'The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee' on The Arts Barn Stage

Sissigy. Boanthropy. Capybara. Phylactery. Caterjune.

If you did not know how to spell those words, a cool and jaded comfort counselor on parole would escort you off stage and hand you a juice box for your troubles in Damascus Theatre Company's production of "The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee," which is playing at the Arts Barn Theater through Feb. 20.

A lively cast of characters including two announcers and 10 Spelling Bee contenders, three of whom are selected at random from the audience at each performance, are participating in a spelling competition in a school gym setting. The set includes a basketball hoop, bleachers, an announcer's table and a screened gym wall with a three-person band visible behind the chicken wire, glistening romantically beneath the warm stage lighting overhead.

The accompanying band, which progresses through an upbeat repertoire of 15 different songs, consists of Keith Tittermary on piano, Jackie Miller on reeds and Jim Hoffman on drums.

The atmosphere on the set is jovial and competitive, as each speller carries out a unique act full of personality and self-assigned purpose (except for those whose parents have drilled them to succeed).

One speller accompanies each spelling round with what he calls the magic foot — a dancing act in which he scrawls the word out on the ground as if sand painting with a gyrating ankle. A pigtailed prototype of nerdy girl, whose fathers have trained her for this momentous occasion, pronounces each letter with an emphatic lisp, which she seems to have grown into quite naturally.

At one point a disgruntled boyscout rolls into the stage as Jesus, parading through the show and causing a stupendous interruption involving flashing disco lights.

A hapless boy wearing a helmet and superhero cape rolls around on stage in roller skate sneakers and gasps in surprise each time he spells a word correctly. Another contender, a quirky shy speller dressed halfway between a scarecrow and a clown, laments that her mother is in an ashram in India and cannot be present to see her perform.

No one would want to be pitted against a determined and severely regimented school girl in uniform who spells with a vengeance.

The two announcers exude an air of feigned adulthood, snidely but cheerfully ruing their role as the keepers of control while enjoying the spotlight. 

The cast includes Kathleen Richards as Rona Lisa Peretti; Karl Williams as Mitch Mahoney; Jason Damaso as Vice Principal Douglass Panch; Chrissy Barnett Miller as Olive Ostrovsky; Kim Frias as Marcy Park; Katrina Janson as Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre; Alden Mitchells as William Barfee; Gabriel Potter as Leaf Coneybear; Doe Kim as Chip Tolentino; and Megan May as the mascot.

The production team includes Stephanie Bonte-Lebair, director and set designer; Ellie Swink and Celia Blitzer, co-producers; Keith Tittermary, musical director; Stephanie Miller, choreographer; Rick Swin, lighting designer; Vitol Wiacek, sound designer; Jim Korte and Bill Lebair on set construction; and Sharon Res on costumes.

Performances are on Fridays and Saturdays at 8 p.m. and Sundays at 2 p.m.

To find out more about the performance and purchase tickets, click here.

To find out more about The Damascus Theatre Company, click here.