Does the writer have the right to ask for a certain actor to play one of the characters?

Question

If not, is it okay to just suggest a certain actor? and who do you suggest it to? the producer? the director? who?

Answer 1

There's a range of opinions about this.

Some playwrights think that they need actors who will be like mannequins or puppets for them onstage.  When that happens, the result is drech.  I recall seeing Beckett directing his own "Waiting for Godot" and "Krapp's Last Tape" on PBS, and the productions were DEADLY BORING.  Beckett is one of those authors who insists that every production follow his plan entirely--no casting Aragon as a woman, etc.--and thus he guarantees that his work is petrified.

Other playwrights recognize that the best theatre is a collaboration that benefits from the creative contributions of many minds.  Those playwrights provide words, and then they permit latitude for the director to make art through direction.

So the first kind of director would perhaps insist on a particular actor, and probably would stifle the production in the process.  The second type would think "I'm not a director and I don't have the director's vision to realize my show, so I'll defer to the greater expertise."

The same thing applies to directing; some directors get their actors to give them a self-generated performance and then adjust it to the rest of the production ("organic" direction) and others treat actors like Barbie dolls and pose them.  I prefer organic direction, myself; one director's mind, no matter how brilliant, cannot keep up with the combined imagination of an entire cast.

Answer 2

yes, since sometimes the writer writes a script with a certain actor in mind. i believe he would tell the director and/or casting agent.