MAT again holding auditions for 'Charlie and the Chocolate Factory'

Montana Actors’ Theatre is bringing back its pandemic-delayed production of “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.”

Auditions for the loved children’s story were held last year but the production was delayed to this year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. MAT is bringing it back as its annual summer youth production

A release on the auditions, scheduled for Friday from 1-3 p.m. in the former Creative Leisure Building at 417 First St., said people who were cast for last year’s production are welcome to audition again, and those who cannot make the audition but still want to be a part of the show should contact MAT Youth Activities Director Angela Pratt at 406-390-2729.

The casting call is for people 11-20, but the release said adults who were originally cast for the 2020 production can still take part in the production.

The story, written by Roald Dahl in 1964, has been made into two movies and is possibly his best-known and most popular work.

It tells the story of poverty-stricken young Charlie Bucket and “the most amazing, the most fantastic, the most extraordinary chocolate maker the world has ever seen,” Mr Willie Wonka.

Wonka issues five golden tickets, wrapped up with chocolate bars, and the five children who find the tickets get a tour of the factory and a lifetime supply of chocolate.

After Charlie buys the last of the tickets, with money he found, the story details the tour of Wonka’s magical factory — and what happens when people don’t follow the rules.

The MAT production is scheduled to run July 29-31 and Aug. 5-7.