Based on the classic 1983 film, A Christmas Story follows Ralphie Parker, a kid with one very important Christmas wish: a Red Ryder BB gun. Along the way, there are schoolyard bullies, triple-dog dares, a leg lamp, a whole lot of family chaos, and some pretty big dreams.
We are looking for performers who are ready to have fun, work hard, collaborate, and make this familiar story feel fresh and alive onstage.
The Wayne Theatre is committed to working with local and regional talent, and we want our audition process to be welcoming, straightforward, and accessible. If there is something that might make auditioning difficult for you, please let us know. We'll do our best to work with you.
We can't wait to meet you!
Director: Lesley Larsen
Music Director: Katie Glydewell
Choreographer: Rhys McRoberts
You'll find bios for the creative team at the end of this document.
Performers 15 and under will prepare one song and participate in a short movement workshop with choreographer Rhys McRoberts.
Performers 16 and older will prepare two contrasting songs and participate in a dance audition.
A week before the auditions, we will provide a dance combination for you to learn. You don't need to be a professional dancer. We're interested in seeing how you learn movement, how you work with other people, and how you respond to direction.
There will be an additional movement call with Rhys McRoberts from 6:45–8:00 p.m.
If you are called back, we'll contact you by email.
And just to be clear: not getting a callback does not mean you have not been cast. We will not necessarily call every person back for every role.
If you are invited to callbacks, you may be asked to learn a musical excerpt from the show.
Everyone will receive an email letting them know whether or not they have been cast.
Casting notifications will be sent by Friday, September 25.
Please complete the A Christmas Story the Musical Audition Form before or on the day of auditions.
You'll be asked to upload a headshot and resume, if you have them. If you don't have a resume or headshot, don't let that stop you from auditioning.
Choose a time that corresponds with your age group.
Please email your accompaniment track to production@waynetheatre.org before your audition.
Please label your file:
FirstName_LastName_AuditionTrack
Please arrive at least 5 minutes before your audition time so you have a chance to get settled.
Please prepare one song in the style of the show.
- 16–32 bars, or about 30 seconds–1 minute
- Please don't sing a song from A Christmas Story the Musical
- Choose something that lets us hear your voice and get a sense of who you are as a performer.
- Please send your accompaniment track to production@waynetheatre.org.
You may receive a note or be redirected during your audition. That's intentional! We want to see how you respond to direction and what happens when you try something different.
You'll also participate in a short movement workshop with Miss Rhys. .
Please prepare two contrasting songs in the style of the show.
- 16–32 bars, or about 30 seconds–1 minute each
- Please don't sing songs from A Christmas Story the Musical
- Choose songs that show us different sides of you as a performer.
- Please send your accompaniment track to production@waynetheatre.org.
Again, come ready to collaborate. We may give you a note or ask you to try something differently. We're interested not only in what you walk into the room with, but in how you work with us once you're there.
You'll also participate in a dance audition.
That's okay!
We'd love for you to choose your own audition material, but we know that picking a song can sometimes be the hardest part of the audition.
If you'd rather use something we've selected, our music director has provided options below.
“If I Were a Bell” — Guys and Dolls
“Pulled” — The Addams Family
“On the Street Where You Live” — My Fair Lady
“What Do I Need With Love” — Thoroughly Modern Millie
Auditions are open to performers age 6 and older.
Performers under 16 must have previously participated in a Studio Wayne production in order to audition for a MainStage production.
We welcome performers of all races, body types, gender identities, abilities, and backgrounds. We especially encourage performers who have historically been underrepresented onstage to audition.
The ages listed in the character breakdown are the approximate ages of the characters, not necessarily the exact ages of the actors we are looking for.
We're interested in finding the right people for these roles. Depending on the character, we may consider performers who fall outside the listed age range if they can convincingly inhabit the character and fit the needs of the production.
There are some roles—particularly Ralphie, Randy, and the other children—that have specific storytelling needs and will need to read clearly as children.
Male-presenting | Character age 10–12
Cute and winsome, but not precious. Bright, but not precocious. A regular ten-year-old kid you wouldn't mind having as a next-door neighbor. He's determined and has a wonderful imagination.
Male-presenting | Character age 40+
The warm and charismatic narrator of the show, based on Jean Shepherd, the author of the stories that inspired A Christmas Story. Shepherd narrates throughout the show, interacts with Ralphie, and plays several smaller characters within the action. This is primarily a non-singing role.
Male-presenting | Character age 30–40ish
A guy with a good heart, although it's buried beneath a sometimes-gruff exterior. He loves his family but doesn't always show it. He generally expects the worst, but he is capable of tremendous excitement when something really gets him going. In his fantasy sequences, he transforms from a grumbling dad into a full-on song-and-dance man.
Female-presenting | Character age 30–40ish
She's more in charge of the family than the Old Man, but she'd never let him know it. Warm and affable, but definitely not a pushover. She's the secret engine that keeps the Parker household running.
Male-presenting | Character age 8–10
Ralphie's younger brother. Cute, cuddly, and whiny. He admires Ralphie but won't admit it. He's reached the stage of childhood where he seems opposed to absolutely everything, but he's still lovable rather than bratty.
Female-presenting | Character age 18+
Ralphie's teacher. Prim, proper, and stern when necessary, but warm and funny when the moment calls for it. In Ralphie's fantasy, she becomes a brassy, tapping Broadway diva.
Male-presenting | Character age 10–12
One of Ralphie's best friends. A bit of a know-it-all.
Male-presenting | Character age 10–12
Ralphie's other best friend. He can't resist a triple-dog dare.
Male-presenting | Character age 10–12
The schoolyard bully.
Male-presenting | Character age 10–12
Scut Farkus's little sidekick.
Presenting age 10–15
Classmates and town kids.
Presenting age 16+
Townspeople of Hohman, Indiana, and players in Ralphie's fantasy world.
All performances will take place on the MainStage of the Wayne Theatre.
Wayne Theatre
521 W. Main Street
Waynesboro, VA
Evening performances: 7:00 p.m.
Matinee performances: 2:00 p.m.
Anticipated call times:
- Evening performances: 5:30 p.m.
- Matinee performances: 12:00 p.m.
Friday, December 11
Arts Education Programming (AEP) School Matinee
Anticipated call time: 8:30 a.m.
The final performance schedule and individual cast call times will be confirmed with the cast.
Sunday, September 27 | 7:00–10:00 p.m.
MainStage — Wayne Theatre
We'll meet for the first time, get everyone their librettos and scores, and get started.
Team Red Ryders will be released by approximately 8:45 p.m.
For the first 10 minutes of rehearsal, we'll also have a parent meeting for parents/guardians of Team Red Ryders and ensemble members under 16. We'll talk through expectations for the show and rehearsal process.
Sundays, Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays
7:00–10:00 p.m.
Not every performer will necessarily be called for every rehearsal.
The week before opening, performers should plan to be available for all scheduled tech rehearsals.
We'll do our best to keep rehearsals on schedule, but tech is tech, and sometimes things take longer than we expect. Flexibility is appreciated.
The artistic team may make adjustments to the tech schedule based on the needs of the production and the venue.
Wednesday, November 18
- Anticipated call time: 5:30 p.m.
- Press Showcase: 7:00–8:30 p.m.
- Rehearsal will continue following the showcase.
- Attendance is mandatory.
Rehearsal FOR the Press Showcase will be Tuesday, November 17 from 7-10 p.m.
There will be no rehearsal the day before Thanksgiving or on Thanksgiving Day.
To make up for that missed rehearsal, we'll add a rehearsal on Tuesday, November 17 before the Press Showcase.
Saturday, November 28 — All Day
No conflicts will be permitted during tech rehearsals, press showcase, or performances.
Please read this section before auditioning.
A Christmas Story the Musical includes childhood conflict, bullying, family conflict, and physical comedy.
The production may also include staged violence and heightened physical conflict, including choreographed confrontations, physical struggle, and moments depicting harm or threat.
There may also be staged intimacy, including hand-holding, embraces, brief kisses, or other choreographed physical contact.
The Wayne Theatre is a consent-based rehearsal and performance space. We don't believe actors should have to simply “go along with it” when physical contact is part of a scene.
Any physical contact, intimacy, or staged violence will be discussed, choreographed, and rehearsed with clear communication and respect for actor boundaries and safety. Fight or conflict choreography will be taught in a structured environment, and closed rehearsals will be used when appropriate.
Except where age, gender, racial identity, or cultural identity is essential to the story, the Wayne Theatre considers performers for roles regardless of identity or background.
Casting is ultimately guided by the director and creative team, but we are committed to building casts that reflect the diversity of our community whenever possible.
We recognize that some characters are specifically written within the context of their identities or lived experiences. We honor those identities when they are essential to the story while avoiding the imposition of racial or cultural identities where they are not required by the script.
We do not use yellowface, caricature, stereotypes, accents intended to mimic a racial or cultural identity, or other harmful theatrical practices.
For A Christmas Story the Musical, the Chinese restaurant workers are not written with a specific racial or ethnic identity. Whoever is cast in those roles will be expected to approach the characters with care, humanity, humor, and complexity.
The Wayne Theatre is committed to creating a rehearsal room where people can do good work without having to sacrifice their physical or emotional well-being to do it.
We will work to create a space that is:
- Collaborative
- Inclusive
- Consent-based
- Accessible
- Respectful
- Physically and emotionally safe
We expect everyone in the room—actors, creative team, crew, and staff—to treat one another with respect.
We want actors to be able to ask questions, set boundaries, try something and fail, take a risk, change their minds, and speak up when something doesn't feel right.
We don't believe anyone should have to suffer for their art.
Lesley Larsen (she/her) is the Artistic Director of the Historic Wayne Theatre and a Teaching Artist with the Virginia Commission for the Arts. She holds a BFA in Acting from Brigham Young University, as well as an MLitt and MFA in Shakespeare and Renaissance Literature in Performance from Mary Baldwin University and the American Shakespeare Center.
Lesley has been working professionally in theatre for more than 20 years as a director, actor, improv comedian, and voice actor. A collaborator and advocate for consent-based theatre, she is committed to creating rehearsal rooms that are playful, vulnerable, generous, and rigorous—and productions that invite audiences to feel something.
Wayne Theatre directing credits include Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Wayne at Wintergreen), The SpongeBob Musical, Something Rotten!, Deep Into the Darkness: An Adaptation of Poe's Works (adapted by Lesley Larsen and Whitney Larsen), Deathtrap, The Wizard of Oz, A Christmas Story the Musical, The Importance of Being Earnest: Boy Band Edition, Little Shop of Horrors, Disney's The Little Mermaid, Elf the Musical, Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, adapted by Melissa Leilani Larson, and numerous children's productions.
Katie Glydewell (she/her) is in her 5th year as Choral Director for Stuarts Draft High School where she leads the concert choir and pop a cappella ensembles. She also teaches piano courses at SDHS and is a co-sponsor for the Tri-M Music Honor Society. Originally from Biloxi, Mississippi, she began her teaching career in North Carolina where she taught elementary music for two years. Katie holds a Bachelor of Music Education (BME) from the University of Southern Mississippi. She has been involved in several professional and community choirs through the years. While directing choirs is her main focus, she has been heavily involved in musical theatre since her preteen years as actor, singer, choreographer, and conductor/music director. Some recent music directing credits include “Footloose”, “Freaky Friday”, “Bright Star”, and “Hadestown: Teen Edition”. When not directing choirs, Katie gives private voice and piano lessons and enjoys pursuing her own stage performances.
Rhys McRoberts
[Bio coming soon.]
Auditions: auditions@waynetheatre.org
Production / Accompaniment Tracks: production@waynetheatre.org
If you have a question, need an accommodation, or aren't sure whether this show is the right fit for you, please reach out.
We're looking forward to seeing you in the room.
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