THE 25TH ANNUAL PUTNAM COUNTY SPELLING BEE

By: Rachel Sheinkin
Music/Lyrics by: William Finn

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a musical comedy about six middle schoolers who compete to win the annual Spelling Bee Championship. The setting itself is very straightforward: It takes place in a middle school (gym, auditorium, cafetorium, etc). This presented a very direct challenge: How do I make a setting that is typically bland both fun and exciting?

I decided to stem my design from what I knew. I immediately reflected back on what my middle school gym was like: Above all else, it was versatile. I was basically looking at a big open room with a stage. Aside from the wood floors and curtains, there was hardly anything special about it. This gave me a ton of freedom, because I was able to create whatever zany accents I wanted and as long as the identifying wood floor and curtains were there, it was immediately identifiable as a school gym.