It is the first time the two organisations have partnered in this way to promote a show in Oamaru and the first time an MTO theatre restaurant will be staged at the Opera House, with both performance and diners on stage.
A name change from Oamaru Operatic Society to Musical Theatre Oamaru was approved at a special meeting in March in a bid to engage a new generation of theatre performers and patrons, MTO president Dan Lewis said.
He said that while remembering the history of musical theatre in Oamaru, it was important to embrace the future and be relevant to new audiences.
Auditions will be held at the weekend for the comedy-based musical play, which portrays the adventures faced by a group of woman who, having been sacked from the church choir, decide to hire themselves out as a singing group.
Advertising themselves as ''Ladies for Hire'', they soon find themselves caught up in a variety of adventures - a long way from the safety of the church choir.
Working with the Opera House on a theatre restaurant, which would traditionally have been held at the Scottish Hall, brought diversity to what the society did, Mr Lewis said.
''With the Opera House being our home venue, we're delighted to be exploring new ways of using it,'' he said.
It was important for MTO to consistently produce theatre restaurants and major productions to keep the town engaged and interested. Ladies for Hire, a small-scale show written by New Zealand actress Alison Quigan, would highlight the ''outstanding'' female talent in Oamaru.
Mr Lewis said MTO had a ''wealth of experience of theatre on our side'', and had hired Megan Peacock-Coyle to direct the 2014 musical play.
Also the director of the Oamaru Opera House, Ms Peacock-Coyle is very experienced in lighting design and production and has a master of theatre arts in directing from Toi Whakaari, New Zealand Drama School.
She was looking forward to selecting a cast and getting them to gel.
''There's no 'I's, there's no stars. Everybody's working together,'' she said.
As with any theatre, the real drawcard was talent and Oamaru was not short of that, Mr Lewis said.
Mr Lewis explained that Ladies for Hire would be a non-professional production, and many of the cast would be likely to have full-time jobs outside the show. However, the production should not be considered ''amateur'', he said.
Ladies for Hire will be staged as a theatre restaurant for six shows between October 30 and November 8.
MTO is looking for a cast of five women (the choir) and two men (non-singing parts) to be part of the production.
