After two years of Zoom theater and recorded performances, live theater will be back in late November. Theater via Zoom was popular and UPrep did multiple shows online, but it wasn’t the same.
Theater Manager Paul Fleming is directing this year’s show and has been waiting for live theater for two years. The show this year is “The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.”
“It’s about these young people who come together for a spelling bee. They’re the winners of their area of the county’s spelling bees. It’s about their lives, but it’s a comedy. There’s a lot of dancing and singing and all kinds of stuff,” Fleming said.
Students are back to in-person theater, but not everything is back to normal. Actors still wear masks, stay six feet apart and aren’t allowed to hug each other or engage in other physical contact.
“Rehearsal is a little more arduous because of the mask restrictions. I’m not complaining about it, I’m just saying that’s why we’re able to be back,” Fleming said.

Freshman Jack DiGiuseppe thinks wearing masks during performing and rehearsing has been a struggle for most actors.
“What I found the hardest thing to do with a mask is to sing, especially when it’s a fast song because you breathe in and the mask sticks to your face. Then add on choreography and everything else and it gets really hard.” DiGiuseppe said
DiGiuseppe has been doing theater at UPrep for 3 years. He’s excited to have a main role in the show.
“I’m playing a character named William Barfee. He’s the kind of guy who would always get picked on. So now he picks on people.” DiGiuseppe said.
Wearing masks during performing and rehearsing has been a struggle for most actors.
“What I found the hardest thing to do with a mask is to sing, especially when it’s a fast song because you breathe in and the mask sticks to your face. Then add on choreography and everything else and it gets really hard,” DiGiuseppe said.
Co-Chair of the COVID-19 Task Force Brian Gonzales is happy for students that in-person theater is back.
“Being in-person is so important to the experience of theater. We’ve missed the plays, tech weeks, and all of those things and doing it over zoom with an audience. It’s just not the same thing. The taskforce has been really committed to making sure that we can do that.” Gonzales said.
One of the main concerns this year with the musical is how to present it to an audience and how the seating will work in Founders Hall.
“The guidelines’ main idea is to have families sitting in pods and individuals six feet apart. We’re trying to interpret those policies into founders, so we’re doing our best to maximize that and make sure that the performance is a success,” Gonzales said.
Gonzales said.

“It would be nice to have a bigger theater, and be able to do good spacing, and good protocol. I love our intimate theater, but more space would be nice. I wouldn’t alter protocols to fit more people, because this pandemic isn’t over”