Audition Information Season 73

Auditions for Imaginary have concluded.

Please join us for Peter Pan auditions February 27th and March 1st. Information coming in 2025.

Come ready to have fun!  Our auditions are part formal audition and part fun theatre workshop.  We try to make sure every student is comfortable, confident and ready to succeed!

  • Students must be 10 years or older at the time of the auditions.

  • Students must have participated and completed (or near completion) a DJT class or camp to audition.  Class and Camp info here. 

  • Students must pre-register for their audition day and time, completing comprehensive online form. Learn more on this page.

  • Students auditioning as actors should perform their audition memorized. Please note, you will likely be asked to make changes in the room.

  • Students auditioning for a role in the show should expect to stay the entire time of the audition scheduled.

  • Students who are ONLY interested in Crew or Front of House are welcome to stay the full time, but only need to attend the first 30 minutes.

  • Auditions are open to residents of any city, not just Davenport.

  • Students only attend one audition day.  

What You Need to Prepare

  • Please prepare ONE of the song cuts below.

Audition Song Cuts

Please prepare one of the below song cuts. Each button will take you to a Google Drive folder where you will find sheet music, a cut of the track with vocals to practice with, and a track without vocals (NV) that you will sing with at the audition. We recommend picking a song for the character you’d most like to play, but everyone will be considered for all roles. Please sing in whichever octave fits your voice best.

What will happen at the audition?

  • When you arrive, you’ll sign in, and someone will give you your number and take your picture. This is just to help us remember who you are.

  • We will start with some group warm-ups.

  • We’ll practice introducing ourselves. Introductions are so important! Your introduction will be your name, age, school you attend, and what you’ll be singing.

    • Anyone only wanting to be considered for Front of House or Crew will introduce themselves and tell us which position they would most like to be. They are not required to stay beyond this point, but are welcome to, if they’d like.

  • Next, we’ll break into 2 groups.

    • One group will go learn the dance audition combo.

    • The other group will perform their preferred audition song cut one by one. The director may give you some adjustments or ask you to do it again.

    • Then we’ll swap groups. The group that learned the dance first will perform in small groups while it’s fresh in their minds, and then perform their songs one by one.

    • The group that learned the dance second, will come back and perform the combo in small groups.

    • Anyone auditioning for Showtime Pal ONLY will only need to perform their brief, memorized monologue (not to exceed one minute).

  • If time, students may read short scenes from the script.

What do I wear?

Students should wear comfortable clothes for theatrical warm-ups & games at auditions. If you choose to wear a skirt or dress, please wear shorts underneath. Please wear appropriate shoes for movement.

When and where will the cast and crew be announced?

The Cast, Crew, and other positions for all shows will be emailed to all who auditioned. Date will be shared at auditions for announcing cast, crew, FOH, and more.

Are there any expenses?

There is no charge to audition. All students cast in the production will need to pay a $90.00 Mainstage Actor Registration Fee. All student crew will need to pay a $60.00 Crew Registration Fee. Thanks to United Way, full and partial scholarships are available to those who may need assistance.

What to submit for my schedule in advance?

  • Schedules for each show will be posted when shows are announced. With more details on pre-registration form online.
  • We now do all auditions by pre-registration online. This let's us collect all your schedule information. For the form, please be prepared to list all scheduled conflicts you will have during the rehearsal period (vacations, school commitments, other classes, DJT classes, etc). It is helpful to make this list in advance before beginning the online form.
  • Please register 24 hours prior to your preferred audition date.
  • We build our rehearsal schedules from your schedules. Every effort will be made to accommodate for students' schedules and conflicts. However, during our last 10 days of rehearsal, “Tech Week,” we ask that students be fully available.
  • Please include any Davenport Junior Theatre classses (Theatre or Dance). We may not catch you are already scheduled in one of our classes with so many kids auditioning.

How much time will my child commit?

Rehearsals typically happen over a period of 5-6 weeks. Typically students will rehearse 2 to 5 days a week, around 2 – 3 hours at a time.

During the final 10 days of the production, students will likely have 8 out of 10 days where we are rehearsing in the theatre.

Leading roles can rehearse as much as 4-5 days a week, approximately 3 hours at a time. An option to play a “supporting role only" is available, if your child is too busy or needs to meet other oblivations.

During the final 10 days of rehearsal we really insist the students commit to all rehearsals. Unlike a sport where you can change out the position, theatre is complicated and everyone’s role is unique.

Specific show details are released when auditions for each show are announced.

Imaginary: A New Musical

Synopsis

IMAGINARY is an exciting, funny and inspiring musical about the wonder of childhood, the power of the imagination and what it means to grow up.

Milo is Sam’s only friend and they spend all their time together, using only their imaginations to transform their world into a place of adventure and excitement. But as Sam’s first day at a new school approaches, his mother worries that Milo is holding her son back, stopping him from growing up. School turns out to be full of surprises– and secrets. IMAGINARY centers on an enduring friendship with other-worldly twists and turns that change lives forever.

We are the first theatre to do this newly licensed young@part version!

Directed by Kiera Lynn Martin

Auditions: Thursday, December 12th 5:30-7:30pm; Sunday, December 15th 12-2pm

Students only need to attend one of audition dates.

ONLINE PRE-REGISTRATION

All students must pre-register.

Please note you will need your schedule handy to complete this form. Schedule details are found on this page too.

Typically takes 5-10 minutes to complete. Please complete with your child or your parent. It should be done together. 

Please register 24 hours prior to your preferred audition date.

Opening Rehearsal/Meeting : Thursday, December 19th @ 5:30pm

Rehearsals: January 2nd-February 14th

Below are windows where rehearsal may fall. We build the schedule around student availability, and we will not use these full times every week. However, please provide your conflicts for these times so we can plan rehearsals effectively.
Mon-Fri : 4:00pm-8:30pm
Sat: 9:00am-8:30pm
Sun: 1:00pm-8:30pm

Tech Rehearsals: February 3rd-14th

(Please no conflicts during these days. It is vital that students are there throughout tech process and for final rehearsals. Unlike a sport, we cannot have just anyone fill in at a position.)
(Master schedule will be created after auditions. We try to take into consideration student schedules.) Minimal conflicts MAY be permitted with prior permission, dependent upon role.

Performances Currently Scheduled: *No conflicts allowed for cast/crew

Saturday, February 15th @ 1pm

Saturday, February 15th @ 4pm

Sunday, February 16th @ 3:00pm ASL interpreted

Saturday, February 22nd @ 1pm

Saturday, February 22nd @ 4pm

Sunday, February 23rd @ 3:00pm

If you’d like to be involved but have conflicts within the tech or performance window, consider auditioning for ShowTime Pal or Front of House. These roles require less commitment and have more flexible scheduling.

Casting

SAM – 11/12 years old. The role of Sam can be either male or female. Clever, brave and loyal, he/she has an active imagination. Sam is close to his/her mum but is reaching the age where he/she is embarrassed by shows of affection from her. A bit timid when we first meet Sam, he/she becomes more daring and truly heroic as our story progresses.

MILO – Sam’s best friend. The role of Milo can be either male or female, and because Milo is actually Sam’s imaginary friend, Milo could be the same age as Sam or any age. Milo is a little less mature than Sam, more mischievous and irresponsible. He/she feeds Sam’s imaginative life and often leads Sam astray. As is revealed towards the end of Act One, Milo is Sam’s imaginary friend, so in a sense, Milo is who Sam wishes he/she could be but isn’t brave enough for – at the beginning of our story at least. Milo, too, matures as the story develops.

ALICE – Same age as Sam and Milo. A girl in Sam’s year at his new school. Alice is strong, brave and serious. The Headmaster’s “upgrading” technique has turned her beloved sister Jess into an unfeeling robot of a girl, so Alice is shut off emotionally from the other children, bitter and untrusting – at least at first. When she realises Sam will stick by her, she reveals her kinder, more vulnerable side.

 

THEIR CLASSMATES:

DEXTER – A friendly, happy boy who is very much at ease with knowing that he’s not very smart. Simple tasks – such as tying his shoelaces – defeat him, but he has a lot of charm.

GRACE – A good girl, clever, hardworking and serious. Finds breaking school rules very difficult, even when she knows she has to – but can be very brave.

HARVEY – The cool kid. Confident, charming, charismatic – but not very academic.

HELEN – The shy girl, nervous about going to the new school. Good-hearted but quiet.

THE NEW KIDS – Classmates of the above.

THE BIG KIDS – All have been transformed by the Headmaster’s “upgrading” technique into robot-like drones, who move and think in a rigidly controlled manner.

JESS – One of the Big Kids. Alice’s older sister. We first see her as the poster girl for “upgrading”: severe, serious, unfeeling, hostile. But Alice’s memory of her offers us a glimpse of the girl she used to be, creative, guitar-playing and loving.

 

THE PARENTS:

BETH – Sam’s mother. A single mother, she’s done everything she can to make Sam’s life interesting and colourful – despite there not being much money about. At the beginning of the story, she and Sam have just moved out of their small flat and into a little house, so things are looking up economically, but she worries that Sam is stuck emotionally – he still has an imaginary friend, even though he’s old enough for secondary school – and she blames herself for indulging his taste for fantasy and daydreaming.

OTHER PARENTS - Parents dropping their kids off at school. (Will double with other roles.)

 

THE STAFF:

THE HEADMASTER – Brilliant, charismatic and megalomaniac, the Headmaster is an evil genius who has developed an “upgrading” technique that removes the imagination from his students, and so enables them to pass exams with machine-like efficiency. This, he hopes, will eventually result in world domination. He had an unhappy childhood, as we see when we flashback to the Boy Headmaster – a miniature version of his older self. His parents encouraged his inventing but then broke his heart when they told him that his best friend was imaginary. In love with – or at least, strangely drawn to – Miss Stoker.

MISS STOKER – The I.T. teacher. Cold-hearted and ruthless, and admiringly in love with the Headmaster.

DR GOOLE – The Mathematics teacher. Evil, like his colleagues, the only thing he regrets about the Headmaster’s “upgrading” is that the pupils are never naughty, and so cannot be punished.

FRAU RAMMSTEIN – The Business Studies teacher. A scary, Wagnerian person, she speaks with a heavy German accent.

MR GRUNTT – The P.E. Teacher. As his name suggests, Gruntt cannot speak – he communicates in grunts that we, the audience, don’t understand, but that the other teachers somehow seem to understand perfectly. During “upgrading” sessions, Gruntt assists the Headmaster, playing Igor to his Frankenstein.

THE MINISTER OF EDUCATION – Charming, devious and utterly unreliable. A future Prime Minister.

 

THE “IFS” OR IMAGINARY FRIENDS:

BIG BRENDA – The weirdest, craziest-looking creature you’ve ever seen, there is no doubt that Brenda was the product of a child’s very fertile imagination. Initially charming and motherly – and presiding over an Imaginary Land that is one long party – we later discover that she rules Imaginary Land with a rod of iron – locking the gates that separate it from the real world, and making all newly-arrived IFs forget their human friends. Female, but could be played by a male actor, in the English “Pantomime Dame” tradition.

THE BRENDETTES – Big Brenda’s henchpersons and backing singers. Cool, superior and fabulous.

OOGIE – The one rebel in Imaginary Land. Oogie is an IF who has refused to forget his human friend. He lives in hope of his friend communicating with him, and so has stayed by the large telephone that the humans can use to call their IFs back into their lives. Alas, the phone has not rung in all the many, many years since Oogie arrived and his faith is beginning to run out. But he’s an irrepressible character – quick to embrace hope and eager to do anything to help Milo, his new best friend.

CHUTNEY, MUTLEY, and FRANK – Three IF friends