Thurmont Teens in Musical at Maryland Ensemble Theatre

Several Thurmont-area teens will be featured in the musical Spring Awakening, which will be performed at the Maryland Ensemble Theatre in Frederick, Maryland, in August. The show is being produced by Catoctin Mountain Players, a community theater group founded by Leslie Kelly, a New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of romance fiction. Kelly, who lived in the Thurmont-Emmitsburg area for eight years and in Frederick County for more than thirty years, recently relocated to New Mexico, but came back for the summer, specifically to stage this musical and work with local teens. “I had such a great time working on our first production, Into The Woods, which we produced at Catoctin High School in 2013. Live theater is a true passion of mine. Moving to a small town in New Mexico, where there is little interest in or support for that type of art was very difficult,” said Kelly. Fortunately, Kelly has a lot of friends and family members in the area. “My two sisters opened their hearts and their homes for my daughter and me, and we’ve had a great summer so far.” Kelly is very thankful for the assistance of Thurmont resident Cody Gilliam, who is her assistant director and costume designer. While Kelly has had to travel back and forth between Frederick and the southwest, Gilliam has been running rehearsals with the cast here. Thurmont resident Ethan Larsen, who plays Hanschen, explains, “Leslie and Cody have been a great team. They each bring something very different to the directorial process.” Spring Awakening opens Thursday, August 6, at 7:30 p.m., at Maryland Ensemble Theatre in downtown Frederick. With an intimate performance space, and only four performances, Kelly fully expects the show to sell out and urges anyone who’s interested to get tickets while they’re still available. You can purchase your tickets through the group’s website at www.catoctinmountainplayers.org. Molly Cohen as Wendla and Brent Comer as Melchior in the musical Spring Awakening.