​All auditions at Big Blue Building, Quail's Nest Arts Center, Oliver @ 6:30 pm
August 2  (Sunday)
August 5  (Wednesday)
August 9  (Sunday)  
 If you would like to audition, but cannot make these dates please contact [email protected] 
If you are interested in non-speaking parts or non-acting roles please join us at the auditions!
At the audition you will be asked to cold read a section from the play, or read from the following excerpt linked at bottom.  


About The Play:
(Performance scheduled for  Oct 30-Nov 7, 2026)
“TWIST blends two works by its victim author; grafted onto the familiar parable of Ebenezer and his spirits are guest villains Fagin and Mr Bumble from Oliver Twist. The title character is twentysomething Tiny Twist, a gangly orphan waif who hates gruel (the Cratchits’ favorite dish) and whose crutch keeps getting stuck in cracks. Bumble and Fagin mercilessly exploit Twist (despite the lad’s klutziness as a pickpocket) until Bob Cratchit impulsively adopts the tall tot. The villains scheme to get Twist back, but in the mock-violent conclusion a redeemed Scrooge exposes their foul plot … abounds with Illegitimate irreverence, like a Ghost of Christmas Past who grouses about always having to fly from one stranger’s dreary memory to the next. Along with the regulation chains worn by Marley’s ghost are some keepsake accessories he added for texture. The Cratchits’ idea of forced merriment is to play ‘blind man’s bluff’ with a real blind girl and to share ghoulish holiday wishes. The Ghost of Christmas Yet To Come uses a step stool to tower over Scrooge and communicates entirely through charades … [a] good night of wicked travesty … inspired humbug.” —⁠Lawrence Bommer, The Chicago Tribune

Characters:
FAGIN
based on the character of the same name from Dickens’ Oliver Twist. He is filthy and conniving and leads a gang of orphan pickpockets.

MR BUMBLE, SCROOGE’s nephew,
based primarily on the character of Mister Bumble from Oliver Twist. He is pompous and greedy and prone to coining unusual phrases and words.

TINY TWIST
a composite of Tiny Tim from A Christmas Carol and the title character from Oliver Twist. He is a lame orphan who is sent to work for FAGIN and eventually goes to live with the CRATCHITS. He is good-hearted and an object of pity, made all the more pathetic by the fact that he is in his twenties. The role is most suited to a taller actor. He should be clothed in a boy’s suit that he has long outgrown and a Prince Valiant wig.

ANNIE (Little Artful Annie)
a composite of the Artful Dodger from Oliver Twist (with a touch of the character of Nancy from the same novel, evident in her conscience, her befriending of TWIST and her eventual punishment at the hands of FAGIN) and Little Orphan Annie from the funnies. ANNIE is FAGIN’s best pickpocket. She is very smart and sly. Her appearance should reflect a Little Orphan Annie who has been on the streets for too many years: dirty, curly wig; dirty and torn blouse and jumper and a large overcoat with pockets and possibly a tattered hat.

EBENEZER SCROOGE
an old, greedy miser with no affection toward anyone, especially his clerk, BOB CRATCHIT. He has a particular dislike for the holiday of Christmas.

BOB CRATCHIT
long-suffering clerk of SCROOGE. He is overly kind and somewhat naive.

EMILY CRATCHIT
BOB’s wife and protector. She loves BOB but has a more practical outlook toward life.

MARLEY
SCROOGE’s late business partner who comes to him as a ghost to warn him of his fate. He is somewhat but not overly solemn.

PAST (GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PAST)
a sweet but slightly inefficient old ghost.

YOUNG SCROOGE
a hard-working but happier and kinder SCROOGE. He is of marrying age when we first see him and is several years older in his second appearance.

FUZZYWIG
based on the character of Mister Fezziwig from A Christmas Carol, to whom SCROOGE was once apprenticed. He is an overly cheerful sort.

BELLE
YOUNG SCROOGE’s fiancee. She is bright and bubbly on her first appearance but, as a result of SCROOGE’s neglect, has grown cold by her second appearance.

PRESENT (GHOST OF CHRISTMAS PRESENT) is a middle- aged, loud obnoxious drunk of a ghost.

FUTURE (GHOST OF CHRISTMAS YET TO COME)
a frightening ghost, fully cloaked except for a skeletal hand and an obscured skeletal face. This ghost does not speak.

​ Other minor characters include CAROLLERS (two Christmas carollers), GRAVEDIGGER (a Cockney gravedigger) and LIBBY (an old crone), as well as a few never seen characters whose voices we hear.

​

Okanagan Zone Theatre Festival 2026 brings together outstanding community theatre productions from across the Okanagan region for a dynamic week of live performance, learning, and celebration. Hosted by South Okanagan Amateur Players (SOAP Theatre), this adjudicated festival showcases diverse plays from participating theatre companies, with the top production advancing to Theatre BC’s provincial Mainstage Festival.  Tickets can be purchased for the individual shows or you can purchase a festival pass and save!  Check out the amazing line-up!