While the school day begins to wind down, most students begin packing up their notes, Chromebooks and textbooks. In room 303 just next door, however, their fellow students are unpacking their character shoes and all-black attire to prepare for a long audition week for the Spring musical “Chicago.”

Having finished up their last matinee performance of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” on Oct. 19, just two weeks earlier, the Wolf Pack Theatre Department are back in show mindset.

And with the new block schedule instated, director and theatre teacher Justin Baldridge had to carefully adapt the audition process.

“The biggest change is that we have a set group of actors, so it’s easier for us to schedule how much time we need for auditions. Before, it was open-ended,” Baldridge said. “So it was a lot more difficult to juggle more students. But now it’s a more select group of students, which makes it a little more fun for me as a director.”

First came the singing and dancing rounds of auditions on Nov. 3 and Nov. 5, followed by the anticipation of the callback list, released the day after the dance auditions. At this point, excitement gathered as many auditionees could now envision their future within the cast.

Among these people is junior Amelia Probst, who got a callback for two very different characters — Velma Kelly, the vaudeville star, and Billy Flynn, the smooth talking lawyer.

“Being called back for both Velma and Billy was very interesting. Velma’s character is so sultry and the definition of a showgirl, so I tried really hard to turn up that vibe,” Probst said. “Billy Flynn, however, is the stereotypical crooked lawyer, which meant I had to act the classic ‘cool guy’ vibe. Auditions and callbacks can be scary but I know that no matter how my audition goes, I’ll have some of my best friends by my side to support me.”

During callbacks on Nov. 7, actors had to read through scenes and monologues, giving the audition panel an opportunity to see what the actors did with each character and the chemistry that groups and duos could bring to the table.

In between the cold reads, actors sang songs from the show corresponding to the character they were called back for. Some characters just required actors to sing what they sang for the first initial audition, while some required actors to learn a brand new song in just a day.

The final cast list included some recognizable faces, such as junior Maddy Mills, who recently played Hermia in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and junior Ellie Steinberg, who starred as Sophie Sheridan in the past school year’s musical, “Mamma Mia!”. Now, the two of them will lead the production as characters Velma Kelly and Roxie Hart, respectively.

The cast list also included some new faces. Sophomore Cameron Mayer and freshman Mia Levi pushed through the ensemble with fosse dancing, fun harmonies and killer facial expressions.

The cast and crew of the musical, “Chicago,” are all eager and excited to begin the rehearsal process again in Jan. 2026.