If you’re starting to get semi-traumatic middle school flashbacks from all the throwback videos on TikTok and the resurgence of 2014 fashion trends, then the Boston College Dramatics Society’s production of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee will throw you into a whirlwind of nostalgia.
It’s set in a present day, but the play nails every childhood stereotype that exists in any given middle school from any era. Spelling Bee, directed by Brooke Flanders, LSEHD ’23, has a cast of characters ranging from a granola, happy-go-lucky kid (Aidan O’Neill, MCAS ’23) to an overachieving prep school girl (Grace Trainor, MCAS ’26), and even a vice principal with not-so-secret anger issues (Ryan Kruft, CSOM ’23).
But hiding behind these tropes, the characters have their own complex demons holding them back, including overbearing parents and imposter syndrome. What brings them all together and helps them overcome what’s holding them back is the Putnam County Spelling Bee.
Dramatics Society productions are completely student-run, from creating the costumes designed for each character to beautiful musical direction. A live pit composed of student performers accompanied the musical numbers.
A whiteboard filled with classic middle school billboard posters reading messages like “PUGS! NOT DRUGS!” and “Putnam’s proud prickle of porcupines remember the 5 P’s!” immediately greets audience members as they enter the theater. The motivational messages are a staple of middle schools and transport the viewer into the prepubescent world of the musical.
Spelling Bee takes place in a gymnasium with the contestants sitting on bleachers on the left side of the stage. Positioned across from the bleachers is the judges’ panel, sitting at a plastic folding table with a chalk board that reads “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
The rules for the spelling bee are as follows: The contestants can ask to have a word repeated, defined, and used in a sentence, but when they start spelling the word, they cannot go back and correct any mistakes. The contestants have to use their first spelling.
As the contestants are eliminated one by one, a comfort counselor—assuming the role to fulfill a community service requirement—named Mitch Mahoney (Nick Rossi, MCAS ’23) gives each student a hug and a juice box.
Every character has an interesting backstory that adds to the comedy of the musical. Vice Principal Douglas Panch (Kruft) is back for the 25th annual spelling bee after a five-year hiatus due to an “incident” that he has since recovered from.
Before the show began, the production team asked members of the audience to participate in the production. Along with the contestants in the musical, some audience members stepped up to the microphone to spell a word.
Many of the comedic moments of the play came from what Douglas Panch and Rona Lisa Peretti (Abby Wachter, MCAS ’25) read for the contestants to help them contextualize their words.
Douglas and Rona Lisa also read out funny facts about each contestant as they stepped up to the microphone. For one of the audience-participation contestants, Rona Lisa said that they were recently potty-trained.
The dance and musical numbers add another comedic aspect during the show. During “Pandemonium,” the actors grabbed the audience participants and had them join in the dancing with ribbon twirling and hula-hoop dancing.
All of the actors deliver believable performances as middle schoolers. O’Neill, as Leaf Coneybear, stuck out their tongue in a playful way during the opening song. Allee O’Neil, MCAS ’25, as Olive Ostrovsky, Faith Wladyka, MCAS ’26, as Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre, and Alessandro Cella, MCAS ’26, as Chip Tolentino also achieve this through their youthful speech and movements on stage.
David Sobkowiak’s performance as William Barfée (pronounced bar-FAY, as he constantly corrects the judges) is another standout of the show. He keeps a believable lisp throughout the entire show. His line delivery perfectly matches the type of nerdy, pretentious character he portrays.
The Dramatics Society’s Spelling Bee returns the audience to its youth in a way that makes it laugh at the awkward moments and embrace them.
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