Weathervane Playhouse

July 28 – August 6, 2016

Directed by:  Erica Wills

Scenic Designer:  Alyssa Marie Leblanc

Costume Designer:  Renee Bell

Lighting Designer:  Jennifer Sansfacon

 

 

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee features actors playing all manner of child types seen at a spelling bee.  Each has their own method of spelling, each has their own hang-ups and home conditions that frame why they compete in the spelling bee.  The songs detail not only their lives but also their challenges.  In the end, one speller stands above the others, and everyone learns something.

 

This story has a simple honesty to it.  Each character in the bee has motivations for why they are there.  Anyone who has watched or participated in a spelling bee can feel the challenges they face, particularly at their young age.  While some sound effects would help reinforce these moments, I largely wanted the music to speak for itself.  My research for this show would keep this in mind, providing sound effect enhancement just at the right moments.

 

One challenge we had for this show was the presence of the orchestra on the stage.  This made some aspects of creating the design simpler, as we didn’t need to worry as much about some of the audio feeds we usually work with.  But, it made balancing the cast to the orchestra more challenging.  The conditions of the scenic design made some parts of this easier, as we were able to use sound baffling material around the orchestra and keep it visually within the world of the musical.

 

Another challenge was the need for regular stand microphones.  The show taps members of the audience to come on stage as spellers.  Sometimes they do well, other times not so much.  All of the spellers, whether they were wearing mics or not, would need that conventional stand microphone to be present to capture that quality of sound that only comes from speaking directly into a mic on a stand.  This was also true for the word pronouncer characters, as they would need to have that quality of sound as well.  It was a tricky balance, making sure that the appropriate mic was up at the appropriate time.