2016 Prairie Arts Council’s Children’s Christmas Production
Auditions for this year’s PAC Children’s Christmas Musical are set for Thursday September 22 at 6:30 PM and Sunday September 25 at 6:30 p.m. in the PAC theater (children may audition either time). The show will take place the weekend of December 2-4, 2016. Auditions are open to children in 3rd-8th grades; select 2nd graders may be cast as well, so second graders with a strong desire to perform and an ability to follow direction are welcome to audition. Children will be asked to sing “Jingle Bells” and “America the Beautiful;” those interested in a speaking role will be provided with a scene selection at the audition.
This year’s Christmas show, “A Winterhaven Christmas,” by local playwright Rachel E. Gorenz-Johnson, was written especially for PAC’s young actors and was first performed on the PAC stage in 2009. As the play begins, five young cousins are stranded at their grandmother’s house in the country over the holidays; they venture into the attic to explore and find a book hidden in a locked trunk. As one of the children reads the book out loud, they suddenly find themselves face to face with the daughter of an Archduke, a wicked sorceress, and one of the Sorceress’ minions, who step right out of the book into the dusty attic. But when the sorceress disappears, the princess remains in the attic and one of the children is gone, taken captive by the sorceress. With the help of their grandmother and more colorful storybook characters, the children set about on an adventure to return the Archduke’s daughter to her home and free their lost cousin.
“A Winterhaven Christmas” features a chorus and both singing and speaking roles. Rehearsals take place evenings and weekends, usually about three times per week until the last 2 weeks before the show, when the rehearsal schedule increases. The Children’s Christmas Musical is the flagship performance of the PAC theater season, and we anticipate another wonderful production.
A parent or guardian is required to accompany their child to the audition unless previous arrangements are made with the director, and should come prepared to list their child’s height, clothing sizes, and any schedule conflicts. A parent meeting will be held at the same time as the auditions to organize volunteers for the production tasks associated with such a large production. It takes many volunteers to produce a show of this magnitude, and all families are expected to help in some way.
For more information, please contact David or Shelley Gorenz at 815-875-1267 or gorenzfamily@gmail.com.
