The Thurmont Thespians will be mounting their own production for the spring offering to the community of Thurmont this year for the first time. Thirteen youngsters will bring Charles Shultz’s Peanuts gang to life at the Thurmont American Legion March 30th through April 2nd. Many of the cast have been seen in the summer program in the teen productions but this is their first time doing a full production in our regular season.

Ben Flanick of Keymar will be portraying the title role of Charlie Brown with Becca Richards of Thurmont doing the queen of crabbiness, Lucy. Lindsay Puvel of Thurmont is portraying Sally Brown with Sean Collins of Frederick holding the Linus’ blanket. Schroeder playing the Moonlight Sonata will be Trevor Flanick of Keymar and Patty will be portrayed by Lilah Moss of Frederick. Snoopy and Woodstock will be played by Becky Sees of Frederick and Kim Krouse of Thurmont respectively. The

Little Red Headed Girl will be portrayed by Becca Corbell of Emmitsburg.

In a piece of unusual staging, the blanket in the dance of "My Blanket and Me" will be played by Heather Kokowski of Thurmont. There will be some other unusual staging effects as well during "The Kite" and "The Leaf" and for the first time for the Thurmont Thespians, the production will be staged on the floor in the 3/4 round so that the audience will be seated on three sides which should give us about 30 or 40 front row seats.

Jimmy Brown, Heather Kokowski, Lilah Moss, Kyle Flanick, Becca Corbell and Steve Ross will be understudying various roles and the Saturday afternoon performance will feature them in their respective roles so we suggest you might want to see this production two times. All of the cast will be on stage for every performance, whether playing a leading role or not. This is ensemble playing at its best!!

The production is directed by Beth Royer Watson with Eileen Dwyer Winston Musical Directing and Jennifer Buchheister as Choreographer. Doug Benson of Catoctin Recording in Thurmont will be doing the music for the play - a challenging proposition!! Ann Sees of Frederick has undertaken the costume design and construction with Spence Watson producing and designing the Lighting. Katie Urian will be Stage Managing. Katie has trained as a first class Stage Manager during the summer productions with the Thurmont Thespians.

The show will open Thursday night March 30th at 8 p.m. with dessert theatre on Friday night March 31st at 8 p.m. and dinner theatre Saturday night April 1st at 6:30 (show only is available Saturday night at 8 p.m.). There will be the Saturday matinee at 2 p.m. and a Sunday matinee April 2nd at 2 p.m. The ticket price for the show is $10 for everyone. Dinner theatre will feature shrimp and turkey and the price is $25.00. Reservations are a must for the dinner and must be made by Monday March 27th. Reservations are requested for all performances by calling 301-271-7613.

In keeping with The Thurmont Thespians wish to bring all of the arts to Thurmont, local artist Arthur Gernand will have a display at the performance of "You’re A Good Man, Charlie Brown". Mr. Gernand will be remembered by many graduates as the Art Teacher at Catoctin High for many years.

Thurmont Thespians Win Technical Award At Maryland State Theatre Festival

The Thurmont Thespians received the "Ed-Ro-Char" Award for Technical Excellence at the Maryland Community Theatre Festival Association’s 2006 State one-act play competition at the Port Tobacco Playhouse in February for their production of "Foul Territory" by Craig Wright.

The production featured Christine Ann Miller, Steve Ross and Melissa Heath and was directed by Spence Watson. This is the third year in succession that The Thurmont Thespians have been honored with the "Ed-Ro-Char" Award.

Last year’s Thespians production of "Bake Off" and their 2004 production of "Talking With" also received this award, which is in recognition of outstanding achievement in all areas of technical theatre including lights, sound, costumes, make-up and special effects.