King & Snohomish County Spelling Bee

Related Content

• Sounders vs. Toronto
  March 7, 2012
• Hansel and Gretel
  December 14, 2011
• Guys and Dolls
  May 4, 2011
• Damn Yankees
  May 2, 2012
• Kronos Quartet
  March 14, 2012

More About

• Gavin Borchert
• Scripps National Spelling Bee
• Spelling Bees
• Theater

Like this Story?

Sign up for the Events Newsletter: What's happening in town? From underground club nights to the biggest outdoor festivals, our top picks for the week's best events will always keep you in on the action.

Privacy Policy Cancel Continue

It’s hard to think of any low-tech, old-school American institution less likely to have caught pop-culture attention than the spelling bee—yet it has, as the subject of a rash of recent films, a Broadway musical, even adult spinoffs. (In the recent monthly bees at Re-bar, I managed to do a bit worse each season.) Docs like Spellbound do a fine job of recreating a bee’s drama, though to really feel the competition’s agonizing intensity—one wrong letter and you’re heading home—you should see it live. Sixty kids from King and Snohomish County schools will meet in today’s regional bee, a feeder for the venerable Scripps National Spelling Bee, launched in 1925. The last speller standing will go to Washington, D.C., in May to vie against other teen savants, where only words like succedaneum, autochthonous, and xanthosis will stand between them and victory. GAVIN BORCHERT
Sun., March 22, 1 p.m., 2009