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Brandon Bergren, playing William Barfee, uses what the contestants call his magic foot to spell a word Tuesday in The Little Theatre in Montana State University-Northern's Cowan Hall during a rehearsal of the Montana Actors' Theatre production of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee." The play, which opens Thursday in The Little Theatre, shows the ups and downs of a spelling bee with both serious and comedic acting.
Havre Daily News Staff
In the midst of holding KidsMAT children acting camps, the interns putting on the Montana Actors' Theatre summer productions are bringing a story about a county spelling bee from Broadway to Havre.
One of the directing interns, Vinnessa Lundstrom, praised both the show, "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," and the cast and crew.
"This is an amazing show that this cast has worked so hard on," she said. "Not only is it really funny, but it can also be very serious. This show is all about showing what's going on inside the minds of middle school-aged children as they undergo these difficult changes in their lives."
She added that the play might not be appropriate for small children, likening it to a PG-13 movie rating.
Lundstrom, a Chinook native and Montana State University-Northern student, joined fellow MAT veterans Amanda Viall of Havre, also a Northern student, and Havreite Amanda Dolph, who is attending college in Oklahoma, and Carroll College student Savannah Christiansen, who is from Nevada, as MAT's interns this year, putting on the troupe's KidsMAT camps and the youth theater play that opens Thursday and runs through Saturday this week and Thursday through Saturday next week, Aug. 3-5.
In the play, which has appeared on Broadway and was nominated for six Tony Awards and won two, quirky middle school students compete in a spelling bee run by equally quirky adults.
MAT Artistic Director Jay Pyette praised the interns for their work.
"These four girls have directed this entire show while also running the KidsMAT camps across the Hi-Line," he said.
The show itself is cast entirely of youths, from middle school-age up, and uses a live orchestra - "again, directed by one of the interns and composed entirely of youth," he said.
The cast and crew includes Hannah Bricker as Rona Lisa Peretti, Olive's Mom; Clayton Twombly as Vice Principal Douglas Panch; Trevor Bulkley as Mitch Mahoney / Dan Schwartz / Olive's Dad; Allie Messinger as Olive Ostrovsky; Brandon Bergren as William Barfée; Audrina Williams as Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre; Katelyn Maloughney as Marcy Park; Ethan Davison as Leaf Coneybear; Caroline Tuss as Chip Tolentino; Brandon Matte as Carl Grubenierre; Grace Crantz as Leaf's Dad; Rory Everingham as Leaf's Mom; and Nevaeh Phillips as Brooke Coneybear
Amanda Viall conducts the orchestra, comprising Sharon Dolph, John Dolph, Dever Everingham, Trenton Perrotte, Rory Everingham, Mina Everingham and Jennifer Chapman.
Joining artistic director Lundstrom and vocal director Dolph on the crews are Savannah Christiansen, Oriah Williams, Brandon Bergren, Ben Dolph, Ravyn Hoffman, Bill Dolph, Hannah Bricker and Rob Everingham.
Tickets for the play, which are $12 for adults and $8 for students, seniors and military, are available at Computer Center, Bear Paw Meats, fiveheads, or Greytak Realty in Chinook and online at http://www.mtactors.com.
The play opens at 8 each night with the doors and the backstage lounge opening at 7:30 p.m.
The KidsMAT theater camps resume after the play, with a week in Havre Aug. 7-10 and then going to Hays/Lodge Pole Aug. 14-17.
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