MAT auditioning for special Christmas play

Montana Actors’ Theatre is holding auditions next week for “Hansel and Gretel: A Christmas Panto” and will be looking for middle school- and high school-aged actors, two of whom will play Hansel and Gretel.

The auditions will be held Tuesday and Wednesday at 7 p.m. at the Little Theatre in Cowan Hall at Montana State University-Northern. Two junior high and two high school-aged actors will be sought.

The play will open Dec. 9.

Founder and Artistic Director of MAT Jay Pyette said experience is not necessary.

“We like to get new people on stage,” he said.

The play will be a panto, which Pyette said is an English Christmas tradition.

“You take a children’s story and then you mess with it a little bit,” he said.

He said the movie “Shrek” is a good example because, while it appeals to children, “there’s a great deal for adults.”

“It’s not a traditional telling of the story. It’s goofy and fun and humorous for all ages,” Pyette said. “It’s very much what we would call family-friendly.”

The idea to do “Hansel and Gretel” as a panto was that of the director of the play, Morgaine Lomayesza.

Pyette, who studied theatre in England in the early 90s, said he saw a panto of “Robin Hood” and he though it was very funny.