The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Ashley Harendorf

At age 15, Ashley is experienced in performing both in theatre and as

a singer/songwriter. She has worked in set and prop design for several

academic shows and spent a day shadowing in the wardrobe department

for Canadian Stage's "Robin Hood; A Very Merry Family Musical".

"Spelling Bee" will be her first non-academic performance and her

Musical Theatre debut!

Mizuki Soso

Mizuki Soso is a musical performer.

The Putnam county spelling bee is her first musical and she is stoked. Aside from musicals she also does piano and violin. She hopes that you all enjoy the show.

Jamie Collin

Jamie (they/them)  is excited to be back performing again! They have been performing since the 5th grade and are in their third year of Sheridan College’s Bachelor of Musical Theatre Performance program in September. When Jamie is not being a student or involved in a musical, they are attending taekwondo classes, spending time with friends and family, playing video games and sleeping! They thank their parents, teachers and peers for helping them get to where they are today. 

Select credits include;
MTC: Hadestown (Hades)
ESA: Rent (Roger)
The Singers Theatre: Les Miserables (Javert)
No Strings Theatre: Amahl and The Night Visitors 

Amélie Ware-Redman

Amélie Ware-Redman is a 14 year old vocalist, performer and musician. Her first public performance was in 2017 in Redefine Arts’ production of DriftSeeds. Since that time she has performed in several plays and musicals including The Lightning Thief  (2025), Anne of Green Gables (2026).  She attends vocal lessons with Denise Williams. Amélie was awarded best vocalist popular solo at the North York Music Festival (2025).  She was an invited performer at the North York Music Festival Gala (2025). She is a graduate of the Theatre Direct Drama Club program (2025) and the following summer completed a week-long intensive, the Stratford Musical Theatre Camp (2025). Amélie performed in the No Strings Theatre production of Hansel and Gretel (2025) and Cosi Fan Tutti (2025). She is a student with Bravo Academy in their musical theatre troupe (2025). Amélie is thrilled to be back with No Strings Theatre for this summer intensive!

Valente Virgilio Tari Vescio

Valente Virgilio Tari Vescio (He/Him) is an artist based in North York. He is very proud to say this is his first ever professionally run production! He has been going to Bravo Academy for the performing arts for acting and singing. Valente would also like to take the time to thank his family, friends and staff at NST, and to say that he would've never been able to do it without them. He enjoys many hobbies (too many to cram into here). He also occasionally does stand-up and mainly talks about his experience having AuDHD (Autism and ADHD).

James Johansen

Zoë Wirthensohn

Zoë (she/her) is a dynamic, multidisciplinary artist with a passion for creation and performance.

Her vocal journey began in kindergarten, leading to extensive training under both classical and contemporary vocal coaches and featured soloist roles in numerous choirs.

 In the summer of 2025, she further developed her acting craft at the Randolph Theatre, performing in the culminating production of Murder on the Monkey Express.

Currently attending Rosedale Heights School of the Arts, Zoë expands her creative practice across painting, fashion design, and modeling. She is also the founder of her own print club, The Proof, and actively takes on custom art commissions.

IG: @zoe.mitra

Tessa Saville

Tessa Saville (any pronouns) is a musical theatre artist and performer based in Toronto. Being the daughter of two actors, Tessa was raised surrounded by creativity and passion, two characteristics she now prides herself on. Tessa has been performing in musical theatre since she was six years old, and is currently working towards her Honours Bachelor's Degree in Musical Theatre Performance at Sheridan College. 

Recent credits include: Soul Girl/Ensemble in Jesus Christ Superstar, Gertrude McFuzz in Seussical, Fate 2 in Hadestown, and Ensemble/US PJ in Potato Potato. 

Zev Stone

Zev Stone (he/him) is an aspiring triple threat performer with a passion for musical theatre. He has performed in various community theatre productions across the GTA including Our Town (Wally Webb), Oliver! (The Artful Dodger), A Christmas Story (Scut Farkas), A Christmas Carol (Tiny Tim/Boy Ebenezer), and The Sound of Music (Martin von Trapp). Zev has been a part of No Strings Theatre’s summer opera program for the past three years singing in Carmen, The Magic Flute, Cosi fan tutte, and Hansel and Gretel. Zev also sang the role of Amahl opposite Denise Williams in Amahl and the Night Visitors (No Strings Theatre, two seasons). IG: @zeviathan3000

Denise Williams

Denise Williams is a passionate advocate for the performing arts, leveraging her extensive professional experience and educational background to promote artistic expression and education.  With a belief in the transformative power of music and the arts to bridge societal divides, Denise has dedicated her career to nurturing talent, fostering inclusivity, and promoting cultural understanding.

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Denise’s thirty-plus-years international career has put her at home on the concert, opera, and theatre stages. Highlights of her performance career include the Nathaniel Dett Chorale (Founding Member), Mirvish Productions (North American premiere of The Sound of Music), Canadian debuts of the title role of Portia White First You Dream.  Her most well-loved self-produced music project is her cross-cultural, Walk Together Children concert program, presenting African, Jewish, and Muslim diasporic cultures through music. This project became the basis of her Masters capstone and was awarded an OAC music performance grant.

In addition to her achievements as a performer, Denise is also dedicated to arts education and community engagement including directing, workshops, classes, and international community music symposia.

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Denise is Founding Artistic Director and Producer of No Strings Theatre (NST) which supports the next generation of artists and encourages the development of new Canadian theatrical works.  She is currently on the music theatre voice faculty of Sheridan College, operates her Voices of Colour Music (VCM) music studio, is a certified advanced voice teacher affiliate and examiner for the Royal Conservatory of Music, and a national vocal adjudicator.

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Denise has launched scholarships for Black students and artists. She continues to advocate for cross-cultural sharing of music traditions, equity, diversity and inclusion on performance stages.

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Memberships

Vice President, NATS-Ontario; Board of Directors, Elora Festival and Elora Singers; Past President, ORMTA Central Toronto Branch; ACTRA, CAEA

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Education

Master of Arts, Community Music, Wilfrid Laurier University; Arts and Entertainment Administration, TMU; ARCT Singing Diploma, Royal Conservatory of Music (RCM)

Awards

ORMTA Contribution to Teaching, 2024; 100 Accomplished Black Canadian Women 2024

Talia Frances

Talia Frances (she/her) is an academic award-winning emerging director, and performing artist from Nanaimo, BC. Talia is a recent honours grad of Sheridan College’s ‘Musical Theatre Performance’ degree, and a not-so-recent grad with distinction of the ‘Theatre Arts’ diploma at MacEwan University. She was in the ‘Artistic Teams’ stream at Sheridan, focusing on directing for stage. In 2025, Talia was a recipient of the ‘The Michael Young Achievement in Elective Stream: Artistic Team Inclusive Leadership Award’ for her work on an excerpt of Spring Awakening. She is grateful to have had the opportunity to work on her directing skills, while simultaneously rehearsing for Sheridan’s 2024/25 season. She was able to apply what she observed about each creatives’ approaches, immediately to her work. This foundation has made her a director who cares deeply about fostering a positive work environment for artists on either side of the table. Talia made her directing debuts on Toronto stages in 2025, as follows: an excerpt of Potato Potato by Emma Golden, performed at Factory Theatre for the Theatre Sheridan’s Writers’ Showcase; act one of Potato Potato, a 90-minute fully staged production as part of the ‘Alliance for Canadian Musicals’ for Toronto Fringe at Theatre Passe Murailles. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee marks Talia’s first time directing a production for ‘No Strings Theatre’, and she could not be more delighted! 

Julia Raza

Julia Raza (She/They) is a Kitchener born and Toronto based multidisciplinary artist, performer and musician, with a proficiency in writing, singing, dancing and acting. Julia is a recent graduate from Sheridan College’s Music Theatre Performance Program with Honours. In her final year, she had the opportunity to perform at “Unveiled: The Next Gen Sound” where she choreographed, music directed and was the lead performer for her set. In Sheridan’s 2025/2026 season, Julia was both an assistant choreographer (Something Rotten) and assistant director (In Real Life) while simultaneously rehearsing, understudying, and performing in both shows. Julia started her journey as a classical musician, completing multiple RCM exams up to Level 9 for voice, piano and theory. As their vocal journey has progressed, she has since grown to add more contemporary styles such as pop, indie, rock and jazz. Julia’s vocal exploration doesn’t end with music, you may recognize Julia’s voice from the Amazon Prime Television Show, Super Wings, where she plays the character of Astra! Julia has been encompassed by the world of dance for the past 2 decades where she has worked as a performer, competitive dancer, and teacher. Previously, she spent over a decade at Dimensions In Dance and she recently finished her 4th year as a dance tutor at Sheridan college. In their practice, Julia deeply cares about finding the emotional depth and truth within every work that she does, valuing the connections between artist and audience at all times. Julia prioritizes fostering a safe and inclusive space within dance to help artists of all ages, abilities, with varying degrees of experience to find comfort, confidence, and passion within movement as a whole. This summer Julia is excited to work with No Strings Theatre for the first time and continue evolving her craft as a dance teacher and choreographer.

David Stone

David Stone is a versatile musician, able to wear many different musical hats, and brings a level of passion and artistry to ensembles and projects of every size and genre. He is an award-winning teacher, helping to shape the students of today into the musicians of tomorrow. David is a pianist, bassist, conductor, composer, arranger, and clinician. Select MDn credits: Cinderella: The Panto (Capital Theatre), Be More Chill (Vancouver Island Music Festival), Aladdin (JVL Summer Festival), A Little Bird Bird Told Me (Solar Stage). David is the founder of Toronto Music Alliance, a Toronto-based music school. He is also the Associate Artistic Producer for No Strings Theatre.

Tyler Prince

Tyler Prince is a baritone currently pursuing his Bachelor of Music in vocal performance at The Glenn Gould School of Music, wherein he is the recipient of a full-tuition scholarship. He is an alumni of The Phil & Eli Taylor Academy for Young Artists as well as an alumni of the Canadian Children’s Opera Company. Recently Tyler has performed the titular role of John Worthing in Victor Davies’ operetta, Earnest, The Importance of Being and Simone in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi. Tyler is also a jazz saxophonist, clarinetist, pianist and vocalist who in addition to leading his own ensembles plays as a sideman in various groups in the Toronto jazz scene. He is an alumni of The Toronto All Star Big Band, a band in which during his time there he played every saxophone chair and occasionally sang. Tyler has performed in the orchestra to the staged premiere of Dean Burry’s opera Baby Kintyre, wherein he played tenor saxophone and clarinet. He has also played synthesizer in Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods and now William Finn’s The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee! Tyler has performed on various stages such as Koerner Hall, Roy Thomson Hall, Scotiabank Arena, The Oakville Centre for the Performing Arts, The Four Seasons Centre for Performing Arts, Mississauga’s Living Arts Centre and more.

Justyn Nishimura

Justyn is a queer stage manager based in the Tkaronto. 25th Annual… Spelling Bee marks their debut with No Strings Theatre. He is also the stage manager for The Marriage of Figaro happening next weekend! They have worked with various companies across Canada including Sawdust Co., TYT Theatre, YPT, & StoryBook Theatre. He is a graduate of Sheridan College’s Tech Production program where they focused their studies in stage management. When not in the theatre, they can be found curled up with a good book, his partner Cas, and their cat, Mr. Noodles. Feel free to give them a follow on Instagram @just.yn.sm 

Tessa Saville

Tessa Saville (any pronouns) is a musical theatre artist and performer based in Toronto. Being the daughter of two actors, Tessa was raised surrounded by creativity and passion, two characteristics she now prides herself on. Tessa has been performing in musical theatre since she was six years old, and is currently working towards her Honours Bachelor's Degree in Musical Theatre Performance at Sheridan College. 

Recent credits include: Soul Girl/Ensemble in Jesus Christ Superstar, Gertrude McFuzz in Seussical, Fate 2 in Hadestown, and Ensemble/US PJ in Potato Potato. 

Ian Stone

Ian Stone is a 16-year-old student at Western Technical-Commercial School in Toronto. 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is Ian’s first show, and he is thankful for the opportunity. Ian is an accomplished soccer player, and in his spare time he enjoys cooking, playing chess, going to Blue Jays and Toronto FC games, and spending time with the family rabbits, Soot and Bob.

Liming Bao

Liming Bao is a Chinese-born musical theatre performer currently training in the Honours Bachelor of Music Theatre Performance program at Sheridan College. Before pursuing the performing arts, she completed Supply Chain studies at York University and worked as a data scientist.

Drawn to stories of identity, resilience, and human connection, Liming believes theatre has the power to bring people together across cultures and languages. She is committed to creating honest, grounded performances and hopes to inspire audiences through storytelling on stage.

Ben MacDonald

Ben MacDonald is a talented multi-instrumentalist, performer, and educator.
An alumni of the Humber College Contemporary Music program and currently
MA studies in Community Music at Wilfrid Laurier University.
He has played with many groups as a saxophonist, clarinetist, flautist, and singer
in a variety of different musical genres from contemporary music genres, klezmer,
jazz, and African (Sudanese, Swahili) music styles. Performances have included
Nhapi-Tapi, The Human Rights Reggae Band, and Yuka which he was co-founder
of.  Performed with artists and groups including Walleed Abdullahamid, Joe
Sealey, Deserée, Jully Black, and the The Nathaniel Dett Chorale.
As an educator, he has taught individual students privately for over  10 years with
Elite Music Academy, Classical Music Conservatory, and Community Music
Schools of Toronto, where he has lead and developed  a choir program for at-risk-
youth in the Jane and Finch area. He has also co-founded Safe Spaceship Music, a
collective of contemporary recording artists, producers and songwriters in a
professional recording studio developing aspiring and emerging artists.

Meesha Contreras

Meesha is a musician, actor, and artist. He plays in several bands, and is regularly featured on radio broadcasts. He was the voice of Thomas the Tank Engine for two seasons of the hit show, as well as several other shows and video games. A graduate of Rosedale Heights School for the Arts, Meesha is currently attending Humber College for bass performance, studying with Pat Kilbride. Meesha is also currently studying with David Stone at Toronto Music Alliance.