On Saturday, Aug. 21, “The Princess and the Pea” will be performed at the Whidbey Playhouse with the help of dozens of local kids. The impressive backstory: They only have this week to rehearse.

“The Princess and the Pea” is part of the Missoula Children’s Theatre’s international touring project. Missoula directors arrived on Whidbey Sunday night and held auditions Monday morning looking for about 50 talented kids to join the cast.

“We only have five days to learn an entire musical, but we can do it,” director Allison Muennick said.

Before the auditions, Muennick talked to the kids about some of the available roles like the phony princesses, the trouble-causing leprechauns and the pea.

“My personal favorite are the dust bunnies,” Muennick said. “They’re best friends with the Princess and the Pea, and they’re very cute.”

Kids of all ages showed up to the auditions which consisted of singing, dancing and line reading. Fifteen-year-old Alyssa Schiffman has acted in five plays already and was hoping to make this production her sixth.

“The Missoula Children’s Theatre has a really good reputation,” Alyssa said. “This is a good opportunity to do a play before school starts.”

Other hopefuls, like 11-year-old Bree Daigneault, went to the audition simply looking for fun.

“I really like acting,” Bree said. “I want to play someone in power like a queen.”

Whidbey Playhouse coordinator Mary Kay Hallen helped organize Monday’s auditions and was excited to see how enthusiastic the children were.

“I always like to have something for the children to do in the summer,” Hallen said. “I’ve been looking forward to this since April.”

There will be two shows on Saturday, one at 3 p.m. and one at 5:30 p.m. Tickets are available at the Whidbey Playhouse located at 730 SE Midway Blvd. in Oak Harbor.