The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Spelling Bee by the Numbers

11 Cast Members

Including two local high school students!

10 Design, Tech, and Management (DTM) Students

1 Visiting Designer

Julianne Nogar designed costumes for the show.

6 Student Workers

Assisting in the costume and scene shops.

3 Performances

12 Audience Volunteers

1 Giant Stage

We embraced the auditorium setting with actors performing in the aisles

and set dressing hanging in the lobby.

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Supporting Documentation

• Director's Concept:  As a director, I am responsible for providing a unifying vision for each production.  The Director's Concept serves as a visual representation of that vision and proves particularly useful at the beginning of the process in both communicating with designers and getting students excited about the production.  With each concept, I address Why This Play Now (WTPN) or how this production speaks to our audience and current context, as well as design needs and desires.  This is a preliminary document and leaves room for collaboration as the show progresses.  For this production, we focused on connection and growth - two timely themes as we continued to navigate the COVID epidemic.  In part due to weekly COVID tests, we occasionally had a cast member Zoom into rehearsal from quarantine.

• Notes: While I try to give notes in person to minimize misunderstandings, rehearsals occasionally run late, so I email notes so the students can leave at a reasonable time.  The attached notes come from one such rehearsal.  I'm primarily focused on stage pictures, though I do include small notes on tactics and character.  I aim to highlight opportunities for growth and acknowledge effort.

• Program: Student Lauren Whittier created this virtual program, which was projected on an overhead screen prior to the production, in the style of school spelling bees.

• Schedule: This is the document I provided at the start of the rehearsal process.  This is a working document, and we do have to make changes over the course of the semester.  When I make changes, I endeavor not to call students on days when they were not originally scheduled, or, if that is not possible, to check in with the affected students before making the changes.​

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