Matt Manuel (left) Autumn Best and Justin Cooley in ‘The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.’ (Photo: Joan Marcus)
Autumn Best marked both a return to her theatrical roots and a major milestone in The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
Now playing at New World Stages Off-Broadway, the musical marks her New York stage debut in the beloved, idiosyncratic show, now extended through Apr. 12.
She stands out as Logainne Schwartzandgrubenierre, a character with a razor-sharp wit, political fervor, and surprising vulnerability.
Autumn Best (Photo: Dirty Sugar)
After building momentum on screen in projects like “Woman of the Hour” and “4400,” Best brings a renewed sense of confidence, curiosity, and lived experience back to the stage—qualities that deepen Logainne’s humor while grounding her emotional journey.
What makes Spelling Bee especially electric is its built-in unpredictability.
Each performance features guest spellers pulled directly from the audience, turning the show into a living, breathing event where improv, interaction, and surprise are essential.
Best spoke with The New York Independent about rediscovering musical theatre after years away, the thrill (and terror) of performing new material born from weekly political improv, and the lessons she carried from film sets into the rehearsal room.
She also opens up about disability, belonging, and the freedom of inhabiting a character who, like her, finds solace and identity in performance.
NYI: What first excited you about the prospect of playing Logainne?
Best: I was mostly so excited to return to theatre because I hadn’t done a musical in so many years, and I am making my New York stage debut with this iconic show. We were working with Rachel [Sheinkin], who wrote the book, in the room everyday throughout the rehearsal process. It was exciting for me to get to learn from her. There’s this part in the show where I go on this rant; it’s a tangent about politics. It’s not written in the script, so I get to write the rants every week, or so, to keep them fresh and current. At first it was the most daunting part of the show to me, but now it has become my favorite part. I get to test my skills in writing jokes! I don’t think anybody knows that I’m writing it. Recently I talked about the Kennedy Center being renamed.
Autumn Best performs in her New York stage debut Off-Broadway at New World Stages. (Photo: Joan Marcus)
NYI: What is your earliest experience as a performer? Were you always interested in theatre?
Best: I grew up in Utah doing community theatre and school plays. I started my professional career when I did a 29-hour reading in New York for a new musical. I really wanted to do musicals and then the pandemic happened and Broadway shut down, so I pivoted to film and TV. Musical theatre is where I got my training and where I got my representation, so it’s my first love. I missed it.
NYI: You made a name for yourself with your screen roles. What did “Woman of the Hour” (Netflix) and “4400” (The CW) teach you about performance that you find yourself using in Spelling Bee?
Best: The biggest thing I learned was how important it is to trust that you know what you are doing. If you were hired for a job, you are there for a reason. When I was on set for “Woman of the Hour,” I was a little nervous because I had bever been on a film set before and Anna Kendrick was the director! It was very exciting but also very scary. Danny [Zovatto], who played the serial killer, said: ‘You’re great, you just need to trust yourself. You don’t need to be worried or hesitant about anything because you’ve got it.’ I realized he was right and that I needed to believe in myself because nobody else is going to do it for me.
Theatre is my first love, and I know that I’m good at it. Coming into the rehearsal process for Spelling Bee, I was just taking everything in from the experienced people. They show up and do their job because they know they can — they were hired to do it. I had to find that within myself, too. I am here for a reason, and I cannot get in my own way. That’s the biggest thing I took from anyone.
NYI: How do you balance sincerity and exaggeration in a show that is simultaneously heartfelt and funny?
Best: A lot of that came from our incredible director, Danny Mefford. He came in with the goal of bringing as much realism and truth to these characters and stories. The characters themselves, and the jokes are already funny, so our job as performers is to just show up and not worry about delivering the joke; instead, we need to bring ourselves to them. That’s how you find a happy marriage between those two worlds. I learned so much from working on this process with Danny. I had never done comedy before! I learned very quickly how to find the truth first, and then the comedy comes because it’s already there. It’s amazingly Danny’s New York stage debut as a director!
The cast of ‘Spelling Bee.’ (Photo: Joan Marcus)
NYI: This is a challenging role in many ways, but one of them is that you sing with a lisp. How did you prepare to do that?
Best: I have chronic jaw pain, so singing with a lisp has definitely been a challenge! It forces your mouth closed in an uncomfortable way. In the first couple of weeks of rehearsals my jaw was cramping so badly. It was more of a physical challenge than anything else. I worked really hard with a physical therapist who gave me warmups to keep my neck and jaw muscles loose enough to not be in pain.
Now. I don’t even think about it. When I was learning the lisp, I really tried to stay true to [original Broadway cast member] Sarah’s [Saltzberg] interpretation of the character and what she dreamt up about the lisp. I listened to the original cast recording a million times. I have learned so much about my own body because of that one small thing.
NYI: How does the element of improv and working with the audience effect your performance each night?
Best: When you do a musical for this long it really keeps you on your toes. Every night is very different. It’s interesting to see the types of [guest spellers and audience participants] that come through. It keeps it fun and light, and it is something exciting to look forward to. People don’t realize that it’s also a sad show that deals with a lot of heavy topics, and I think the guest spellers are a beacon of light that makes the show unique and a good time.
NYI: Have there been any audience interactions that especially surprised or delighted you?
Best: My favorite part of the show is watching Lilli Cooper [who plays Rona Lisa Peretti] ad lib with the different introductions that she gives the guest spellers when they’re coming to the microphone. We always laugh. The only thing she is given prior to the show is the names of the guest spellers, so she has no idea what they look like. On stage, in the moment, she has to come up with whatever she says about them. There’s so much more improv in the show than people realize.
NYI: The show explores themes of childhood pressure, identity, and belonging. Which of those resonate most strongly with you?
Best: They all resonate with me in different ways. I am in the disability community because I only have one hand. When I was starting out in community theatre, my disability was never a thing that people discussed (or at least discussed to my face). I had such good community with those people. There’s definitely so much of that in Logan. She feels different and othered. She comes to the spelling bee and she can just focus on doing what she loves: spelling, winning, charming the audience, being smart, and wanting to be the president. She can ignore the pressures at home of wanting to impress her dads and being different because she lisps. I feel so close to that in many ways.
NYI: How did working on Spelling Bee bring back memories from your own school experiences?
Best: I was never in a spelling bee! It must not have been a big thing in Utah. But I was a super big nerd in high school. I was the straight-A student and the annoying teacher’s pet. When my dad came to Spelling Bee he said, ‘It’s not very often that you get to see your adult child just be their childhood self in front of you for 90 minutes, but that’s what was happening.’ That was so me: I had so many goals, so many dreams, and even Logan’s little bangs. I was the valedictorian of my high school because that’s how big of a nerd I was!
NYI: What has playing Logainne taught you about yourself as a performer?
Best: The most important thing is having fun and being passionate about what you’re doing. This show has really reminded me of my childhood self, and the big dreams I had when I was a kid. I have not lost sight of why I do this in the first place — I love it. All of the stressful things are far less important when I just remember I am making my dreams happen.
To purchase tickets for The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, now extended through April 12, click here to visit the show’s website, spellingbeenyc.com.