25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee Coming to Keegan

From Jana Petersen

Can you spell F.I.N.A.L.L.Y.? Starting June 4 (for a limited five-week season), the Keegan Theater at Church Street will be running the 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, a six-time nominated Tony Award winning musical.

Directed by Keegan’s Cristina Coakley, Elisa Rosman and Melissa Douglas Bustamante, the musical is the story of five Putnam County kids vying for 1st place, bragging rights, and ultimately a trip to the National Spelling Bee competition. (Overalls, braces, frizzy hair, and tattoo chokers are not part of the admission fee.)

Venus in Fur opened at the the Studio Theater on May 25 and is a David Ives adaptation of Leopold von Sacher-Masoch’s 1870s novella. The play is the story of a seemingly eager-to-please woman who is able to manipulate her casting director to take her audition though she is late, and ultimately batter that casting director into submission.

Venus in Fur not only inverts the stereotypical gender roles and dispositions in a relationship, man versus woman, but also, beyond gender, flips the roles of two character types, director versus actress — an outcome that Ives says, “would delight any actor.” Buy your tickets here.

Find out what is going on at other theaters in the area below the fold:

Keegan Theatre at Church Street 1742 Church Street NW Washington, DC 202.892.0202	25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee opens June 4 through July 3.$40 general admission / $35 students and seniors
Lincoln Theatre 1215 U Street NW Washington, DC 202.328.6000	Next performance, An Evening with Spike Lee, is June 4. Tickets are $28.50.
Source 1835 14th Street NW Washington, DC 202.204.7800	The Green Bird runs through June 4, a production of the Constellation Theatre Company. Ticket prices: $23-30
Studio Theatre 1501 14th Street NW Washington, DC 202.332.3300	Venus in Fur opened May 25.
Theater J 1529 16th St. NW Washington, DC 202.518.9400	The Moscows of Nantucket runs through June 12. Wednesdays and Thursdays at 7:30 pm; Saturdays at 8 pm; and Sundays at 3 and 7:30 pm.