25th Annual Putnam County
Spelling Bee
Wednesday
June 22 through Saturday
, July 2nd
The
adult one-act musical comedy The 25th Annual Putnam County
Spelling Bee
appears on the
Red Barn Theatre stage at 7:30 p.m. nightly with no performance on Sunday June
26th. Reservations for
the $16 ticket price can be secured by telephoning 715-234-8301 or
1-888-686-3770.
You will meet six quirky adolescents and three equally quirky adults at the
Putnam County middle school. The
Bee’s long-time hostess and former champion Rona Lisa Peretti’s character
comes to life by Mary Helen Rankins of Rice Lake.
Vice Principal Douglas Panch played by Don Ruedy of
Sarona is the
official word pronouncer. Eric
Kringle of Rice Lake takes on the role of the Official Comfort Counselor, an
ex-con serving his community service, Mitch Mahoney.
The contestants are: Olive
Ostrovsky, whose good friend is a dictionary, played by Dolly Neby of Chetek.
William Barfee, a finalist from last year using his “magic Feet’
method is characterized by Nick Sirek of Eau Claire.
Nicky Rogers of Barron portrays neat freak, lisp speaking Logainne
Schwartzandgrubenierre. The
overachieving speaker of six languages Marcy Park is brought to life by Jaimie
Arnold of Barron. Leaf Coneybear of
a family of hippies who makes his own clothes is played by Dave Mickelson of
Chetek. Rounding out the contestants
is Barron cast member Lorin
Divine’s portrayal of Chip Tolentino, the Life Boy Scout
and winner of the 24th Annual Spelling Bee.
The 22 musical numbers bring the story to life due to the teamwork of Dale
Skerhutt and Carol Kelm. Both are
veterans to the Red Barn Musical Theatre.
Dale is the Director with Carol the Musical Director, Choreographer and Keyboard
player. They have worked together in
2009 with Mid-Life the Crisis
Musical, and
numerous other high school and area productions.
Casey Palbicki
