AUDITIONS

************   ANNOUNCEMENT ************

  RCT is happy to announce that auditions for the RCT 2026 Gala Vocal Competition for February  2026 are closed. The RCT Annual Gala will be held on Saturday February 28, 2026 and RCT will again host a vocal competition between selected high school juniors and seniors. Notifications of the final contestants will be announced soon.  Please reference the RCT web site on a regular basis.

Celebration of the Arts generic letter 2026

Contestant rules:

Scholarship Contestant Rules 2026 pages 2-4

**************************RCT Announces auditions for Beetlejuice Jr. *****************************

Reading Civic Theatre is excited to announce auditions for BEETLEJUICE JR.!

The directorial staff of Beetlejuice, Jr. prefers to audition and cast kids in the 13 – 18 age range. However, at the parents discretion, we will allow kids ages 11 and 12 to audition. Please know that the show is rated PG. 

Co-directed by: Samantha Grinage & Jeannette DeAngelo

Choreographed by: Samantha Grinage

Music Directed by: Patrick Grinage

This spooktacular musical adaptation of a Tim Burton favorite follows the story of a strange and unusual teenage girl named Lydia Deetz who befriends the recently deceased couple that previously owned her new home while grieving the loss of her mother. Meanwhile Beetlejuice – bioexorcist extraordinaire – aims to manipulate anyone he can to say his name three times so that he is able to do as he pleases in the mortal realm. With themes of family, love, loss, and grief, this musical is a beautiful start to our 2026 season and an exciting way to feature our incredibly talented teens!

Auditions will take place on Nov. 15th from 6pm – 10pm or Nov. 16th from 1pm – 4pm with callbacks and a dance call on Nov. 22nd from 6pm – 10pm. Auditions will be held at the RCT performance space located at 4350 Perkiomen Ave., Reading, PA, 19606.  These initial auditions are an open call for any young actors ages 13 to 18 so there will be no signing up ahead of time. All you have to do is come to auditions within the designated time period on either the 15th or 16th and you will be seen in the order that you arrive and hand in an audition form that you will fill out when you get there. Also feel free to bring along a theatrical resume and headshot if you have one.

The dance call on the 22nd will take place during the first hour from 6pm to 7pm. If you attend the initial auditions, we still need you to attend the dance call to see how you move. After the dance call we will have callbacks that same night. If you are not asked to stay for callbacks, do not be discouraged! That does not at all mean that you won’t be in the show. All that means is that we’ve seen what we need to see from you and you’ll hear from us soon.

And now what you’ve all been waiting for……

WHAT TO PREPARE:

Specific cuts of the songs with sheet music and tracks will be uploaded soon, but here’s a starting point with character descriptions and what song we’d like to hear if you’re interested in a specific role.

BEETLEJUICE

The dead man of the hour! This 4th-wall breaking character is zany, spooky, hilarious, and a bit sick in the head. He’s always looking out for himself and falls into the category of “morally gray”, walking the tightrope of casual trickster and malevolent demon

Gender: Male

Vocal range: G3 – E5

Audition song: “The Whole Being Dead Thing”

Callback song: “Say My Name”

LYDIA DEETZ

A whip-smart, grieving teen with a dark sense of humor to help cope with the loss of her mother. Unfazed by Beetlejuice’s brand of chaos and holds her own against him and all things Netherworld.

Gender: Female

Vocal Range: A3 – E5

Audition song: “Dead Mom”

Callback songs: “Say My Name” & “Home”

CHARLES DEETZ

Lydia’s father. He means well and wants to help Lydia get over the loss of her mother, but doesn’t always go about it in the best way. Charles is under a lot of pressure between his concerns for Lydia, his secret relationship with Delia, his professional life, and his own grief that he tries to ignore.

Gender: Male

Vocal range: Bflat3 – F5

Audition song: “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)”

DELIA SCHLIMMER

Hopelessly optimistic to a fault. She faithfully believes in her guru Otho and is a licensed life coach, although underneath her mask of happiness she’s actually quite fragile and in need of a life coach herself. She loves Charles and genuinely cares about Lydia even if she often struggles to connect with her.

Gender: Female

Vocal range: G2 – C#5

Audition song: “No Reason”

Callback song: “Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)”

ADAM MAITLAND

Devoted husband to Barbara. A typical suburban guy that just can’t catch a break. Life’s stresses weighed him down – home renovations, financial difficulties, the decision to have a child. He was very unprepared for death to come knocking on their door.

Gender: Male

Vocal range: Bflat3 – Eflat5

Audition song: “Ready, Set, Not Yet” 

BARBARA MAITLAND

Adam’s other half. Her stresses align with her husband’s in both life and death, although she’s the more adventurous of the two. She’s kind, strong-willed, a quick thinker, and immediately bonds with Lydia.

Gender: Female

Vocal range: A3 – D5

Audition song: “Ready, Set, Not Yet”

SKY – THE GIRL SCOUT

A sweet little go-getter with a strong will but a weak heart. An unfortunate victim of Beetlejuice’s antics.

Gender: Female

Vocal range: G3 – C5

Audition song: “Girl Scout”

MISS ARGENTINA

Former beauty queen – she died with the sash, you can’t take it from her. The greeter for the recently deceased (Preferably a hispanic actress)

Gender: Female

Vocal range: A3 – D5

Audition song: “What I Know Now”

ENSEMBLE

Featured characters such as Otho, Juno, Maxie & Maxine Dean, The Recently Deceased, The Mourners, Girl Scouts, Undead Cheerleaders, Beetlejuice clones, AND MORE!

Audition song: “What I Know Now”

Our official performance dates will be Jan. 30th, 31st, and Feb. 1st, 6th, 7th, & 8th. 

Feel free to contact Samantha Grinage at samgrinage@gmail.com with any questions regarding the show or auditions.

To all Auditionees: 

Below is a link to the sheet music and tracks for Beetlejuice Jr. Auditions and Callbacks.  The link is set up so that anyone with the link can access the folder with the materials which are then organized into subfolders by character.  Please learn and prepare the materials provided for the character(s) you wish to audition for prior to the audition date. 

Beetlejuice Jr. Audition Materials

Some notes:

– You may notice that some songs have different people singing different sections of the song.  For the purpose of auditions, please sing all highlighted sections within your audition materials.  (For example: Beetlejuice’s “Whole Being Dead thing”.  For auditions, please ignore where it shows Mourners, or Groups 1,2,& 3.  For auditions, we’d like Beetlejuice auditionees to sing everything that’s highlighted; which in this case is the whole song.)  This example applies to ALL audition materials provided for every character.

– Each sheet music file has been numbered to correspond with the mp3 performance track provided.  Also, the file’s name includes whether that song is for auditions or callbacks.

– A short document with details outlining which sections of the music we’d like to hear and what timestamp to begin at in the accompaniment track has been provided within the audition materials folder. The details listed should correlate with the highlighted portions of the sheet music. 

– The song lyrics aren’t just there to fill the space. Sing with your heart and tell the story.

Happy practicing & see you at Auditions!

Patrick Grinage

Thank you for your patience.