Adult and Youth Auditions for School of Rock!
School of Rock will be performed as part of our 2025-26 season, but we will be auditioning and casting the character of Dewey (open to adults age 18+) and 16 youth performers at auditions in May.
All remaining adult roles (age 18+) for the production will be auditioned and cast during separate auditions on August 5th and 6th.
Registration for those remaining roles will open in mid-late June
Based on the hit 2003 film, School of Rock follows Dewey Finn, a failed wannabe rock star who is down on his luck. After Dewey is kicked out of his band, and threatened with eviction, his fortunes take a turn for the better when he intercepts a phone call meant for his roomate, Ned Schneebly and poses as a substitute teacher at a prestigious prep school to earn a few extra bucks. He is horrified to discover that his straight-laced and straight-A students don’t have a clue about rock and roll. To live out his dream of winning the Battle of the Bands, he turns his class of straight-A students into a guitar-shredding, bass-slapping, mind-blowing rock band. While teaching the students what it means to truly rock, something happens Dewey didn’t expect...they teach him what it means to care about something other than yourself.
The May auditions for Dewey are open to all adults age 18+ (as of the audition date). Youth performers must be a minimum of 5th grade (2025-26 school year) and may not turn 14 before the performance dates.
There are no exceptions to the youth performer age requirements.
Please note that the role of Dewey and four of the youth roles require these performers to play an instrument onstage. The remaining 12 youth roles do not require those cast to play an instrument
CLICK HERE for a character listing.
Dewey plays the guitar; the four youth performers play one of these four instruments: guitar, bass, keyboards, drums.
Ideally, Dewey and the youth character of Zack will already play guitar, but for the other three youth instrumentalists, the ability to read music is the only requirement.
The four youth who play instruments, and Dewey, will be given the opportunity to work with an instructor at no cost, if needed. Details will be discussed after casting.
The remaining youth roles do not require instrument experience.
We will likely be double casting or casting understudies for the youth performers who play instruments.
The registration information includes detailed questions about your instrumental experience.
For Dewey and all of the youth cast, we will be asking you to work on the music over the summer, so we will expect that those cast in these roles will commit to this production at the time of casting and not leave the production for other roles, particularly the four youth cast who play instruments.
We will be trying to arrange several rehearsals during the summer to check in with the youth cast and Dewey and will schedule these after casting, depending on actor availability.
Auditions will be held as follows
Dates and Times
Sunday, May 18th at 9:30am. Check in beginning at 9:00 am, audition begins at 9:30. Auditions will conclude no later than noon.
Callbacks by invite only, Wednesday, May 21st: Check in beginning at 5:30 pm, callback begins at 6:00.
Location
All auditions will be held in the VACT Building located at 103 Lincoln Street in Verona.
Audition Information
We will be selecting 16 youth performers and the role of Dewey (adults) at this audition. The remainder of the adult cast will be auditioned and cast at auditions on August 5th and 6th.
An online registration form for Dewey and the youth performers must be submitted by Friday, May 16th, at 5pm. There will be no day-of, walk-up registrations.
Please record all known rehearsal conflicts on your online registration form. We cannot accommodate regular late arrivals or early departures from rehearsals.
Please bring a recent photo to the audition, no larger than 4 x 6.
If you are absolutely not available for the audition date, an alternate video audition may be considered. You may request an alternate video audition by contacting Director Sara Ward-Cassady at sara@vact.org no later than Sunday, May 11th at noon.
VACT welcomes actors of every race, ethnicity, disability, age (minimum age requirements), gender identity, and body type.
Audition Schedule
Please prepare 32 bars of a contemporary musical theater style song or rock song that demonstrates your range and style.
There will be an accompanist at the audition for those who wish to sing with piano. Please bring your own sheet music in a three ring binder with as few page turns as possible and any cuts clearly marked. All staves of music, vocal and accompaniment, need to be present. Please do not bring cut off copies for the accompanist.
If auditioners are comfortable operating a backing track ON THEIR OWN for their vocal audition, we will have a speaker set up for that purpose. The auditioner must be comfortable navigating the technology and the timing of the track without assistance from the production team.
No acapella singing will be allowed.
There will be no choreography audition.
Casting decisions will be emailed to all who auditioned.
Rehearsal Schedule/Information
Regular rehearsal schedule will be: Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays
6:30 – 9:00, beginning 08/11/25.Youth cast and Dewey will be given their music after casting in May and expected to work on it over the summer.
We will be trying to arrange several rehearsals during the summer to check in with the youth cast and Dewey and will schedule these after casting, depending on actor availability.
Beginning on August 11th, Mondays will typically be ALL CALL rehearsals for the whole cast.
Small groups and choreography will be on Wednesdays and Thursdays until approximately September 15, so some cast may not be called 3 nights a week.
Beginning approximately September 15, all rehearsals will be ALL CALLS.
Dress rehearsals will be October 13th and 15th. There will also be a full run rehearsal Sunday, October 12th.
Performances will be held in the Badger Ridge Middle School PAC at 300 Richard St. on October 16, 17, & 18 at 7:30pm and on October 18 & 19 at 2:00pm.
All Dress rehearsals and performances are mandatory.
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER FOR AUDITIONS
Directors: Corbin Schroeder and Sara Ward-Cassady
Music Director: Jen Yancey