Audition for Murder on the Orient Express

Register Now!

Director: Mike Daniels

Auditions: Sunday, November 9th & Monday, November 10th at 6:00 pm. Callbacks Wednesday, November 12th at 6:00 pm, 2025.

By Agatha Christie
Adapted for the stage by Ken Ludwig

Famous detective Hercule Poirot is called back from Istanbul to London on urgent business. He intends to book a first-class compartment on the Orient Express, run by his former friend and colleague, Monsieur Bouc. The train is surprisingly full, but Bouc manages to secure Poirot a spot in the first-class cabin. While aboard the Orient Express, Poirot meets a host of peculiar characters: an aging Russian princess, her Swedish companion, a Hungarian countess, a Minnesota housewife, a Scottish colonel, an English governess, a French conductor, a disagreeable American businessman, and his anxious secretary. While aboard the train, the angry businessman, Samuel Ratchett, corners Poirot and demands Poirot to investigate a series of ominous letters that have been sent to Ratchett, threatening his life.

As a snowdrift halts the Orient Express in its tracks, Ratchett is found stabbed multiple times in his locked train compartment. Poirot is tasked by Monsieur Bouc to solve the murder, as the killer could still be in their midst. As Poirot investigates, conflicting clues and convoluted alibis lead him to dead ends. Over the course of 48 hours, will Poirot be able to solve the case of the Murder on the Orient Express?

Rehearsals: Monday/Wednesday/Sunday evenings 6-9 pm beginning November 23rd, 2025.
Tech Rehearsals: Sunday, February 1st – Wednesday, February 4th, 2026

Performance dates include:
Thursday, February 5, 2026 @ 7:30 PM
Friday, February 6, 2026 @ 7:30 PM

Attendance is required for all tech week dates and performance dates set forth. For more information and to register to audition, contact Amanda Menard at Amanda@stadiumtheatre.com.

Stadium Theatre & Conservatory is dedicated to celebrating and cultivating a culturally diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment. We acknowledge that this process is a journey and that our commitment is essential and ongoing. Actors of all abilities, ages, ethnicities, genders, races, and sexual orientations are welcome to audition for any role that they are interested in playing.

Please be advised in order to enter the Theatre during auditions all individuals over 18 must provide a license or ID. Individuals under 18 must provide a license, school ID or parent's license. For all individuals entering the building bags will be checked by security.

Character Breakdown

Hercule Poirot - Lead Male, Non-singer

Passport from: Belgium. Occupation: Detective. 

Meticulous and exacting, Poirot is a keen observer of detail and an astute judge of character. Certain that the crime was committed by someone on the train, he confidently and patiently works his way to a shocking solution.

Monsieur Bouc - Supporting Male. Non-singer

Passport from: Belgium. Occupation: Gentleman.

A young middle-aged man of good humor, Monsieur Bouc is an old friend of Poirot’s. He appears removed from the crime, often acting as Poirot’s sounding board, but no one on the train is above suspicion.

Mary Debenham - Supporting Female, Non-singer

Passport from: England. Occupation: Governess    

An English beauty in her late twenties, Mary bears a certain sadness in her eyes. When she first appears, she is very anxious. Perhaps she is harboring a terrible secret…

Hector MacQueen - Supporting Male, Non-singer    

Passport from: The USA. Occupation: Personal secretary and translator.    

A nervous young American in his thirties with a strained, rather beleaguered face, Hector appears to be suppressing something. Perhaps he knows more than he is willing to tell.

Michel the Conductor - Supporting Male, Non-singer    

Passport from: France. Occupation: Train Conductor.    

A good-looking Frenchman, about forty, Michel has a quiet, almost grave sense of humor. He’s seen a lot in his years on the Orient Express, and he knows his way around the train, making him particularly well positioned to get away with murder.

Princess Dragomiroff - Supporting Female, Non-singer   

 Passport from: Russia. Occupation: Royalty.    

The Russian princess, now in her seventies, enters her compartment “like a galleon in full sail.” Expensively dressed and handsomely bejeweled, she certainly wouldn’t need to kill for money. But might she have another motive?

Greta Ohlsson - Supporting Female, Non-singer    

Passport from: Sweden. Occupation: Nurse and missionary.

Plain and modest, Greta has a frightened, sheep-like quality about her. There is something odd about this woman. Could she be harboring a deadly secret?

Countess Andrenyi - Supporting Female, Non-singer    

Passport from: Hungary. Occupation: Royalty.    

Countess Eléna Andrenyi is out of a fairy tale. She’s in her twenties, brilliantly beautiful and always dressed to the nines in furs and diamonds. She seems too good to be true — but is she a murderer?

Helen Hubbard - Supporting Female, Mezzo-Soprano, Alto, Soprano    

Passport from: The USA. Occupation: Widow.

An outspoken American in her fifties, well dressed with a touch of flamboyance, Mrs. Hubbard is a tough-talking broad with rough edge and a bold sense of humor. She seems the least likely to commit murder, but is there something about her the others don’t know?

Colonel Arbuthnot - Supporting Male, Non-singer    

Passport from: Scotland. Occupation: Colonel.   

A Scotsman in his mid-thirties, Arbuthnot is handsome and very matter of fact. He’s hopelessly in love with Mary. Would he kill for her?

 

Samuel Ratchett (also known as Cassetti) - Supporting Male, Non-singer    

Passport from: The USA. Occupation: Victim.    

A middle-aged American businessman, Ratchett is brusque and unforgiving, with a threatening demeanor and a whiplash of a voice. He’s made plenty of enemies… almost everyone has wished him dead. But whodunit?
 

Head Waiter - Supporting Male, Non-singer    

Passport from: Unknown Occupation: Head Waiter on the Orient Express.    

Professional in demeanor, he is knowledgeable and a bit overconfident. Mystery fans know it’s a cliché, but never rule out the possibility that The Butler Did It.