Stages St. Louis Announces Casting for THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE
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Stages St. Louis has announced full casting for their season opening production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. The ensemble, comprised entirely of actors who call St. Louis home, includes multiple St. Louis Theater Circle Award winners.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a two-time Tony winner (Best Book of a Musical and Performance by a Feature Actor) and is currently enjoying a successful 20th Anniversary Off-Broadway revival at New World Stages. The beloved musical is packed with heart, wit, and unforgettable characters. Spelling Bee follows six quirky middle schoolers, played by adult actors, vying for the championship while navigating the pressures of growing up, fitting in, and finding their voices.
The cast, in alphabetical order, includes Matthew Cox (Leaf Coneybear), Christopher Hickey (Vice Principal Douglas Panch), Abigail Isom (Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre), Omega Jones (Mitch Mahoney), Alexis Kinney (Olive Ostrovsky), Bryce A. Miller (William Barfée), Michael Schimmele (Chip Tolentino), Jennifer Theby-Quinn (Rona Lisa Peretti), and Sarah Wilkinson (Marcy Park). Standby and understudies include Julie Hanson, Connor Kelly-Wright, Bradford Rolen, and Lillie Self-Miller.
Matthew Cox, Bryce A. Miller, Omega Jones, Jennifer Theby-Quinn, and Sarah Wilkinson are all past winners of St. Louis Theatre Circle Awards. Alexis Kinney is a past winner of a Kevin Kline Award, the predecessor to The St Louis Theater Circle Awards. Miller, Theby-Quinn, Wilkinson, Christopher Hickey, are all making their Stages debut.
St. Louisan and SLUH alum Michael Schimmele is joining the cast fresh off his 18-month stint as Babkak in Disney’s Aladdin on Broadway. He told Broadway World that he was excited to be returning to the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center to work with this amazing cast. Schimmele last worked with Stages St. Louis playing the Piragua Guy in their award-winning production of In the Heights.
Other returning Stages St. Louis veterans include Cox who starred in Stages productions of Ragtime and Disney’s Newsies. Kinney, who won her Kevin Kline Award for her work as Mary Lennox in The Secret Garden. Her other Stages St. Louis credits include Fredrika in A Little Night Music and Alice in Alice in Wonderland. Abigail Isom was last seen in Austen’s Pride and Steel Magnolias, and Omega Jones who played Booker T. Washington in Ragtime.
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee will be co-directed and co-choreographed by Stages Artistic Director Gayle Seay and Ron Gibbs. Seay and Gibbs, both Broadway veterans, met decades ago while playing opposite each other in a Stages St. Louis production of Crazy for You.
Michael Kaish will be making his Stages St. Louis debut as music director. Joining Kaish on the creative team is scenic designer Rachel Seabaugh, Costume Designer Cat Lovejoy, lighting designer Sean M. Savoie, sound designer Hankyu Lee, and production stage manager Monica Dickhens.
The Stages St. Louis production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee runs May 29 – June 28, 2026, in the Ross Family Theatre at the Kirkwood Performing Arts Center (KPAC). For more information, or to purchase tickets, visit stagesstlouis.org.
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