PSST Wins Six Broadway World Tallahassee Awards

Staff Report

Friday, January 26th, 2024

Peach State Summer Theatre has once again earned Broadway World Tallahassee’s Favorite Local Theatre Award.   

“We are so proud and honored for being voted Favorite Local Theatre two years in a row,” said Hank Rion, Peach State Summer Theatre artistic director. “This is the goal that PSST has always worked for — to be a leader and a beacon for the arts in our area and beyond.”   

Peach State Summer Theatre earned a total of 26 nominations across 11 categories of the 2023 Broadway World Tallahassee Awards and took home wins in more than half of those categories. 

Sarah Wildes Arnett won Best Choreography of a Play or Musical, Christina Johnson won Best Costume Design of a Play for Musical, and Hank Rion won Best Direction of a Musical for their work with PSST’s production of “Spamalot.”  

PSST’s production of “Spamalot,” described as “the outrageous, uproarious, universally offensive, and gloriously entertaining story of King Arthur and the Lady of the Lake,” also won Best Ensemble and Best Musical honors.  

Early bird season memberships are now on sale for Peach State Summer Theatre’s 2024 season, which kicks off June 8 and runs through July 20. The upcoming season features “Annie,” “Five Guys Named Moe,” and “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” All shows are performed in Valdosta State University’s Sawyer Theatre. 

Early bird season memberships cost $72 and include three individual admissions to be used as desired with advance reservations throughout the summer theatre season. These memberships may be purchased through the online box office atwww.valdosta.edu/psst now through March 1. 

Beginning Wednesday, May 15, all 2024 Peach State Summer Theatre season membership holders will have three exclusive days to reserve priority seating before the box office opens to the public and begins selling single tickets.      

“We are extremely excited about our upcoming season,” Rion shared. “‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee’ is a laugh-a-minute show. We plan to encourage audience spellers to join us on stage, so if you won your school spelling bee as a kid, we hope you will come test your skills with us. 

“‘Five Guys Named Moe’ is a musical revue featuring the music of Louis Jordan, who wrote many popular hits in the 40s and 50s. It is a show you will definitely be singing along to. Our final show of the season is ‘Annie.’ This is the first time we have ever done the show in PSST’s 30-plus-year history. It will be a showcase for our local up-and-coming young theatre performers. We can’t wait to see our audiences again in June and July!”  

Peach State Summer Theatre, or PSST, is Georgia’s premiere professional summer stock theatre. Each summer, dozens of singers, dancers, technicians, managers, and creators gather on the campus of Valdosta State University for approximately 10 weeks, and during that time, they rehearse, build, and present three musicals in rotating repertory. 

Peach State Summer Theatre started in 1990 as the Jekyll Island Musical Theatre Festival. In 2005, the summer theatre program relocated to the campus of VSU and was renamed PSST. Hank Rion serves as the artistic director of Peach State Summer Theatre. H. Duke Guthrie is the managing director.  

The Georgia Legislature designated Peach State Summer Theatre the Official Musical Theatre of the State of Georgia.