George Street Playhouse Announces Cast and Creative Team For THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE, Directed By Colin Hanlon

George Street Playhouse (GSP) has announced its spring musical comedy event-- the Broadway/Off-Broadway hit The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee. Performances of this fresh and newly conceived production begin March 14th and continue through April 9th at the Arthur Laurents Theater at the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center. Tickets are now on sale.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is directed by Colin Hanlon, with book by Rachel Sheinkin with additional material by Jay Reiss and features music and lyrics by Tony Award winner William Finn. Musical Direction is by Mat Eisenstein and choreography by Nancy Renee Braun.

This charming musical comedy tells the tale of six middle school "misfits" in Putnam County, New York finding themselves through one of the most competitive and brave journeys adolescents can embark on - a Spelling Bee! this Tony Award-winning timeless and hilarious story about self-discovery proves that W-I-N-N-I-N-G (and losing) isn't everything. "We are thrilled to welcome back GSP favorite Colin Hanlon for the sixth time!" said David Saint, Artistic Director, George Street Playhouse. "He and his sensational cast will surely spell a laugh filled show for us all."

The cast for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling features: Ally Bonino (Rona Lisa Peretti),: OFF BROADWAY Suffs - The Public Theater, Jordan Matthew Brown (William Barfee), BROADWAY: The Book of Mormon, Lila Coogan (Olive Ostrovsky) BROADWAY: Mary Poppins, Coleman Steele Cummings (Chip Tolentino), Angel Lin (Logainne Schwartzandgrubeniere) OFF BROADWAY Memorial, Sammy Pignalosa(Leaf Coneybear), Aaron Michael Ray (Mitch Mahoney) Off-Broadway: The Low Road (The Public Theater) Spamilton, Kilty Reidy (Douglas Panch), Sumi Yu (Marcy Park) Off-Broadway: Greater Clements at Lincoln Center Theater, Izzy Figueroa (Understudy) and Gillian Hassert (Understudy).

Design and Production team features: Lindsay Chambers (Assistant Director), Jason Simms (Scenic Designer), Lisa Zinni (Costume Designer), Joe Saint (Lighting Designer), Cody Spencer (Sound Designer), Samantha Flint (Production Stage Manager) and Casting by McCorkle Casting.

Biographies:

Colin Hanlon (Director) - Colin Hanlon co-directed It's Only a Play last season at George Street Playhouse. Broadway: Falsettos, Rent, Wicked (First National Tour) and In Transit. Off-Broadway: NYC premier of Dot by Colman Domingo (Vineyard Theater, dir. Susan Stroman) and A.R. Gurney's last play Final Follies (Cherry Lane, dir. David Saint) and I Love You Because (original cast). Regional: George Street Playhouse (Tick, Tick, Boom!, The Last Five Years, Falsettos, The Nerd), Four Seasons at NYS&F, The O'Neill and Next Fall (regional premiere Repertory Theatre of St. Louis). TV/Film: Submissions Only (Producer and star), Modern Family, Difficult People, The Sinner, The Good Fight and currently Uncoupled on Netflix. He's the head of Tv/Film at IAMT in New York City and is an Adjunct Professor at NYU Drama @ColinHanlon

Nancy Renee Braun (Choreographer) - Nancy Renee Braun is a NY based choreographer, working on Broadway and in TV/film. She is the resident choreographer for Moulin Rouge The Musical on Broadway and the associate choreographer for Beetlejuice. Other favorite theatre credits include The Robber Bridegroom (Roundabout Theatre), Beauty and the Beast, Tangled (Disney Cruise Lines), and Elf (Broadway National Tour). Nancy also works frequently in choreography for film/TV, favorites including "The Gilded Age", "Succession", "Westworld" (HBO) "Dead to Me", "Maniac", "The Week Of" (Netflix), "Blue Bloods", "Limitless", "Bull" (CBS), and "Rebel In The Rye" (IFC). Nancy attended Northwestern University, and upon graduation made her Broadway debut as an actor in Patti LuPone's Gypsy on Broadway.

Mat Eisenstein (Musical Director) - Broadway (Conductor): Frozen, Spelling Bee, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Something Rotten, Newsies, Book of Mormon, Elf, Promises Promises, Next to Normal, Bye Bye Birdie, 13, Fiddler, Ave. Q, 42nd St. & Les Miserables and has played Keyboards in over 50 Broadway pit orchestras including Aladdin, Charlie & the Chocolate Factory, , Company (2021), Into the Woods (2022), Legally Blonde, Les Mis (Original and 2006), The Lion King, Mamma Mia, Mary Poppins, Matilda, MJ The Musical. Off-Broadway: I Love You, You're Perfect, Little Miss Sunshine. Performances: Today Show, Jimmy Fallon, The View, Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Birdland, 54 Below, Joe's Pub, Town Hall. Recordings: 6 Cast albums & an original solo piano album, Surroundings. Press Opening: March 17th at 8:00 pm

Tickets begin at $25 and are now on sale. For subscriptions and group discount information visit www.GeorgeStreetPlayhouse.org or call 732-246-7717.

About George Street Playhouse

Under the leadership of Artistic Director David Saint since 1997, the Playhouse produces groundbreaking new works, inspiring productions of the classics, and hit Broadway plays and musicals that speak to the heart and mind, with an unwavering commitment to producing new work. As New Brunswick's first producing theatre, George Street Playhouse became the cornerstone of the revitalization of the City's arts and cultural landscape. With its 47-year history of producing nationally renowned theatre, the Playhouse continues to fill a unique theatre and arts education role in the city, state and greater metropolitan region.

Beginning with the 2019-20 Season, George Street Playhouse moved to the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center in downtown New Brunswick. Featuring two state-of-the-art theatres -- The Arthur Laurents Theater with 253 seats and The Elizabeth Ross Johnson Theater which seats 465-- and myriad amenities, the New Brunswick Performing Arts Center marks a new era in the esteemed history of George Street Playhouse.

Founded by Eric Krebs, George Street Playhouse, originally located in an abandoned supermarket on the corner of George and Albany Streets, was the first professional theatre in New Brunswick. In 1984, the Playhouse moved to a renovated YMCA on Livingston Avenue, and in 2017 took temporary residence in the former Agricultural Museum at Rutgers University during construction of its new home.

The Playhouse has been well represented by numerous productions both on and off-Broadway. In 2018, George Street Playhouse was represented on Broadway with Gettin' the Band Back Together which premiered on the Playhouse mainstage in 2013. American Son, produced by George Street Playhouse in 2017, opened on Broadway in 2018 starring Kerry Washington and Stephen Pasquale, and appeared on Netflix in 2019. Other productions include the Outer Critics' Circle Best Musical Award-winner The Toxic Avenger. In 2015, It Shoulda Been You opened on Broadway and Joe DiPietro's Clever Little Lies opened off-Broadway. Both shows received their premieres at the Playhouse. Others include the Outer Critics Circle, Drama Desk and Drama League nominated production of The Spitfire Grill; and the Broadway hit and Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning play Proof by David Auburn, which was developed at the Playhouse during the 1999 Next Stage Series of new plays.

George Street Playhouse programming is made possible in part by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a partner agency of the National Endowment for the Arts. Grant funding has been provided by the Middlesex County Board of Chosen Commissioners through a grant award from the Middlesex County Cultural and Arts Trust Fund.