What Were Out-of-town Broadway Tryouts Like In The 1960s

How is casting handled for roles that call for an unattractive person? How do the actors feel about it?

There is a lot about the way this question has been asked that gives me pause (and frankly, some of the answers sent my eyebrows skyward as well). I will address this from my own personal experiences as one of the "fat and uglies". I live in New York, not Hollywood, and make my living as a professional actress. I get auditions through my agent and my manager, just like the ingenues. Roles I audition for, and book, are probably 50% look-specific and 50% not. But I am, as is necessary in my business, fully aware of how I look. My fatness is not a secret that is being kept from me, that I feel uncomfortable with people addressing. I am fat. I also feel very attractive in my everyday life, because at the end of the day, what I do at work is PLAY A ROLE. TV and film are not life. I do not get my self-esteem from the outward attractiveness of the parts I play. I view playing a role that is described as "fat" or "unattractive" as a challenge and an opportunity. There is a widening chasm between how people on tv look and the appearances of the people watching at home, and I am proud to be an actress that women "of a certain size" can identify with. To me, it's not about being a freak. It's about portraying characters that could live in the real world, that are mothers or stage managers or fast food restaurant employees, that go through life without the benefit of plastic surgery and personal trainers. I am not an actor so I can look pretty, or to collect a paycheck and be laughed at. I am an actor because there is nothing on Earth I enjoy as much as acting.

When do child actors go to school?

Set education is often horrible.  The social workers/set teachers are qualified, but the conditions are awful.School time is usually done during set and camera changes.  Sometimes the kids get 15 minutes only at a time.  It takes that long just to settle the kids and get them started on work.  They are lucky to get 30 minutes at a stretch.They are often at different levels of schooling and the teacher is forced to divide their time between them.When they are not scheduled for work that day, they go to regular school or home school.  The regular school teacher often resents the child actor that makes more money than they do.  Kids are often just given busy work and not real schooling.Often the child actor is too tired from acting, still in acting mode and can't revert easily.  Film actors have it easier than TV and Theatre actors do.  They have time in between projects to get actual work done.And if you have a bad teacher, it gets worse.  I had one teacher fired because she was too interested in getting acting jobs herself to watch over and protect my child.  My daughter has suffered from heat exhaustion, hyperthermia, and pneumonia because of set conditions.  I had to nix a scene myself because it was down right dangerous (bicycling down a cliff!).There is a reason so many child actors are functional illiterates.  SAG has worked hard to correct this and protect child actors, but not enough in my opinion.Many people also think that the government and Unions protect children's working conditions and pay.  They don't.  There are no federal regulations governing child actors.  It is left up to the states.  Some states are protective, like California, others are not.Often, the decision of where to film is based on the states child actor regulations.  They film where the regulations are the least onerous...Canada and North Carolina need a lot of work in this area.  Protection of money is also not automatic.  Again depends on the state of residence of the child.  And if the project is non-union, all bets are off.My daughter finally quit acting to concentrate on school.