Along with sports and events starting to come back, the Brewster Performing Arts Center is performing the musical The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee! The show takes place in Putnam County and is about several middle school aged children who take part in a chaotic spelling bee and the adults that make it all happen. 

This show can be easily social-distanced, and all performers are 6 feet apart, with clear plastic masks so audience members can see their expressive faces. The show itself has only a few characters, so it’s perfect for these times. There are also two rotating casts, with only 10 people in each cast, so it’s easy to social distance and to stay safe. While being a safe show, it’s also extremely fun and entertaining. Every role is vastly different, and it’s interesting to see everyone’s take on it. Since the show has two different casts, both casts do the show differently, performing the roles very differently, but both do a good job of putting their own spin on it. Although it had to be toned down for a more family-friendly audience, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee is a very chaotic, unique show that was fun for all performers and is a very different experience for cast and audience members, being able to bring everyone together. 

With the pandemic, the musical is not able to have as many audience members as they usually have per performance, since the capacity in the high school’s PAC needed to be limited, but teachers and students were able to see dress rehearsal performances this week with rotating casts. On Tuesday and Wednesday, rotating casts performed to a crowd who enjoyed the play and laughed along.  

Be sure to come to the show this weekend! Check out the images below for cast dates and showtimes.

Let any cast member know if you want to come and support!

The Cast:

Green Cast: Sydney Burns, Sam Coppola, Gabe Cornelio, Bella DiDio, Shayla Franklin, Jimmy Hartigan, Fiona McCoppin, Ben Pollak, Brooke Ryan, Alexandra Schajer

White Cast: Tahj Arnold, Ellie Cassidy, Pablo Crisostomo Suarez, Franceska Drejaj, Mattie Fitzpatrick, Isabella Folchetti, Lexi Gagliardo, Jennifer Gerfen, Talia Rubio, Cyan Stockfield

Featuring: Henry Bloss

Director: Andrea Perdicho

Student Director: Joy Johnson

Assistant Student Director: Victor Farias