Who gets to play the role? Interview with a casting director
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(photo courtesy of Rodriguez)
Every performance a viewer falls in love with begins long before the camera starts rolling. Casting is often an unseen force that shapes the stories we watch, governing decisions that carry significant artistic and cultural weight.
Danica Rodriguez is a freelance casting director. She has worked behind the scenes on the casting of the plays “As You Like It,” “Othello,” “Merry Wives,” “King Lear” and more.
Rodriguez said her experience was shaped through her identity and participation in theater throughout her school years. She first learned what a casting director was in high school. Encouraged by a mentor who noticed her instinct for shaping characters, she chose that path with a commitment to making a space for Black, Indigenous, People of Color, women, transgender and LGBTQ+ artists like her.
Rodriguez said she gravitated to casting because she wanted to ensure that she felt accepted and celebrated in the art form that she loves. As she grew into the profession, Rodriguez began dividing her time between the New York and Washington, D.C. theater worlds.
During our interview with Rodriguez, she discussed how she believes in the act of inclusivity, actively choosing to uplift the “voices of the global majority” by carving a space for them in the theater world. Calling herself “a queer, fat Latina,” she said her identity and experiences are the foundation of her approach.
Read on to learn more about Rodriguez and her work.
When did you get involved in theater? What originally drew you to it?
I was bitten by the theater bug at a very young age. When I was 2 years old, I was cast as the Virgin Mary in my nativity play—and she’s been a star ever since!
I really fell in love with theater and making theater in school. I think arts education is so essential to people continuing this art form and ensuring that more people get to participate in theater and the performing arts. I fell in love with it as a kid. I did every drum performance I could think of. I would do after-school activities that involved performing arts. Really and truly, if there was a stage, I was on it in some capacity. That’s where I fell in love and decided to continue doing it for the rest of my life.
(photo courtesy of the Shakespeare Theatre Company)
How does a person get involved with the casting process?
Getting into casting is a little funny, right? It’s not something that you can study in school. It doesn’t have a curriculum attached.
I pursued film and media studies in college. It was a place where I could have the funding to pursue the projects I wanted to do. I really got started in high school. I was doing a culminating project. I could do it on whatever I wanted.
I thought, at that point, I was going to be a writer. I was really lucky in that there was a parent at my school who was a writer. Her name is Diana Son. She is the showrunner for “13 Reasons Why” on Netflix. She was so nice and volunteered her time to teach me how to be a writer.
I discovered quickly that I was so interested in the characters, what they looked like, what they sounded like, the freckles on their faces and less concerned about the plot.
She noticed that too. She’s the one who told me, ‘Hey, have you ever heard of a casting director?’
I had no idea what that was. When she told me that it was somebody who helped find the actors who would bring these shows to life, whether on television, film or stage, I’m like, ‘Somebody gets to do that for a living? I want to do that.’ So I researched it, went to college. I did internships with whatever casting director would have me.
What is a casting director? What does a casting director do for the play?
The casting director, essentially, is the person who brings options to the director.
(photo courtesy of the Shakespeare Theatre Company)
The director has a vision for the play: what they want to do, what they want to tell, what the look of it is, what it sounds like. I take that information and I go, ‘Okay, who are the people that fit this vision?’
More importantly, who are the people that are going to speak this director’s language? What I mean by that is that everyone makes art differently; everyone has different styles. Everyone approaches it differently, but there are personalities and mindsets that align.
It is my job to go see a lot of theater and meet a lot of people so that I can connect people like matchmaking. I am connecting people that I think will go together really well.
I will dispel a myth: casting directors do not make the final decision. They bring lots of people in, and the director will then decide. So I gather people in one room and say, ‘Do we think this is going to work?’
What experience has shaped your belief in wanting to dedicate a space centering Black, Indigenous, People of Color, women, transgender and queer artists?
Oh, my goodness, my life experience! I go about the world as a queer, fat Latina. I go about the world as someone who this industry was not made for or by me, or folks who look like me, who sound like me, who have parents like mine.
So I always wanted to ensure that I felt accepted and celebrated in the art form that I love. If I can do that for other people, so they don’t have to go through the struggles of fighting for that role, fighting to have the same access to this art form that my peers had, that’s what I want to do.
Me, being who I am, is the first and foremost. I built those values inside of me — my value system. I have three core tenets: generosity, warmth and kindness. They shouldn’t be underestimated in this career path. I want people to feel like they can come to me and share their art form, and we can build together as collaborators.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
– Story by Jessica Mendez-Perez
– Story by Channing Matha and Valerie Izquierdo
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