AUBURN — In mid-January, Lewiston-Auburn Community Little Theatre will present “Inspecting Carol,” a show about a financially strapped theater company staging its annual production of “A Christmas Carol” — only with a lot of problems.

The Soapbox Theater Company is in danger of losing its funding from the National Endowment for the Arts pending examination of its artistic integrity, due to poor reports in previous years. So when a really bad unemployed actor shows up at exactly the wrong moment, company members assume he is the NEA inspector and bend over backwards to accommodate his every whim, even casting him as Tiny Tim.

The cast includes Sarah Frederick as Zorah Bloch, the show’s volatile director who will go to any length to retain the grant money; Ryan Adair as the beleaguered accountant; Mitchell Clyde Thomas as Larry, an aging flower-child lead actor who portrays Scrooge in the show (though not always in English); Roger Philippon as Phil, a needy actor who portrays Bob Cratchitt; Drew Massey as Luther, a growing boy who has been playing Tiny Tim at least two years too long; Vickie Machado as MJ, the company stage manager and voice of reason; Boyd Scott as Walter Parsons, the token newest member of the company who portrays all three ghosts in the story; Alice Ruvane as Dorothy Tree-Hapgood, who portrays Mrs Cratchitt but has delusions of grandeur; Mark Hazard is her well-meaning though slightly addled husband, Sidney, who portrays the ghost of Jacob Marley; and Jason Pelletier as Wayne, a data processor who decides to “follow his bliss” and become an actor.

“Inspecting Carol” was written by Daniel Sullivan and members of the Seattle Repertory Company. CLT’s production dates are Jan. 15-17 and 21-24. For tickets, call 783-0958 or visit www.laclt.com.