West Linn High School Performing Arts Dept.

The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

Set and Lighting Design by Jon Ares.

Fall 2018.

Directed by Annie Kaiser. Vocal Direction and Music Direction by Aubrey Patterson, Choreography by Christine Greenhalgh, Costume Design by Grace O’Malley.

A sweet show filled with a lot of heart, Annie and I had a lot of fun with this one. We didn’t want the show in a gymnasium, as it’s often done, and wanted to re-imagine it in an actual auditorium (which, of course, is where we are). Annie came up with the idea that the facility is the town’s “showcase” – the community center, which, due to an influx of timber money in the 80s, built a multi-purpose auditorium. (Hence the “tasteful” post-modern architecture of the proscenium… they really wanted to be “cutting edge.”)