If you have ever thought about taking to the community theater stage - or helping behind the scenes – now is your chance. 

Gateway Players Theatre in Southbridge has announced auditions for “The Spirit of Christmas or The Story of Ernestina Scrooge,” written by Tom Fuller. Auditions will be held Tuesday, Sept. 15, and Thursday, Sept. 17, at 6:30 p.m. in the Fellowship Hall at Elm Street Congregational Church, 61 Elm Street, Southbridge. The Fellowship Hall can be accessed from the Park Street side of the building.

Auditions will consist of cold readings from the script. Each auditioner should come prepared to sing one of their favorite Christmas carols as well. Show dates are planned for Friday, Dec. 4, Saturday, Dec. 5, and Sunday, Dec. 6. Rehearsals will be held at 6:30 p.m. on Tuesdays and Thursdays in September, and then Mondays and Wednesdays in October and November.

A combined adult and youth production, it will be directed by Lou-Ellen Corkum and Alex Gardner and produced by Stephanie Ruggiere.

In this adaptation of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, audiences are introduced to Ebenezer Scrooge’s great-granddaughter, Ernestina, the lead character of the play. In this imagining, Scrooge married and had a son after the events of A Christmas Carol, and Ernestina lives in the United States.

The production calls for six women and six men in the age range of 25 to 60ish, and six teenagers in the age range of 12 through 17.

The principal roles to be auditioned include: Ernestina Scrooge – the great-granddaughter of Ebenezer, 40 years old. Bob Kravachic – Ernestina’s clerk, father of three, 30 to 40 years old. Bill McDougal – Ernestina’s former boyfriend, 40 years old. Young Ernestina – a 15- to 17-year-old girl who appears in Christmas Past as a high school student. She also has a singing solo. Little Bob – a 6- to 8-year-old boy who appears in Christmas Present.

The ensemble will have multiple roles, including carolers, narrators, Spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Future, students, Kravachic family members, party guests, and more.

For more information, call Gateway at 508-765-4531, or email Lou-Ellen Corkum at [email protected]. The show is presented by permission from Dramatic Publishing.