Trailblazer Theatre Company Presents, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee”

The Tony Award winning musical will be performed at the Lamar Community College, Large Lecture Hall in the Bowman Building at 7pm, Friday, April 5^th and a Saturday matinee at 2pm the following afternoon.

Jessica Medina, the show’s producer, said the play is a family-friendly production that recaps the events surrounding a spelling bee for a group of middle school children set to music. “We are using some high school students and adults in the production and the musical sets will be geared to their performance.  We think this is going to be a lot of fun and entertaining and there’s going to be some audience participation in the event where they interact with the actors on stage,” she explained.  “The director, David Frankel, decided to allow those audience members to ad-lib when it comes their turn to spell a word directed at them, but there may be some switches made as well.”

The play provides each of the students a backstory on their past and their motivations to succeed in the Bee, set before the audience. “We have an amazing cast and they’re a different group from our first performance which shows there’s a growing interest in the Trailblazer Company, “she said.

The theatrical group, which began last year, originated with support from the Lamar Library. Medina said the production committee will review potential works, weighing the cost, number of actors who would be involved, costuming and props and once a decision has been made, auditions are held and the work starts on a new production.  She added that plans are underway for a children’s theater group with expectations for the company to put on a summer event followed be a new one for the fall.

Tickets are available at the Lamar Library for $8 for adults and kids 12 and under at $6. Medina added the Theatre can be followed on facebook and their Instagram site.

By Russ Baldwin