Auditions for Tom Sawyer A Ballet
Directed and Choreographed by Jennifer Verba
Associate Choreographer Jacob Butterfield
Performance Dates: FEBRUARY 20-23 | THU-SAT 7:30 pm, SAT & SUN 2:00 pm | MainStage Theater
Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center announces auditions for Tom Sawyer: The Ballet! Auditions will take place on December 19, 2024, and are open to all students ages 6-18.
The Audition
Please arrive a minimum of 10 minutes before your scheduled audition time to check in and fill out any necessary paperwork including all known conflicts.
The audition will take place Thursday, December 19, 2024, from 4:00pm – 8:30pm in Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center’s Rehearsal Hall. Please read below for exact times based off of your grade/age
Please follow signs to enter through the 9th Street Artist Entrance to check in with Stage Management
Auditions for dancers grade 6-8th will be held from 4:00-5:00 PM
Auditions for dancers ages 6-10 years old will be held from 5:00-5:30 PM. These dancers will only need Ballet shoes.
Auditions for dancers grade 9-12th will be held from 5:30-8:30 PM.
Anyone auditioning in grades 6-12th, should bring ballet, character, and (if trained) pointe shoes
Appropriate dance apparel includes: Option #1 (feminine): Leotard, tights, ballet skirt (optional), Option #2 (masculine): solid color fitted shirt, black jazz pants or tights
Everyone please have hair in a ballet bun or pulled back away from your face and no jewelry
To sign up for an audition time slot, please complete the online form.
**You will receive a confirmation email after completing the form.
Current Lincoln Park students under the age of 18 must download and complete the following Application for Minors in Performances form and bring with them to auditions.
Students under the age of 18 who do not attend Lincoln Park, please download and complete this full version of the form and bring to your audition.
About the Ballet
With a score by critically acclaimed composer Maury Yeston (Titanic), this stirring and symphonic ballet is an inventive combination of ballet, folk dance, comedy, and compelling storytelling. An original adaptation of the Mark Twain classic, Tom Sawyer: A Ballet explores the charm and vitality of youth by telling the story of a boy’s passage from childhood to his teenage years. The music’s wit and beauty blends perfectly with the charm and playfulness of Twain’s novel, creating this must-see American classic!
Character Breakdown
Act One & Three:
Becky Thatcher
Aunt Polly
Town Children and Students
School Teacher/ Preacher
Townspeople
Tom Sawyer
Huck Finn
Judge Thatcher
Muff Potter
The Doctor
The Sheriff/ Photographer
Old Joe
Act Two:
Tombstones
Fireflies/ Ghosts
Sprites’ Circus
Stone Angel
Ghouls
Goblins
Sprites
Schedule
Rehearsal
Tuesday, January 21-Thursday, January 23, 2025, 4-8:00 PM (Those in One Night Only not called)
Monday, January 27- Friday, January 31, 2025, 4-8:00 PM
Saturday, February 1, 2025, 9:00AM-1:00 PM
Monday, February 3- Friday, February 7, 2025, 4-8:00 PM
Saturday, February 8, 2025, 9:00AM-1:00 PM
Mandatory Run Through Rehearsals
Monday, February 10- Wednesday, February 12, 2025, 4-8:30PM
Spacing –Thursday, February 13, 2025: 4:00-8:30pm
Mandatory Tech Rehearsals
Saturday, February 15, 2025: 1-6:00pm
Sunday, February 16, 2025: 1:00-9:00pm
Monday, February 17 – Wednesday, February 19, 2025: 4:30-9:00pm
Performances (Mandatory)
Thursday, February 20, 2025: 7:30pm
Friday, February 21, 2025: 7:30pm
Saturday, February 22, 2025: 2:00pm
Saturday, February 22, 2025: 7:30pm
Sunday, February 23, 2025: 2:00pm
Synopsis
Act 1
Tom Sawyer tricks his friends into whitewashing a fence. The town wakes up sleepily, children go off to school, where Tom and Becky become infatuated. Huck Finn joins Tom and the company in wild games during recess, the two boys build a raft, get lost in a storm on the Mississippi, and secretly witness their own funeral.
Act one begins with an orchestral theme and variations as Tom Sawyer tricks his friends into painting a fence, with each group “varying” their style of painting to match each new musical variation of the theme. The stage then reveals to expansive Main Street of St. Pete, Mississippi – Twain’s typical 19th century town on the Mississippi. Tom and other townsfolk appear, as a lazy morning in the sleepy town gets underway. The school bell rings and a procession of schoolchildren advance to the classroom, where Tom is smitten with the beautiful student, Becky Thatcher. He does something noble and selfless for her, winning her affection, and Tom and Becky imagine within their own minds a pas de deux of first love. As this ends, Huck Finn, who does not attend school swings in on a rope to joins his best friend Tom in a duet that depicts their rambunctious boyhood friendship, including a whistling contest. With the other children from school, and against the backdrop of the endless plains, the youths perform games and competitions at their recess – after which Huck and Tom race to the Mississippi, where they play Pirates and launch out onto the rive on a makeshift raft. A storm arises, and the worried townsfolk rush anxiously to the riverbank, where the boys are nowhere to be found – though sadly the remains of their raft are found instead. Assuming the worst, the townsfolk hold a heartfelt revivalist funeral for the missing boys, which Tom and Huck mischievously observe, having sneaked furtively into the church. When they are discovered, instead of any punishment, the boys are met by Aunt Polly and the community with celebration, relief and love.
Act 2
Muff, the town drunk, links up conspiratorially with Doc and Old Joe. Tom and Huck follow them at night into the cemetery. The boys imagine spooky and fun spirits in the dark, and watch as Old Joe and the others dig up a chest of gold. Muff passes out, Old Joe stabs Doc and takes the fold, placing the bloody knife in the unconscious Muff’s hand. The curtain falls on the hidden boys having witnessed a murder and a frame-up.
Muff Potter, the town drunk, and a rather likeable fellow, tipsily makes his way down Main Street, observed by Tom and Huck in an opening dance. At the center of the town Muff joins Doc and Old Joe – and they are all clearly up to no good. As the three go off with a wheelbarrow and some shovels, Tom and Huck are drawn to follow them, being naturally curious. Evening is approaching and, typical of a summer’s night in Missouri, fireflies come out – which the boys chase and try to capture, ultimately finding themselves spookily in a cemetery as darkest night falls. They imagine, in a sequence of dances, a March of the Goblins, Ghosts, and the play of mischievous creatures emanating from the gravestones and the great beyond. A statue, beautiful and winged, comes to life and spirits these creatures of the imagination to their rest as, under the twinkling stars of midnight, Old Joe, Doc and Muff arrive and dig up a chest of gold. Muff, having drunk his limit, passes out while Old Joe and Doc fight over the gold, observed by the boys, who are hiding behind gravestone. Old Joe murders Doc, placed the bloody knife in the hand of the unconscious Muff, and steals away with the gold. The sheriff arrives, as Muff regains consciousness, and arrests the hapless drunk for a murder that the boys know he did not commit. The stone angel reappears and gathers up the soul of the dead victim, accompanied by a requiem for Doc, as the curtain descends.
Act 3
As the sun rises over the glorious Great Plains the next day, a brass band leads a parade into the town square for the open-air murder trial of Muff. The prosecutor reads the charges by Tom testifies to the truth and exonerates Muff as Old Joe flees. A midday town picnic follows, but rain interrupts it, and Tom and Becky find shelter in a cave, where they become lost. Alone, the first stirrings of genuine love begin to blossom, they escape the case to rejoin their families, the chest of gold is discovered in the cave, and all rush to the Mississippi to celebrate the salvation and good fortune of Tom.
An overture to the American West introduces the final act, which then opens on Main Street the next day, where the Missouri Main Street parade brings on the townsfolk, Judge Thatcher, Muff, and Old Joe, for the trial that is to be held in the town square. The prosecutor makes his accusations at the outset of the trail, with appropriate reactions from all onstage – which includes the gallery of observers, the jury and all others. As the prosecutor concludes, Tome gingerly steps forward and bravely testifies to the truth of what actually happened at the graveyard, recapitulating what he had witnessed in Act Two. Old Joe runs off, having been exposed as the culprit, and muff warmly and gratefully expresses his thanks, as do the others who are present. As the crowd disperses in the aftermath of the trail, a group of young children holding silvery pinwheels appears in the bright sun of the great outdoors. They are joined by townsfolk, including Tom and Becky, who are relieved the trail is in the past and now can enjoy a picnic on this glorious afternoon. It begins to rain, and Tom and Becky run off to find shelter at the entrance to a cave. Tom gingerly enters, Becky following, until they find themselves in a world of mystery and darkness, lured onward by curiosity and the allure and enchantment of the cave. They discover the body of Old Joe, who has died of thirst. Terrified, they lost and cannot find a way out. Through desperate and afraid, they find strength in each other and actual love begins to blossom as they advance further and soon miraculously see, against the wall of the cave, sparkles and light that suddenly begin to glimmer – and the two realize that the sparkles are the reflections of the children’s pinwheels. These sparkles lead them out into light, salvation, and the waiting arms of the townsfolk. Huck appears, and he and Tom run back to discover the chest of golf in the cave which, when opened, infuses and saturates the stage with golden light. In triumph, Huck and Tom and everyone else race to the banks of the Mississippi, where this great river swells with power and glory and carries them all as a company into the timeless American myth that they have become.
Seeking strong dancers for Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center’s production of The Nutcracker. All genders, types, and ethnicities encouraged to audition.
Performers of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, gender identities and expressions, and performers living with disabilities are encouraged to audition.