The folks in “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” are feverishly raising money to go to Rochester, N.Y., for AACT/Fest, which is the national community theater competition.

They’ve already come up with $20,000. They have $10,000 more to go.

This Spokane Civic Theatre production qualified for the nationals by winning the state and regional competitions. It costs a lot of money to transport everybody to New York and house them during the competition, so they are staging three “dress rehearsal” fundraisers. No tickets are required, but donations will be gratefully accepted.

The dates are:

• May 31, 7 p.m. – Lewis and Clark High School Auditorium.
• June 1, 7 p.m. – Lewis and Clark High School Auditorium.
• June 8, 7:30 p.m. – Spokane Civic Theatre, 1020 N. Howard.

Director Kathie Doyle-Lipe says they are “working feverishly to get this accomplished, but we can use any help we can get.”

The competition takes place June 20-26. It’s worth noting that the Civic has had more success in this national competition than just about any theater in the country. The Civic has won it twice and finished second once.

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