Don't worry, you won't have to get on stage if you don't want to. There's a booth in the lobby where you can sign up for a chance to spell if you're interested. Sign-ups close 15 minutes before showtime, so be sure to arrive early.

Among the entrants, up to four people are randomly picked to spell at each performance, so there's unfortunately no guarantee you'll be chosen. But you can always come back to the show and try again!

The lucky spellers are announced in the lobby shortly after sign-ups close. If you are one of the entrants chosen, a Spelling Bee staffer will brief you on what to do (and what not to do) to ensure your safety and fun.

While you're on stage, the cast will direct you to where you need to sit, stand, or move at any given moment, so be ready to go with the flow!

At a regular spelling bee, you can request some hints, like a word's meaning or for it to be used in a sentence. But at Spelling Bee, you must ask for these things. Not only might they help you, but it lets the actors deliver the hilariously zany definitions and sentences they have up their sleeves.

If you get knocked out in the first round, you'll have been on stage for about 15 minutes. But if, like me, you hang in for multiple rounds, you could be up there for nearly an hour! With that much stage time, you're practically a star of the show.

Celebs, they spell just like us. Some performances feature a celebrity guest contestant, who comes up from the audience and competes in the bee just like the other audience spellers. Daniel Radcliffe, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Nick Offerman, and, at my performance, Skylar Astin are just a few who've done it lately.

They're not always announced in advance, so it'll be a fun surprise if you end up spelling with a star! On the flip side, since there are only four slots for non-cast members to compete each night, the perks of seeing a celeb-less performance is that you get one more chance to be picked as a contestant.

And clothes you can move in. Audience spellers who make it far enough will get to join the cast in a musical number, performing a little bit of background choreography. Don't worry, the steps are basic, and even if you don't have any dance experience, you'll pick them up quickly from the cast member showing you the moves.

Like the rest of the audience, you'll be spending most of your stage time sitting and watching the goings-on (from a more unique vantage point, of course). You're reminded beforehand not to sing the songs or otherwise "perform" like the actors are, unless they specifically tell you to do something. Just relax and be yourself. You can still definitely laugh, react, and clap!

Bee host Rona Lisa Peretti (played by Lilli Cooper) shares fun facts about every contestant as they go up to spell. For the characters, there are scripted lines about their backgrounds. For celebs, she'll riff on their most famous projects. And for you, the audience spellers, she'll make a good-natured joke about your clothes or appearance.

It's never mean-spirited, and it's all part of the fun. She made a devastatingly funny remark about my haircut and I cracked up right there on stage.

Even the best audience spellers will eventually be eliminated so the second half of the show can progress as written. But that means there's no pressure! Plus, being knocked out can be just as fun as competing.

You'll get a juice box for the road and a serenade from the cast, and to say more about that serenade would be to spoil a delightful surprise, particularly for the last audience speller standing. All I'll say is that streamers and a couple fake-outs were involved as I basked in the spotlight for a few last minutes and took my final bow.

With no lines to memorize and no looming threat of losing out on prize money, you can — and should — just let yourself E-N-J-O-Y T-H-E R-I-D-E of Spelling Bee. Whether you're on or off stage, you're in for a high-energy, comically quirky, and wholly singular experience that'll make you feel like a kid again. A big, competitive, teacher's pet kind of kid, perhaps, but a kid.

Get The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee tickets now.

Photo credit: The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee off Broadway. (Photos by Joan Marcus)