The Monmouth Community Players plans to hold auditions this month for its first show of the 2024 season, “Peter and the Starcatcher” by Rick Elice.

Auditions will take place from 7-9 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17, and from 6-8 p.m. Monday, Dec. 18, at the Winthrop Congregational Church, 10 Bowdoin St. Rehearsals will be from 6-8:30 p.m. Tuesdays and from 1-5 p.m. Sundays. The show dates are March 1-10 at Cumston Hall, 796 Main St. in Monmouth.

The show is being directed by Emily Carlton, with producer Josie French, music direction by Gabe Verrill-Grant, sound by Alex Lally, lights by Hannah Hanson, props by Adam Runnells and stage management by Paige Desmarais.

Tony-winning “Peter and the Starcatcher” upends the century-old story of how a miserable orphan comes to be The Boy Who Would Not Grow Up (a.k.a. Peter Pan). From marauding pirates and jungle tyrants to unwilling comrades and unlikely heroes, Peter and the Starcatcher playfully explores the depths of greed and despair — and the bonds of friendship, duty and love, according to a news release from Monmouth Community Players.

The show is about a young orphan and his mates are shipped off from Victorian England to a distant island ruled by the evil King Zarboff. They know nothing of the mysterious trunk in the captain’s cabin, which contains precious, otherworldly cargo. At sea, the boys are discovered by Molly, a precocious Starcatcher-in-training who realizes that the trunk’s precious cargo is starstuff, a celestial substance so powerful that it must never fall into the wrong hands.

When the ship is taken over by pirates — led by the fearsome Black Stache, a villain determined to claim the trunk and its treasure for his own — the journey quickly becomes a thrilling adventure.

For more information, or with any questions, email Carlton at [email protected]. Auditions will consist of individual monologues (available at monmouthcommunityplayers.org), cold readings and a brief singing audition.

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