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Kelli Ferre

Ryan Dunn (12) plays the part of a child in "The 25th Annual Putnam Spelling Bee" at Perry High School. Dunn has a fun time acting during dress rehearsal to get ready for the big show. Photo by Kelli Ferré

Putnam is the gift that keeps on giving. From Superior overall at Central Arizona Festival for Thespians, Superior with distinction at state and one acts, Putnam keeps stealing the stage and winning awards; but it’s not done giving just yet.
Cast members of the “25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” senior Ryan Dunn was the male nominee and junior Rhea Johnston was the female nominee for the Outstanding Lead Actors at the Gammage Musical Theatre Awards. This is a huge honor to be nominated, since only one male lead and one female lead is nominated from each school that was judged.
“It is just a validation of all the hard work that as a whole we’ve put in. For me, I just know it would be like a really big honor to win,” Johnston said. Johnston plays the host of the spelling bee, Rona Lisa Perreti.
“[The nomination] feels really official; like ‘You did good Ryan, you did well,’” Dunn said. “It’s an affirmation that I really did do well.” Dunn plays the role of Leaf Coneybear, a speller in the spelling bee.
However, there can only be one winner. Even though there is one male and one female nominee from each school, there is only one grand prize winner. “Whoever wins gets a week and a half all expense paid trip to New York to work with Broadway actors and directors and other top students from around the country,” Theatre and Perry Theatre Company teacher Shawna Marquis shared.
Marquis submitted the leads names to the judges, and then the judges came out to the show when it was performed the first time, and “they score everybody and then the top scorers receive the nomination.”
The Putnam cast was invited to showcase their musical at the Gammage Musical Theatre Awards. “We’re very excited [to be able to perform at Gammage],” Dunn said. “This is our first year we’ve even tried to be in it because we had to pay for judges to come out and adjudicate it. I think we’re curious as to what it’s going to be like.”
This is an exciting experience for the cast as it will be the first time they have performed on this stage. “I think it’s going to be a good experience for us because so many professionals have performed on that stage and so to get to perform on the same stage as like Idina Menzel and so many [other] Broadway professionals,” Johnston added. The cast is very excited to be able to showcase their musical through a three minute medley at the Awards.
Since there are so many schools showcasing at the Awards, the cast is only doing a blend of three songs from the show, “because we want to be able to showcase as many different things about the show as possible and there are a lot of solo songs and we’re trying to get as many group songs but also showcase the ability of our talented kids,” Dunn explained.