Everyone has a spelling bee story. Perhaps, like your dear writer, your third grade self knew you would not be able to spell n-e-i-g-h-b-o-r-h-o-o-d and requested a bathroom break at just the right time. Maybe, like other Chicagoist staffers, you missed toboggan, dyeing or colossal. Or maybe you never made it past the first round. Well it doesn’t matter anymore. It’s all in the past. You have been handed a second chance to prove it to the world that you do NOT suck as spelling. The Whistler is hosting its first annual spelling bee on March 2. So you have just enough time to start studying your Dictionary.com app before bed every night. And for the record, the words have been meticulously culled from “dictionaries, current popular fiction, sci-fi conventions, lists of ingredients, how-to manuals, bus stops, closing credits, Facebook posts” and the like. The Whistler has a long list of words that need spelling and are looking for people who can get the job done. more ›

It's that time of year again: the Scripps National Spelling Bee. We love it and we're not ashamed to admit it. As if adolescents don't face a big pressure cooker every day, let's throw the most awkward ones on a stage for a contest broadcast nationally where they're under pressure to spell words. And, no, we're not being sarcastic. We really do find the entire event fascinating. Once again, Illinois was well-represented with three students heading into today's action: Gina Liu of Charleston, Adrian Gunawan of Arlington Heights, and Michaela Minock of Peotone. As of post time, from the last completed round, Liu and Gunawan are still in the running. The Final Round commences tonight at 7 p.m. on ABC for those who are looking for an exciting alternative to the Blackhawks game. more ›

Yeah, we're total nerds. And also compulsive gamblers. Either of which is a perfectly good reason to check out the annual Scripps National Spelling Bee. Last year, River Forest's Rose Sloan had a run at the title, getting all the way to the prime-time finals before misspelling "sheitel," a word even our Firefox spellcheck doesn't recognize. This morning, the semifinals get under way (actually, right now on ESPN) and there are only two Illinois kids still in the running, neither from the greater Chicagoland area: Peoria's Kyle Mou and Springfield's Aishwarya Pastapur. Whoever comes out the nation's top speller, we're all winners, be it Jack Black or this kid. more ›

The 2008 Scripps National Spelling Bee is in the books (see what we did there?) and your Champion is not the adorable Rose Sloan. more ›

The Scripps National Spelling Bee Quarterfinals are complete and the starting field of 288 has been whittled down to less than 50. Of the sixteen Illinois participants (including the seven Chicago-area spellers we listed earlier), only six made it to the elimination rounds. Of those, only three advanced as far as Round 4: Peoria's Kyle Mou and Chicago's Rose Sloan and Emily Temple-Wood. In that round, Mou ("virago") and Sloan ("ectrodactylism") advanced to the Semifinals but Temple-Wood was tripped up by "alastrim." The state with the most contestants still standing? California, with five (though America's Hat has seven left). The Bee continues tomorrow with the Semifinal round at 10 a.m. (ESPN) and the Championship round at 7 p.m. (ABC). Congrats to all our local kids that made it to the nationals. Good luck tomorrow, Rose. The fate of Chicago's spelling reputation rests with you. more ›

], but we've always loved catching ESPN's coverage of the Scripps National Spelling Bee, not to mention we're huge fans of the outstanding documentary Spellbound. And we're not the only ones: for the third year in a row, the Championship Round is going prime-time on national television. The preliminary rounds have wrapped up and the quarterfinals are this afternoon from 1 - 4:30 p.m.(broadcast on ESPN360.com), while the semis will air on ESPN from 10 a.m. until 1 p.m. tomorrow. The Championship Round will air on ABC starting at 7:00 p.m. tomorrow night. This year's Bee began with 288 spellers, sixteen from Illinois. Chicago-area spellers include: more ›

This is not a lie – we rock at Scrabble. We even played Scrabble using French words once; kind of a pretentious pursuit, but fun nonetheless. Here in Chicago, you can still get your Scrabble on even if you don’t own the game; lots of bars and coffee shops have Scrabble and other board games on their shelves, available for play. And in our opinion, there is no better way to impress a girl on a date than whipping her ass in Scrabble (or Connect Four, or Battleship). more ›

About an hour after our post on Chicago theater coping with the theater of the gridiron, we discovered the Tribune’s list of Super Sunday alternatives. We won’t even pretend that any of these events are more momentous or worth your time than the biggest Bears game since MTV was cool. But we still think they’re better than hearing yet another story about South Beach “sabor.” more ›

A study commissioned by Broadway in Chicago about Broadway in Chicago reveals — surprise! — Broadway in Chicago is injecting big bucks into the city. How big? Around $635 million in 2006, give or take a few hundred million. An article in today’s Sun Times blew a big sloppy kiss to the Live Nation/Clear Channel/Nederlander money machine, leading with that impressive figure which they concede is a tad inflated. Around half of it ($320 million)... more ›

At last night’s Joseph Jefferson Awards gala, the Jeff Committee made a rather forceful argument for North Side theater fans to drag their cultured butts to the South Side. Hyde Park’s Court Theater dominated the proceedings, netting 10 total Jeffs for their highly acclaimed interpretations of Fences, August Wilson’s seminal play, and Man of La Mancha, Dale Wasserman, Joe Darion and Mitch Leigh’s popular musical. The Quixotic musical racked up more awards than better-advertised contenders... more ›

Jeff’s back and he’s a little less predictable this year. This morning, the Joseph Jefferson Committee announced its 2006 nominations for Equity theater professionals (a.k.a. the Jeff Equity Awards). Jeff showered the most praise (9 noms) on another musical revival: Drury Lane’s Grand Hotel. The perennially loved Goodman, Court, and Marriott each received 13 nominations, but the big story is about the musicals. This year, out of town shows like Urinetown and Spelling Bee and... more ›

Kristen Romanowski, Fourth Annual Chipp Inn Spelling Bee Champion more ›

Chicagoist believes the only thing better than finding fun shows and exhibits for our readers is watching them develop. The arts and theater communities continue working long after their 15 minutes on the web expire, we just try to keep up. Consider this report a “Where Are They Now?” sans washed-up celebrities. The Snubfest ’06 lineup has been announced, and it looks good. Not Aspen Comedy Festival good, but that’s kind of the point. The... more ›

Chicagowist wood like to congratchalate local stoodents Phillip Acevedo and Theodore Yuan. After scoring major victoreys at qualifying compatishins in Chicago and Lincolnshire yesturday, Acevedo and Yuan will head to Washington Joon 1 and 2 to reprezent the Chicagoland area in the Scripps National Spelling Bee. more ›