“25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee,” in the rearview of nostalgia

So yeah, all of our shows are memorable. All are life journeys. All make memories that we keep forever. But this one -- dramatic pause -- this one was something different, something special. The cast was so perfect, the performances all so wonderful. From about the fifth week on, it was clearly a show that everyone was going to have trouble saying good-bye to. We happened onto something truly meaningful to do with our pre-show circle time. One night, we each shared a piece of audience feedback we'd gotten; another evening, we shared our favorite parts of the show; and again, on another night, we went around the circle and shared what line or song lyric was stuck in our heads. It was all wonderful and heartfelt sharing. I woke up in the middle of the night on the Saturday before our closing Sunday thinking about what items from this show should go in the Props Hall of Fame. At the Dungeon where we rehearse, we have the Props Hall of Fame shelves where we display and label memorable stuff from each production we’ve done. I rifled though the list of show props in my head and tried to make decisions about what should go on the shelf for this show; there were just too many. Suddenly, the idea came into my head to create a Time Capsule for this show -- and put many props into it -- to capture the joy and the memories I know we’ll all have. Using the cooler that Mitch Mahoney uses for the juice boxes he gives to spellers who miss their words, we put the following items: • Olive Ostrovksy’s pink headband • The bell from the spelling table • Mitch Mahoney’s home detention ankle bracelet • The Coneybear family phone • Rona Lisa Peretti’s realtor pin • Marcy Park’s yellow beret • Leaf Coneybear’s fanny pack • An empty peanut M & Ms package • Chip Tolentino’s boy scout sash • Olive’s mother’s scarf • One of Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre’s lapel pins • Dan Dad’s hairbrush • Carl Dad’s bow tie • Jesus’ heart patch • A playbill • A ticket • A spelling bee ribbon • A spelling bee number • A copy of the curtain speech And then, everyone signed the cooler with a black marker. It will now go on the top shelf of the Props Hall of Fame, and whenever we need a little dose of 25PCSB, we can open it, and remember our Spelling Bee family.