both of the cast I have been with do it in similar ways, but completely different from what you are describing.

When I was with FBC most people who joined the show ended up in one of their four tech crews, Props, Lights, Costumes or Security.  Once a year the directors would film all of the people currently in the parts and the understudies during one month, then at the end of the month anyone who was not currently doing a part or wanted to do a different part would show up on a sunday morning and be videoed by the director.  then the three person panel of judges, the director and two others would review and determine who the two actors and the understudy would be for each part.  Now I have not preformed with FBC in over ten years so that might have changed I don't know.

My current cast Cheap Little Punks in Tampa, FL is similar once a year (sometimes more if we loose people) everyone interested in a part shows up at the theater on a Sunday and everyone auditions for the judges live, at the same time if we have new people who might not know the part they want very well or if we have a lot of people auditioning for one part they are encouraged to apply for either Trannies or Tech, both of which are mostly interviews.  The Judges make their decisions and then contact each actor personally with in two days.

Bruce E wrote:

When I was with FBC most people who joined the show ended up in one of their four tech crews, Props, Lights, Costumes or Security.  Once a year the directors would film all of the people currently in the parts and the understudies during one month, then at the end of the month anyone who was not currently doing a part or wanted to do a different part would show up on a sunday morning and be videoed by the director.  then the three person panel of judges, the director and two others would review and determine who the two actors and the understudy would be for each part.  Now I have not preformed with FBC in over ten years so that might have changed I don't know.

The way we do it now on FBC is on a year long rotation.  We audition only in December, and the acting run goes from February to January (which allows new actors to use January as a chance to follow current actors and pick up advice before being thrown on stage).  Anyone who wants to audition may, but most people join the cast at some other time in the year and join a crew to learn the ropes and get assimilated.  It's pretty rare that people who aren't already on a crew get an acting role, but that's mostly because we expect people to know the role before auditioning, because there are no rehearsals.

Auditions are supposed to be in full costume and makeup, and the actor must perform two scenes decided by the director. It's done during our show every Saturday in December, using one of the empty screens in the theater.  Everyone must audition to perform, and seniority (supposedly) means nothing.  The auditions are judged by the director and two extra judges voted in by the cast.  The director is the only judge with votes, the others are there for discussion and attempted persuasion.  The end result is two full time actors for each part (alternating every other week) and an understudy for each part if we have enough actors.