Spelling bee takes to the stage at the Performing Arts Centre - opens tonight for a two week run

artsorange 100x100By Pepper Parr

July 14th, 2016

BURLINGTON, ON

It’s the day the actors take to the stage – and if they aren’t ready now – they will never be ready.

Spelling Bee sign

A tried and true comedy put on by a production company with significant depth and experience.

The KooGle Theatre Company is mounting their second major piece of summer theatre at the Performing Art Centre – this time if you’re in the audience and you think you are a good speller – you will be invited to leave your seat and join the actors and actresses on the stage in the Community Studio. You will be taking part in a production of  The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

The first KooGle production was I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, a musical comedy that was the second-longest running Off Broadway musical.

The ‘Spelling Bee’, a long one-act musical comedy, centers on a fictional spelling bee set in a geographically ambiguous Putnam Valley Middle School. Six quirky adolescents compete in the Bee, run by three equally quirky grown-ups.

Christopher Gray, half of the KooGle artistic team plays the part of the school vice principal – he grew a mustache for the play which runs from July 14th to 16th and July 21st to 23rd at 7:30 pm in the Community Theatre.

The play also runs from July 17th to 24th at 2:00 pm

Joint artistic directors Leslie Kay and Christopher Grey met on a stage and have made the stage the passion in their life. When talking one will glance at the other and be able to complete the sentence.

Leslie Kay Koogle

Leslie Kay

Leslie Kay was born and raised in Burlington and has been singing and dancing through life since she was a little girl. She loved to belt out songs from Annie and A Chorus Line to her mom’s records and put on shows for her family and neighbours. She enrolled in dance classes when she was 10 and auditioned for her first musical (The King and I) at age 13 with the encouragement of her Grandpa Walker (George) who played the bass fiddle in the orchestra at Hamilton Theatre Inc.

Christopher Alan Gray grew up in Chatham, Ontario and began singing at a very young age in his church choir. He then began studying voice and competed in the Kiwanis Music Festival for many years before receiving his Grade 8 Level Singing from the Royal Conservatory of Music.

Christopher studied action at Ryerson Theatre School where he received his Honours BFA and worked with many of the greats.

He spent a period of time at Stratford as well.

Leslie runs the company on a day to day basis while Christopher works in client relationship for one of the major banks.

Christopher Gray - Koogle

Christopher Alan Gray

He has co-produced, co-written and performed in KooGle’s first four productions – Couple of Swells: A Movie Musical Revue, Rock Around the Clock, Let the Sun Shine, and Broadway Moments.

Most recently, KooGle teamed with Symphony on the Bay to present An Afternoon of Rodgers and Hammerstein on the main stage of The Burlington Performing Arts Centre. This sold out show was conducted by Denis Mastromonaco and featured not only the incredible sound of the 50 piece Symphony on the Bay but also fifteen local singers who joined Christopher and Leslie.

The name of the company was created to celebrate and remember Leslie’s sister who assed away very young. “There was a game we used to play that we called “koogling” – it seemed fitting to use that word as the name for the theatre company.

Leslie and Christopher at Koogle

Leslie Kay and Christoper Grey – the KooGle Theatre Company.

Leslie and Christopher always seem to be on the go while raising two boys – six and nine and coming with new ideas it improve commercial theatre in Burlington.

Leslie has done some dance outreach with the Performing Arts Centre,

The I love you you’re perfect…” production was basically a sold out event in Burlington that went on to be remounted as a co-production with Angelwalk Theatre in Toronto at The Toronto Centre for the Arts.

These two have their own on stage experience and have developed the skills to mount larger production. The Spelling Bee is an Actor’s Equity production with a large cast.

The Performing Arts Centre is a “road house” operation that brings in shows from whatever is available. They don’t do productions of their own – but Leslie and Christopher are doing something to fill part of that gap.

It will be interesting to watch how Burlington takes to productions of this quality that deserve the Main Stage – it’s all a matter of growing the audience and that is something the KooGle Theatre Company is certainly doing.

The Community Studio is a General Admission House and all you need to do is enter the number of seats you want if you are ordering on line.

There are already several sold out nights.

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