Stage 2 to present spelling bee musical

COURTESY OF BROOKE BOWSER
Stage 2 rehearses for “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” in the Don Taft University Center.

During physical education in high school, Brooke Bowser, senior theatre major, remembers listening to the song “Pandemonium” from the musical “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.” Now, Bowser is directing a production of the play through Stage 2, NSU’s student-run production company.

“The music is more of what drove me to start listening and becoming involved with the musical,” Bowser said. “It’s so funny and almost crude in a way. It’s about kids, but it’s not necessarily a kid’s show.”

Stage 2 will present “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee” on Friday, April 18 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, April 19 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. The showings will be in the Mailman-Hollywood Building’s auditorium on the second floor.

“It’s basically a musical about a bunch of middle schoolers who are in a spelling bee, and this is the finals basically,” Bowser said. “The whole musical is who these kids are, how they got there, what is so important to them about spelling, their backstory and how family impacts them.”

Megan Bramer, sophomore interdisciplinary studies major, plays Rona Lisa Peretti, one of the adults in the play who won the spelling bee in the past.

“I think she tries not to let on how important and fun the spelling bee actually is for her. I relate to that in the sense that, for me, music is my thing. This character, it’s spelling, but for me it’s music. It definitely resonates with me that she found something that she really loves and she wants to stick with it and preserve her love for it in any way possible as she goes,” Bramer said.

Jane Krivosheev, sophomore biology major, plays Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre, a student in the spelling bee.

“She’s just kind of all over the place. She’s very excited to be there, which is how I’m feeling no matter what it is, honestly. Just being on stage, that’s kind of how I feel. Very anxious, very excited, very glad to be here,” Krivosheev said.

Bowser said the play will have a section where audience members can come on stage and participate in the spelling bee themselves.

“If you want to be a part of it as an audience member, because we do have audience participation, we would love to have you,” she said.
Bramer hopes the musical encourages more students to join Stage 2.

“Oftentimes theater, especially student-run theater, can be painted as this cliquey, territorial, competitive setting, and that is not what Stage 2 is at all. It’s very inviting, it’s very collaborative. It’s a really, really unique and special process that we all get to go through together,” Bramer said.