Evan Albright (Panche) 

Evan is thrilled to return to the SALT stage for his tenth show! His acting highlights include The Rocky Horror Show (Brad Majors) at Footlighters Theater, as well as SALT's productions of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella (Sebastian), You're A Good Man Charlie Brown (Schroeder), Big Fish (Don Price), and Jekyll & Hyde (General Lord Glossop). He is beyond excited to be at the Bee with such a phenomenally talented group of friends, both old and new! Evan would like to thank his mother, Anne, and his sister, Lindsay for their constant support both on stage and off. In honor of his character, Doug Panche, Evan would like to dedicate his performance to his late father, Doug, who was the person who fostered his love of music and theater from the very beginning.

 

Shannon Briding Price (Ensemble)

Shannon is thrilled to be back on the SALT stage as part of this truly incredible cast! As she was the first speller eliminated in the New Castle County Spelling Bee in 1986, she will not spell any words in this production. Past SALT credits include Big Fish (Mayor/ensemble), High School Musical (Susan), Singin’ in the Rain (Dora Bailey), and Matilda the Musical (Mrs. Phelps). You can also catch Shannon performing with the improv group, Comedy On Demand. Many thanks to Lauren, Sara, Andy, and Sandi for this opportunity. Enjoy the show!

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Stephen Fisher (Chip)

Stephen is thankful to be making his SALT West Chester Stage debut! Spelling Bee and playing Chip have been on his bucket list of shows/ roles and he is honored to check that off at his home theatre. His favorite credits include High School Musical, (Troy) Matilda, (Trunchbull) Cinderella, (Madame) Legally Blonde, (Emmett) Rent, (Mark) Beauty and the Beast, (Lefou) Newsies, (Finch), Theory of Relativity (Footprint). He would like to thank the incredible production staff of Lauren, Sara, Sandi, Andy, Shuryl, Katy, Anton, Jen, and Laurey for allowing us all to play and be kids again... on stage and for putting up with this incredibly hilarious cast of characters. Special love to Austin, family, SALT family, and friends for always supporting him. 

Candace Deede (Ensemble)

Candace is thrilled to be making her SALT debut and returning to musical theater after an embarrassingly long hiatus! Some of her past favorite roles include West Side Story (Maria), The Secret Garden (Martha), Peter Pan (Wendy Darling), The Wizard of Oz (Dorothy Gale), Fame (Serena), and Once Upon a Mattress (Lady Larken). She has also sung with Broad Street Beat, a Philadelphia-based semi-professional a cappella group, and the Philly Pops Festival Chorus. Her most recent role that she is most proud of is Mom to her three amazing kids, so it is only fitting that she plays a mom in this show. She dedicates her performance to them (I love everything about you, babes), and to her husband, Rich, without whom her dream of performing on stage again could not have been made possible.

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Alicia Huppman (Mitch Mahoney) 

Alicia has been singing and performing in community theater for years and is a former spelling bee contestant (the Bulletin’s regional bee, 7th place, spelled “cattery” incorrectly, thought it was a trick word). She’s T-H-R-I-L-L-E-D to be back at SALT.

Past productions include revues Smokey Joe's Cafe, Beehive the 60's Musical, The World Goes Round, and musicals Little Shop of Horrors (Mrs. Mushnik), Footloose (Vi Moore), Mamma Mia (Rosie), Into the Woods (various), Titanic (Alice Beane) and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Narrator) and Willy Wonka (Director) at SALT; Sweeney Todd (Mrs. Lovett), The Little Mermaid (Ursula) and Disenchanted (Snow White) at Steel River Playhouse; Disaster! (Sister Mary Downey), Anything Goes (Reno) and Sweeney Todd (Mrs. Lovett) at Footlighters, Fun Home (Helen), All Shook Up (Sylvia), Gypsy (Rose), The Drowsy Chaperone (The Chaperone), The Great American Trailer Park Musical (Lin) at Barley Sheaf; and six productions of Nunsense including one here at SALT, plus singing in and producing many cabarets, fundraisers and special events. Thanks to family and friends for your support of the arts!

Bailey Knipe (Logainne SchwartzandGrubenierre)

Bailey is crazy excited to be involved in this show! She was last seen at SALT as Kristine in A Chorus Line. Some other favorite roles include All Shook Up (Sandra), Jekyll and Hyde (Lucy's Girl), Anything Goes (Virtue), Gypsy (Agnes), and Seussical (Mayzie). She'd like to thank the production team for giving her this opportunity and for providing a space for her and her fellow castmates to tap into their inner child. She'd also like to thank her family and friends for their support and love. Enjoy the pandemonium!

 

Emily Peterson Merow (Olive)

Emily is so grateful to be performing alongside this wonderful cast in her 11th SALT show! SALT performance credits include Mary Poppins (Miss Andrew, Bird Woman), Shrek the Musical (Gingerbread Man), Matilda (Miss Honey), The Secret Garden (Lily), and CATS (Grizabella). SALT Music Director credits include Singing in the Rain, Frozen Jr., Evita, and Finding Nemo Jr.  Along with performing on stage, Emily enjoys leading worship at Mission Community Church, teaching private voice and piano lessons, and watching Star Trek with her magical husband. Special thanks to Sara, Andy, Sandi, Sheryl, and the whole crew for making this process exciting, joyful, and freeing! Thank you to all Merows, Petersons, Clarks, and Websters for your love, support, food, and babysitting. Our little family could not function without you! Emily dedicates this performance to her daughter Faye: My sweet girl, may you always know without a doubt that your Daddy and I love you endlessly. To Jesus (the real one!), thank You for it all.

 

Shannon Murray (Marcy Park) 

Shannon is thrilled to be performing on the SALT stage once more in this hilarious show. She is so happy that actual spelling abilities were not part of the audition process for this role, and glad that she was cast despite actually only being able to speak 3 languages... Most recent acting credits include A Chorus Line (Bebe), Cinderella (Stepsister Gabrielle), and Seussical the Musical (Bird Girl). She has also worked behind the scenes as a stage manager for several productions at SALT as well as directing Stagelight summer camps. Outside of SALT, Shannon teaches K-5 students at Lionville Elementary as a school librarian and directs/choreographs the musicals put on by their drama club for 4th and 5th-grade students most recently putting on Zombies! The Musical at the beginning of March. Shannon would like to thank this amazing cast and crew for such a playful and fun rehearsal process, and she hopes the audience will let their silly side out and play along.

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Mekhi Postell (Leaf)

Mekhi is SUPER thrilled to be in his first-ever SALT Performing Arts production! Some of his previous roles include Radnor High School’s production of Footloose (Chuck Cranston), James and the Giant Peach Jr. (Grasshopper), and Memphis (Ensemble) at Upper Darby Summerstage. Mekhi will be studying at Temple University next year with a double major in Theater and Advertising and would like to take this time to thank his mom, grandmother, director, Sara Helmers, and his wonderful cast and crew for giving him this amazing and extraordinary opportunity. 

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Elyck Walters (Olive's Dad/ Leaf's Dad/ Ensemble)

Ely is a 21-year-old performing artist hailing from Tampa, Florida, with family roots in Chester County. Spending years developing his Performing Arts with various conservatories from Florida to New York, he is proficient in musical theater, theater choreography, improv, and voice. On stage, Ely has featured in over a dozen plays including Godspell as Jesus, Aladdin as Genie, and one of his favorites, as Joseph in Joseph and the Technicolor Dreamcoat. Off stage, Ely remains a humble servant of his community co-operating with various non-profits feeding and performing to the homeless in Philadelphia, serving as a Youth Edu. Camp Leader, or infamous Dungeon Master among the masses. Ely aims to bring joy to hearts and smiles to faces through his gifts; further enthralled to perform with SALT Theater this season.

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Janine Weiss (Rona Lisa Peretti)

Janine is excited to be a part of this amazing cast in her debut performance with SALT. Favorite roles include Guys and Dolls (Sarah Brown), Avenue Q (Kate Monster), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Millie), Drowsy Chaperone (Janet Van de Graff), High Spirits (Elvira), and Sound of Music (Maria). In real life, she spends her days singing as a middle-school choral director and enthusiastic mom of three. She graciously thanks her adoring husband for always encouraging her to chase her passion and continuing to conquer bedtime with her favorite munchkins during the past several months of rehearsals. To the cast and crew of Bee: Thank you for sharing your talent and friendship. That’s my favorite moment of the Bee….

 

Daniel K. Williams (William Barfée)

Daniel is thrilled to be back on stage at SALT having previously been seen as The Dentist in Little Shop of Horrors. He has performed in numerous productions in the Greater Philadelphia Area including How to Succeed…(J.B. Biggley), James and the Giant Peach (Aunt Sponge), Joseph… (Jacob/Potifar), and Trial by Jury (The Judge, Defendant, and Counsel). Also an accomplished director, Daniel has helmed local productions of You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown,  Assassins, and The SpongeBob Musical for Footlighters; Nunsense, Company, Into the Woods, John & Jen, Spelling Bee, and Chess for Bravo Theatre Company; as well as Jekyll & Hyde and Seussical for SALT. Daniel will also be directing Anything Goes and Beauty & the Beast at SALT later this season. (he/him)