NEWCASTLE — Heartwood Regional Theater Company will hold auditions for the premiere production of “The Legend of Jim Cullen” from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday.

“This full length play with music tells the story of the only lynching to happen in New England, in the spring of 1873 in Mapleton, Aroostook County, Maine,” a Heartwood release states. “The production demands strong acting and storytelling skills, theater spectacle, dance/movement, film, and a live musical landscape mixing traditional, new folk and modern synthetic music.”

Director Griff Braley seeks actors capable of simple dialects of the period, strong vocal and instrumental abilities ( not required for all roles), and basic dance.

Non- union and Equity actors will be considered. All actors receive basic travel stipends. The company also will work with professionals who require additional remuneration, due to distance or collaborative abilities.

Auditions, as well as performances, will take place in the Poe Theater at Lincoln Academy. Those auditioning should arrive by noon. Reading samples and a simple folk song will be provided.

Actors may perform monologues or sing a prepared 16- bar song in a folk style (not required).

A public reading of script excerpts will be held at 7 p.m. today at the Poe Theater. Actors are strongly encouraged to participate, if possible, in preparation for auditions.

Production start dates are mid- May for reading and analysis. Staging will commence by June 1. Performance dates are July 27 to Aug. 5

For more information, check the website www.heartwoodtheater.org/2012-springauditions or email Braley at braley@lincolnacademy.org.