Winner of two Tony Awards®! This hilarious, heartwarming musical follows six quirky kids in a high-stakes spelling bee, revealing relatable stories of pressure, identity, and grouwing up – complete with catchy songs, witty lyrics, and lovable characters.
Cast
Chip Tolentino: Silas Thormo
Logainne Schwartzandgrubenniere: Summer del Valle
Leaf Coneybear: Matthew Crawford
William Barfee: Dylan Ramon
Marcy Park: Emily Kelly
Olive Ostrovsky: Delaney Lockwood
Rona Lisa Perretti: Hannah Rose Randi
Vice Principal Douglas Panch: Fiona Villalba
Mitch Mahoney: Tan Selby
Standby: Juliette Maglio
Getting Here
Pinkerton Theatre
At Venice Theatre
140 Tampa Ave. W.
Venice, FL 34285
Directions
Located inside our main building on the west side. Seating is general admission, however “Golden Ticket” subscribers have reserved seats as a subscriber benefit.
Brad Wages
Director/Choreographer
An award-winning actor, director and choreographer, Brad’s work has been seen across the United States and Canada. He holds a B.F.A. from the University of Oklahoma and served as assistant director to Broadway directors Fran Soeder and Joe Layton. He has been seen in a number of national theatre tours and national commercials. He is thrilled to call Venice Theatre “home” and to have the privilege of guiding the next generation of young actors to the stage.
Michelle Kasanofsky
Music Director
Michelle Kasanofsky has been playing piano for almost 56 years and is a professional musician as well as a music educator. Michelle received a scholarship to Berklee College of Music in Boston and studied jazz piano there as well as classical at Boston University. She has a B.A. cum laude from Dowling College, a Master of Science in Music Education from C. W. Post Long Island University and an Education Leadership Specialist degree from Nova Southeastern University.
Michelle is originally from New York and spent most of her life on Long Island. While in New York she music directed many off-Broadway productions which included Always, Patsy Cline and has performed all over the world in Europe, Japan and Korea. Since moving down to Florida in 1998, Michelle has taught chorus, drama and dual enrollment music classes. In 2014, she was selected as Charlotte County’s Teacher of the Year. Since 2000 Michelle has performed and music directed at Venice Theatre. Her productions have included Hair, Mamma Mia, Cabaret, Toxic Avenger and Dreamgirls to name a few. She has also Music Directed at Sarasota Players, Manatee Players, Charlotte Players and the Dingbat Theatre Project.
Michelle has played for national touring companies at venues such as Barbara B Mann and Ruth Eckerd Hall for shows including A Chorus Line, Legally Blonde and West Side Story as well as accompanying artists such as Bernadette Peters and The Irish Tenors. In 2021 Michelle became the resident music director at Venice Theatre.
Sponsors
