Annie Jr.

No surprises here. Oliver Warbucks adopts Annie, the orphans get homes, Miss Hannigan, Rooster and Lily are off to the slam, and 20+ middle-high actors and actresses in the Blake Summer Theatre Institute put on an amazing show in just under four weeks.

 Annie Jr. Photos

Read This Before Ordering Prints or Digital Images

Directed by Mr. Michael Kelley, acting assistants Richard Muhammad and Charles Harper, stage manager Yasmin Wamala and a host of other great people, the summer Institute, in its fourth year, brought not only a fabulous show, but a round of improvisational comedy by the cast after the show. How adept are YOU at building on an emerging story line at the instant the director points in your direction? You’d better not repeat or drop the story line; doing so means that you have to choreograph your own demise (dying scene)!

Enjoy these photos from Thursday’s show and Friday’s dress rehearsal. There are other photos on the way that will give you a backstage look at what goes on at the Summer Theatre Institute, so check back.

Quite a few of you have asked about purchasing some of these. Thanks for your kind words! My primary goal was to give our thespians something to look at and show off after the Institute was over for the year. I’m an old school film photographer, though – from the days when we enjoyed prints by making them big and hanging them on walls – and have decided to make these available as real photographic prints. Not the ink jet kind, but the ones from a real pro lab that will look as good as photos under very challenging and changing stage lighting can look. The Blake Stage Company Boosters are a big source of financial support for the Stage Company to use to add microphones, buy real stage paint (more expensive but worth it), stage makeup (also more expensive; also worth it) and whatever else Directors D’Anna and Kelley need to put on these fantastic performances. One might think that a lot of funding for the arts magnet school would come from the county, wouldn’t one? Reality is that we’re completely self-funded and Montgomery County only restricts how we can raise and use money. I’ll donate 25% of the print price to the Boosters to help keep Blake Stage Company healthy for our young to enjoy for the years to come.