Open Auditions: November 29 & 30 from 6-9 PM

All roles available. Altoona Community Theatre welcomes anyone to audition for any role they like regardless of age, gender identity, race or color. We encourage and affirm trans and nonbinary actors to submit for whatever role feels best to them.

ACT is dedicated to being a diverse, inclusive, and equitable community theatre. We strive to hold open auditions where community members have an equal and fair opportunity to be cast.

Stage Manager – The omniscient narrator of the play. The Stage Manager exercises control over the action of the play, cueing the other characters, interrupting their scenes with his own interjections, and informing the audience of events and objects that we cannot see. He occasionally assumes other small roles in the story.

George Gibbs  – Dr. and Mrs. Gibbs’s son. A decent, upstanding young man, George is a high school baseball star who plans to attend the State Agricultural School after high school. His courtship of Emily Webb and eventual marriage to her is central to the show. George’s age in the show ranges from 16 to 28.

Emily Webb –  Mr. and Mrs. Webb’s daughter. Emily is George’s schoolmate and next-door neighbor, then his fiancée, and later his wife. She is an excellent student and a conscientious daughter. Emily suffers an untimely death and the show continues to follow her in the afterlife. Emily’s age in the show ranges from 16 to 28.

Dr. Gibbs  – George’s father and the town doctor. Dr. Gibbs is also a Civil War expert. He and his family are neighbors to the Webbs.

Mrs. Gibbs –  George’s mother and Dr. Gibbs’s wife. A homemaker with desires to travel to Paris, a wish never fulfilled. Mrs. Gibbs must find her satisfaction within this small town.

Mr. Webb  – Emily’s father and the publisher and editor of the Grover’s Corners Sentinel. Mr. Webb’s gives a news report that breaks the fourth wall with the audience in Act 1.

Mrs. Webb  – Emily’s mother and Mr. Webb’s wife. At first a no-nonsense woman, Mrs. Webb later shows her innocent and caring nature.

Mrs. Soames –  A gossipy woman who sings in the choir along with Mrs. Webb and Mrs. Gibbs. Mrs. Soames helps give a sense of the intertwined lives of the citizens of Grover’s Corners.

Simon Stimson  – The choirmaster, whose alcoholism and undisclosed “troubles” have been the subject of gossip in Grover’s Corners for quite some time. *Trigger warning: suicide* Mr. Stimson appears in the land of the dead souls in Act III having committed suicide by hanging himself in his attic.

Rebecca Gibbs –  George’s younger sister. Rebecca’s role is minor, but she does have one very significant scene with her brother. Young girl about 11-13

Wally Webb –  Emily’s younger brother. Wally is a minor figure, but he turns up in Act III among the group of dead souls. Wally dies young, the result of a burst appendix on a Boy Scout trip. Young boy about 11-13

Howie Newsome –  The local milkman. Howie  reappears during every morning scene—once each in Acts I, II, and III

Joe Crowell, Jr. –  The paperboy.

Si Crowell  – Joe’s younger brother, also a paperboy.

Professor Willard  – A professor at the State University who gives the audience a report on Grover’s Corners. Professor Willard appears once and then disappears.

Constable Warren –  A local policeman. Constable Warren keeps a watchful eye over the community.

Sam Craig –  Emily Webb’s cousin, who has left Grover’s Corners to travel west, but returns for her funeral in Act III.

Joe Stoddard –  The town undertaker. Joe prepares Emily’s grave and remarks on how sad it is to bury young people.

Ensemble –  Depending on audition numbers & interest, we may cast some ensemble roles to take smaller parts, including speaking and non-speaking roles.