signup page asks each performer whether they'd take a part beyond the ones they ranked. It's a separate yes/no, so it never uses up one of their preference slots. On the Casting Board, anyone who said yes appears under each role they didn't pick, in a collapsed "also open to other roles" group beneath the performers who actually asked for it — so widening the pool is one click, and never buries a first choice. Answers show on the registrant's profile and in the CSV export (blank when the audition didn't ask)
  • Audio & sheet music: "Accept audio" and "Accept sheet music" are separate switches in Setup → Signup form — turn on both for a musical, audio alone for a dance call collecting a reel, sheet music alone if you just need something for the accompanist. Registrants can then attach up to 10 files, 100MB each — enough for a WAV straight off a recorder, not just a compressed MP3. Add a note saying exactly what you want ("a 32-bar cut, and your sheet music in the key you'll sing it") and it appears above the upload box. Whatever you switch off simply doesn't appear — the form, the emails, and the manage page all name only the kinds you asked for, and turning one off later locks just those files, leaving the other kind editable. The panel plays recordings and opens sheet music directly from the registrant's profile, can attach files on someone's behalf (for the performer who emailed their track instead), and the CSV export lists what each person submitted
  • "Start the track at 0:30": A prepared cut usually begins partway into a backing track, and there was nowhere to say so — whoever ran playback had to be told out loud on the day. Every audio submission now takes an optional start time. Enter it however you think of it — 30 seconds — and everyone who sees the submission sees "Starts at 0:30" beside it. It is not just a note: the player on the manage page and in the panel opens at that point rather than at the beginning, and a YouTube link is opened at that moment too. Leave it blank for a track that starts at the top. You can set or correct it from anywhere the submission appears: the registrant enters it when they attach the track and can change it from their manage link, and the panel can set one from the registrant's profile — including on a recording the applicant uploaded themselves, for when you work out where the cut begins while listening at the table
  • A link instead of a file: Plenty of people arrive with a YouTube link rather than an MP3, because that is what their voice teacher sent them — and until now that link went to the director by email and was never attached to the registration. Add a link sits beside the upload buttons on the signup form, the manage page and the panel: paste a YouTube, Drive, Dropbox or SoundCloud address, give it a label and a start time, and it is listed alongside the uploaded files. Links follow the same rules as files — they count towards the same limit of 10, they respect the audio/sheet-music switches, and the registrant can remove one from their manage link
  • Nobody has to have their files ready to sign up: Attaching audio or sheet music is never a prerequisite for registering. The signup form says so, and the confirmation email tells anyone who skipped it that they can still send their music — quoting your own instructions if you wrote any. From the manage link in that email they can add files, rename them (so "take-3-final.mp3" becomes "Corner of the Sky — 32 bars"), and remove or replace them, right up until offers go out. If an upload fails at signup the registration still stands, and they're pointed at the manage page to retry
  • Audition day: Check performers in, take private panel notes, and rate candidates 1–5 (overall or for a specific role). A registrant's profile shows everything they provided — click their headshot to see it full size, and view or download their resume right from the panel
  • Score on your own criteria: "How good were they?" is not one question — a panel is weighing vocals, acting and movement separately, and a single star buries all three. Setup → Scoring rubric & quick notes lets you say what this production actually judges. You start with Vocals, Acting and Dance/movement already there, so a panel that never opens the page still scores on something sensible; rename them, add your own (Comedic timing, Sight-reading, Stage combat), or delete the lot if a single overall rating is all you want. Each criterion is scored 1–5 at the table, and the overall star is the average of them unless somebody sets it by hand — so rubric-scored candidates still sort alongside everyone else on the roster and the casting board. The CSV export gains a column per criterion, which is what lets you sort the ensemble on movement and the leads on vocals
  • Per-role criteria for callbacks: Point a criterion at a character instead of leaving it on Every audition, and it appears only when a panellist is scoring somebody for that part — "belts an E5" for Ariel, "menace" for Ursula. General criteria come first, then the role's, so callbacks ask the two things at once: how they compare to everyone, and whether they are right for this part. Pick the role at the top of the Add feedback box on the registrant's profile
  • Quick notes instead of retyping: By candidate twenty of forty, nobody is still typing "great stage presence" in full — which is when the notes stop being comparable. Keep a list of the phrases your panel actually uses (one per line in the same Setup card, up to 30 of them) and they become one-click chips beside the score. Ten sensible ones are there to start with. The words are saved with the feedback, not a reference to the list, so editing or clearing the list next season never changes what anybody already said — and the export gathers the phrases used on each candidate, listed once however many panellists clicked them
  • Undo a rating or a note: A star or a note added by mistake — while trying the panel out, or on the wrong person — can be removed: open the registrant, find the entry under Feedback and click the trash icon. CueCall asks you to confirm first, and tells you if it is the last piece of feedback on that person before you commit to it. You can delete your own feedback; Directors and Producers can delete anyone's. Removing the last piece of feedback also puts the registrant's status back to Registered (or Checked in), because it was adding feedback that marked them as having auditioned. A status you changed yourself is left alone
  • Callbacks: Invite selected performers to callback sessions with one click — invitation emails are sent automatically
  • Import a roster — no email addresses needed: School and youth productions usually start from a class list rather than a signup form, and most of those students have no email address at all. Import roster on the Registrants tab takes the list either way: paste names one per line (two columns pasted straight out of a spreadsheet work too), or upload an .xlsx, .csv or Numbers file with any column layout — separate First Name and Last Name columns are recognised, as is a single name column. Only names and email addresses are read; everything else in the file is ignored. Email is optional everywhere a registrant is added, including the single "Add registrant" form: someone with no address can still be scored, compared and cast, they simply receive no audition mail. No confirmation emails are sent by an import — adding one walk-up performer and mailing them their manage link is a considered act, importing sixty names is not sixty of those. Re-importing the same list will not double your roster: a row whose email is already registered is skipped, and so is a row with no email whose name is already on the audition. Every skip is listed by name when the import finishes, so a genuine second student with the same name is something you can see and add by hand
  • Casting board: Compare candidates side by side per character, then either draft an offer or cast someone outright for leads, understudies, and ensemble
  • Cast without sending an offer: Offers ask a performer to accept, which is right when they are deciding whether to take the part — and wrong for a school show, where the cast list goes on a wall and there is nobody to email. Cast on the casting board, and the "Cast this person" panel on any registrant's profile, does everything accepting an offer does — adds them to the show's people, files their audition documents, carries their conflicts into scheduling, and fills the character's Played By (or Understudy) field — with no email sent and nothing for them to accept. The offers list still records how it happened: an accepted offer that was never sent. Use the registrant's profile rather than the board when you are casting on talent alone, because the board only lists people who ranked a role or ticked "open to other roles", and an imported roster has done neither. Casting the same person twice is safe — it settles the same record instead of creating a second cast member
  • Offers: Batch-send offer emails with an accept/decline link. Accepting automatically adds the performer to your cast roster, files their headshot and resume, carries their conflicts into scheduling, and fills the character's Played By (or Understudy) field. A registrant with no email on file cannot be sent one — the send reports it and points you at casting them directly instead
  • See and customize every email before it goes: Sending offers, release notices, or a message to registrants opens a composer with a live preview of the exact email each person will receive — including who it is addressed to (a youth registrant's guardian is the recipient, with the performer copied). Edit the subject, headline, opening line, message, and sign-off, and personalize a batch with placeholders like, and (your company, or the show if it isn't part of one). Leave a field alone to send CueCall's default wording — which now signs off as your production rather than as CueCall. The signup confirmation email can be previewed on the Setup tab
  • Confirmation tracking, including bounces: Each registrant records whether their signup confirmation actually reached them. The Registrants tab flags two different problems. Not sent means the message never went out — open them and re-send. Bounced means it was sent and then rejected by the recipient's mail provider, so it never arrived even though it left CueCall; this is common with school-issued student addresses, which many districts configure to refuse outside email. A bounced registrant shows the provider's own reason and says whether it is worth retrying: a temporary rejection (a full mailbox, a slow server) often gets through on a re-send, while a permanent one means that address will never accept mail and you need to reach them another way and update their email. Either way they have no link to change or cancel their slot until the confirmation lands, so these are worth clearing promptly
  • Copy their manage link and send it yourself: Every registrant's own manage link is shown on their profile in the Registrants tab, with a Copy button. Re-sending the confirmation is the first thing to try, but it isn't always an answer — a permanently bounced address will never accept mail, and a roster-imported performer may have no email address at all. Copy the link and pass it on however you're actually in touch with them: a text, a message to a parent, written down at the desk. Treat it as private: anyone holding it can change or cancel that registration, so send it only to the person it belongs to, and never to a whole group.
  • A contact is required before you can publish: On the Setup tab, fill in a contact name and email under "Who answers questions". That address becomes the Reply-To on every email this audition sends, and it's shown on the public signup and registration pages so auditionees can ask before they commit — or after they've deleted the email. Publishing is blocked until one exists, because audition mail with no reply path is the single most common reason it lands in spam. If your show belongs to an organization that has set a public contact, that counts and you can leave these blank; otherwise use the "Use my email" button to fill it in with one click. Different shows can route to different stage managers. Publishing checks the saved audition, so choose "Save changes" after filling the contact in — Publish will tell you if you still have unsaved contact edits
  • Emails come from your production, not from "CueCall": Audition mail is sent as Your Company (via CueCall) — or Your Show (via CueCall) when the show isn't part of an organization — so auditionees recognize the sender in a crowded inbox. Your production's name is also at the top of the email, in the sign-off, and in a footer that says who sent it and why it arrived, which is what separates expected mail from a cold send. Replies go to the audition's contact, falling back to your organization's public contact. Adding your organization's city and state under Organization settings puts a real location in the footer too
  • Unsubscribing applies to announcements only: The "message all registrants" broadcast carries a one-click unsubscribe, because mail providers require one for bulk sends. Anyone who unsubscribes is skipped on future broadcasts and reported separately from failures in the send summary. It never silences anything about their own registration — a callback invitation, a casting offer, an offer reminder, or a change to their time slot still reaches them

Auditionee details are visible only to roles with casting access (Director-level, Stage Manager, Choreographer) — cast and crew on the show never see applicant information.

More in Casting Tab

Related features

  • Auditions & Casting — A public audition signup link, registrant materials and media, audition sessions, callbacks, and cast offers with acceptances tracked.

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