The Tulare County Office of Education Theatre Company’s summer production of Big Fish centers on the charismatic Edward Bloom, whose impossible stories of epic adventures frustrate his pragmatic son, Will. Bloom’s adventures make for a lively musical full of colorful characters as he tells tall tales of meeting a mermaid and a witch, befriending an agoraphobic giant, joining a circus with a werewolf ringmaster, pursuing the girl of his dreams, and saving a general from an assassin during the war.
Big Fish is told on two different timelines – one where Will is a boy whose father is often absent and another where an adult Will is an international journalist about to be married and start a family. As his father’s final chapter approaches, Will embarks on his own journey to find out who his father really is, separating the fact from fiction in the stories from his childhood.
The cast of Big Fish will perform the touching musical seven times with an opening on Friday, July 17 and continuing through Saturday, July 25. Audiences can now purchase tickets for five evening shows and two Saturday matinees at tcoe.org/TheatreCo/tickets.
Principal Characters
Edward Bloom
Leo Paez, 2026 graduate, Eleanor Roosevelt Community Learning Center (Visalia)
Sandra
Erin McDonnell, 2026 graduate, Redwood High School (Visalia)
Will Bloom
Connor West, 11th grade, Redwood High School (Visalia)
Young Will
Camden Grissom, 4th grade, Garden Elementary School (Tulare)
Josephine
Diana Padilla, 2026 graduate, El Diamante High School (Visalia)
The Witch
Leah Hansen, 2026 graduate, El Diamante High School (Visalia)
Karl
Nicholas Simpkins, 11th grade, University Preparatory High School (Visalia)
Amos
Matthew Cole, 11th grade, Eleanor Roosevelt Community Learning Center (Visalia)
Jenny Hill
Allison Plumlee, 2026 graduate, Harmony Magnet Academy (Strathmore)
Don Price
Dumisani Mason, 2026 graduate, University Preparatory High School (Visalia)
Zacky Price
Lincoln Graves, 2026 graduate, University Preparatory High School (Visalia)
The Mermaid
Calvary Sears, 9th grade, Eleanor Roosevelt Community Learning Center (Visalia)