Inspired by a frustrated director with 98 cast members, the Cast98 name comes from our original mission:
Make it easy to cast 98 performers in a show.
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My name is Daniel Fowler and I am a web developer and entrepreneur in Athens, Georgia, USA. I started building Cast98 in 2016 after my wife insisted that I stop complaining about how every theatre audition is using the same exact audition form and why they can't just save it from show to show.
You know the form I'm talking about:
Once the cast list is released, it is the same old announcement 📧:
Welcome to the cast! 🎉 We'll have a cast meeting on [day of week] and a couple rehearsals next week for [hardest musical numbers], and we'll try to have the full rehearsal schedule ready in a couple weeks.
Why does it always take them so long to send out the schedule?
🤨 Every milennial at the start of every production
By opening night, there are a dozen different rehearsal schedule versions. Absent-minded/lazy/well-intentioned actors show up late or not at all to rehearsals, and the excuses are pretty consistent:
I can hear the stage managers groaning all over the world.
Cast98's mission is to eliminate these tedious labors for the good of the 🎭 PERFORMERS, the 🎬 ASSISTANT DIRECTORS, and the 🎧 STAGE MANAGERS who do most of the administrative work behind the scenes.
With Cast98, directors can start and finish the rehearsal schedule in one sitting immediately after auditions conclude. This enables you to welcome the cast and deliver a finished rehearsal schedule at the same time.
As changes to the schedule occur thereafter, actors always see the most current version and will be notified automatically (coming soon) about changes impacting them.
By leveraging automation, we can reduce the amount of time theatre directors spend on tedious admin by up to 80%.
Estimated value of Cast98
Actors get the convenience of a personalized, filterable, and exportable rehearsal schedule and the security of knowing their information is kept private from all but the directors.
Parents rejoice that they can monitor their children's rehearsal schedule easily from one master account.
Leadership team members enjoy a multitude of resources that make their job easier.
Please enjoy Cast98 and let me know how I can better your experience!
Daniel Fowler
Creator of Cast98 - @danielfowler