{"id":449,"date":"2025-04-29T12:00:25","date_gmt":"2025-04-29T12:00:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sewellconsultancy.com\/?p=449"},"modified":"2025-04-30T10:35:03","modified_gmt":"2025-04-30T10:35:03","slug":"phamaly-theatre-company-is-keeping-inclusivity-alive-and-matter-of-fact","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/sewellconsultancy.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/29\/phamaly-theatre-company-is-keeping-inclusivity-alive-and-matter-of-fact\/","title":{"rendered":"Phamaly Theatre Company is keeping inclusivity alive (and matter-of-fact)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Editor’s note: This is part of The Know’s series, Staff Favorites<\/a>. Each week, we give our opinions on the best that Colorado has to offer for dining, shopping, entertainment, outdoor activities and more. (We’ll also let you in on some hidden gems.)<\/em><\/p>\n

\n

“The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” features a group of melodramatic middle-schoolers handling pressure from their parents and peers, all while going through puberty.<\/p>\n

The performances at an early April production of the play by the Phamaly Theatre Company<\/a>, however, were anything but juvenile. The actors, all of whom have a disability<\/a>, brought the fixed setting to life with their strong vocals, loose choreography and fervent line delivery. For someone who strays from plays or musicals for fear of heightened sentimentality, I thought it was a romp that matched the source material’s dark, comedic tone.<\/p>\n

It’s a critical moment for Phamaly and other theater companies like it across the country. Amid calls from the federal government to reduce emphasis on diversity, equity and inclusion<\/a>, I find fewer causes that deserve as much local support as Phamaly, which shines a spotlight on those in the periphery (and puts on a hell of a show while doing it).<\/p>\n

Phamaly was founded by a group of disabled Denver students in 1989, the name originally an acronym for the Physically Handicapped Amateur Musical Actors League. The company has stayed true to the name from its first production, “Guys and Dolls,” to its most recent, casting people with “physical, cognitive, intellectual and emotional” disabilities, according to its website.<\/p>\n

For “Putnam County Spelling Bee,” the cast included actors with several disabilities or disorders, including vision loss, anxiety and bipolar disorder, chronic pain and Parkinson’s disease.<\/p>\n

\"Eli
Eli Schroeder, center, performs with the cast of “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” at a 2025 performance by the Phamaly Theatre Company at the Parson Theatre at Nortglenn Arts. (Photo by Michael Ensminger Photography)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The musical numbers (written by William Finn) and the book (written by Rachel Sheinkin) are replete with physical comedy, insults and tongue-twisters. Rather than stray away from offending anyone, the cast and crew leaned into the crude and goofball script, producing something between “Napoleon Dynamite” camp and a light after-school special.<\/p>\n

Adaptation is key in more ways than one to Phamaly. On stage at the Parsons Theatre at Northglenn Arts, the actors help each other through song and dance, reinforcing the strength of the collective beyond any one lead. Each gave his or her character individual flair: Luke Fish (playing Leaf) wore pajamas with Sonic the Hedgehog and Mario Bros. on them while Zay Cann (playing Logainne) seemed ready for the playground with their hair split into pigtails and overalls poked with pins and buttons. I saw no limitations; rather, a flexibility unique to the works of this respected company.<\/p>\n

After most of the contestants, as well as guest participants invited onstage, are eliminated, the stage is left to two hopefuls, Barfee and Olive. Eli Schroeder (playing Barfee) and Sam Barrasso (as Olive) are Phamaly veterans with rich voices, and were responsible for some of the show’s biggest songs and laughs.<\/p>\n

Barfee reaches the finals thanks to his “magic foot,” which Schroeder depicted by spelling out words using his canes. Still, even he couldn’t get across an offensive remark written in the top of the second act as a joke, far too distasteful for an audience there to support people of all abilities.<\/p>\n