Award-winning Actor, Donald Molosi calls on fellow Actors to say No to Audition Fees

19 March 2022

Award winning Actor Donald Molosi is President of the Upright African Movement

Share this story

by Donald Molosi

As I reflect on two decades of my professional stage career, I realize that mine is an unexpected story having grown up in a Botswana without TV but aspiring to one day be on TV.

My professional theatre practice for the past 21 years meant that I necessarily lived most of it outside Botswana because there are no professional theatres in Botswana to this day.

But this column is not about me who is retiring from professional theatre, but rather about those who are coming up.


Actors must never pay for an audition in order to be considered for casting. Can you imagine the ethical slippery slope that the exchange of money for the assessment of talent can create?

And yet, somehow in Botswana people get away with publicly advertising that they charge audition fees, publicly declaring that they are scamming. It remains wrong and I encounter it too often as I mentor young people through my theatre company.


I have lived and auditioned on every continent in the world (except Antarctica) and in all my two decades in international professional theatre, I never paid for a casting audition because no one should.

The only time I have paid for an audition was for Drama School in London years ago and that an education institution can charge application fees. It is not for casting.

As auditions apply to Botswana in casting film and theatre though, the practice is more like paying for a job interview to benefit a filmmaker personally. An application for a Drama School is not an interview for a role in a play; that is the difference.

I don’t have enough column space to elucidate more but please, do not pay for casting auditions. Report those auditioners instead.


I spent more than a decade performing off-Broadway from the mid2000s. Even there, on the most prestigious theatre stages in the world, no one will ask for a penny to audition you.

Even in the film, no one should take a penny from you to audition you. Perhaps this should be one of the first items on the agenda for the much-expected Botswana National Arts Council: to mitigate the abuse of performers in the corrupt name of audition fees.

* Donald Molosi is an award-winning actor. He is star of the upcoming film, Station Road which is currently filming in Kingston, Jamaica. He is President of the Upright African Movement.

Last Posts

Prof. Peter Katjavivi (middle) speaks in Botswana last week at the signing of the Agreement to Amend the SADC Treaty to establish the SADC PF as an official institution of the regional bloc. Photo: Bright Khumanego

“Are we really here?” – Prof Peter Katjavivi reacts to transformation of SADC PF

Share this story

Share this storyBy Moses Magadza Gaborone, Botswana – In Luke 2:25-32, Simeon, a devout man who had been promised by the Holy Spirit that he would not die before he had seen Christ, said –…

19 March 2022

The Executive Secretary of SADC, Mr. Elias Magosi (left) speaks while the Speaker of the Parliament of South Africa, Hon Thoko Didiza and Botswana’s Minister for State President, Hon. Moeti Ceaser Mohwasa listen in. Photo: Bright Kumanego

SADC urges swift ratification of Regional Parliament Treaty before August Summit

Share this story

Share this storyBy Moses Magadza Gaborone, Botswana – The Executive Secretary of SADC, Mr. Elias Magosi, has hailed the recent signing of the Agreement to amend the SADC Treaty to transform the SADC Parliamentary Forum…

19 March 2022

The Speaker of the National Assembly of Botswana, Honourable Dithapelo Lefoko Keorapetse. Photo: Bright Khumanego, Parliament of Botswana

Botswana Speaker says SADC Regional Parliament will boost citizens’ participation

Share this story

Share this storyBy Moses Magadza Gaborone, Botswana – The Speaker of the National Assembly of Botswana, Honourable Dithapelo Lefoko Keorapetse has said that the transformation of the SADC Parliamentary Forum into a regional parliament will…

19 March 2022

ELATED: Botswana’s Minister for State President Honourable Moeti Ceaser Mohwasa (right) with the Speaker of South Africa Hon Thoko Didiza at the signing ceremony. Photo: Bright Khumanego, Parliament of Botswana.

Call to embrace SADC Parliament

Share this story

Share this story… as Botswana signs Treaty Amendment Agreement By Moses Magadza in Gaborone GABORONE- Botswana’s Minister for State President Honourable Moeti Ceaser Mohwasa, has welcomed the signing of the Agreement Amending the SADC Treaty…

19 March 2022

ussian-delegates-emerging-from-a-Meeting-in-Riyadh

Main outcomes of the Russia and United States expert groups meeting

Share this story

Share this story(March 25, 2025) 1. In line with the agreement reached by the presidents of Russia and the United States, the Russian and American sides agreed to provide for the implementation of the Black…

19 March 2022

Russia's Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s interview with Channel One on Talks in Riyadh and their Outcome

Share this story

Share this storyMoscow, March 25, 2025 Question: Let us begin with your birthday. You have received plenty of birthday wishes. There was even a “marathon” of your wonderful verses. Did you have time to look…

19 March 2022

Related Stories