Auditions

Nutley Little Theatre announces auditions for
A CHRISTMAS CAROL 
by Michael Paller

Director – Rachel Rubin Ladutke
Assistant Director – John Westling
Stage Manager: Athena Nakrosis

Auditions: Saturday, September 30th, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
Sunday, October 1st, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.
CALLBACKS: Saturday, October 7th, 2 p.m. to 5 p.m.

Performances will be December 8th-16th (a total of 8 shows):

12/8, 12/9, 12/14, 12/15, & 12/16 at 8 p.m.

12/9, 12/10, & 12/16 at 2 p.m.

Christmas Eve, 1843.  Alone in his attic studio, Charles Dickens is visited by the spirit of his younger self.  The Child demands a story.  Struck by inspiration, Dickens summons his family and friends up to the attic to share the tale which is weaving itself through his brain.  He insists that if he is to work on Christmas Eve, they must all participate in the telling.  And so the story unfolds, with the cast of ten playing over 40 roles as they enact the classic story in a new and entertaining way.

NOTE: Actors of any ethnicity and any gender are encouraged to audition.

The play calls for 5 male-presenting actors, 2 female-presenting actors, and three children (the children’s roles will be double-cast).

CHARACTER BREAKDOWNS:

* CHARLES DICKENS (30s-40s): Tall, slim, seldom standing still; a dynamo of energy.  A mesmerizing presence and voice.  He is already near the height of his storytelling powers.

* CATHERINE DICKENS (20s-30s): Wife of Dickens. She is the one who has the resources to put up with occasions such as this, when her husband’s flights of imagination take precedence over everything else, with humor and grace.

* MARK LEMON (30s-40s): The genial, quick-witted editor of the well-known weekly humor magazine Punch.  He is advancing toward middle age and corpulence.

* FREDERICK DICKENS (early 20s): Younger brother of Charles.  Something of a ne-er-do-well, but charming.  He is a Dickens, after all.

* CLARKSON STANFIELD (30s-40s):  A painter, famous for both his theatrical scene painting and naval genre pictures.  Personable and handsome, with a quality that is at once mischievous yet gentle, equally at home in theaters and the Royal Academy.

* JOHN FORSTER (40s-60s): Editor and writer; Dickens’ closest friend and advisor.  He’s the only person to whom Dickens confided the painful story of his time in the blacking warehouse.  He is in many ways Dickens’ opposite: though given to occasional fits of joviality, he is by nature gruff and taciturn.  It takes an evening such as this one to reveal that other side.

* REBECCA STANFIELD (30s-40s): Wife of Stanfield.  An actress before her marriage, she has no trouble slipping into the evening’s festivities.

* THE CHILD (8-12): The spirit of Dickens as a young boy.  Dressed in shades of grey and black.

* CHARLEY DICKENS (8-12): Charles and Catherine’s son; intelligent, high-spirited, and with traces of his father’s sense of humour.

* HELEN HOGARTH (8-12): Charles’ Dickens’ niece.  Quick-witted and loaded with personality.

A Christmas Carol – Adult Audition Form

A Christmas Carol – Child Audition Form

Sides are provided below

Please email RachelWrites67@gmail.com with any questions.