Daina Goldenberg

UW Musical Theater Program: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee

(aka: #spellingbee2k16)

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         This show was a complete joy, and one of my favorite parts of junior year  (my website cover photo is a promotional shot from the show). It was a short-and-sweet, one-act musical comprising a 9-person cast, directed by the fabulous Brandon Ivie, and music-directed by the wonderful Jordyn Meeker. I am not a musical theatre major, but I had highly anticipated these auditions - I felt like falling apart after callbacks, I had gotten so nervous about the process. But things ended up working out, and this show became a key learning experience during my 3rd year. I more deeply explored my motivations as an actor, got over a host of fears as a contemporary singer, and bolstered my confidence in my pursuit of theatre. This show (though uproariously funny) was incredibly deep, and explored abuse, neglect, anxiety, and bullying in middle-school-aged children: we needed to provide both levels of comedy and drama from a place of sincerity, to create a show that was both entertaining and sobering. The process was so challenging, but the result felt electric. And - I absolutely loved every person I worked with. My cast mates and I felt like a family. This sounds like a cliché, but this truly was an experience to remember. 

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Here is a B-roll of the show, to give you an idea: