What a wonderful and exciting time I had this past weekend in Phoenix for the Arizona Thespian Festival! Much to my surprise, the festival was not hosted in the middle of a desert. I, as I'm sure many other travelers who haven't visited the lovely state, might have assumed there to be an overabundance of sand and cacti, but all I found was a multitude of warm hugs and theatre-lovers!
Late Thursday night my flight landed and I was quickly transported to my hotel via the wonderful Mrs. Denise Ferguson. As soon as my head hit the pillow, I was out to gather as much sleep as I could for the weekend ahead of me! 5:30a.m. came much earlier than expected, but with a heavy head I pulled myself together and put on my biggest smile until I could get my first cup of coffee. Breakfast in the morning was a wonderful buffet where I also got to meet a majority of their chapter board; all so inviting and welcoming. After finishing, we headed over to the convention center to begin setting up and preparing for the swarm of thespians that were soon to arrive.
So the morning went on, I was introduced to the 17 wonderful State Thespian Officer, each with their own personalized spatula. (They have spatulas instead of sashes for a fun, creative approach to identifying yourself as an STO, and the meaning behind them are secret! I hope to find out the meaning at a future date!) I was introduced to a multitude of thespians throughout the day as people moved between workshops and vendor booths, and was lucky enough to speak to everyone at their opening ceremonies. At the end of the day, I was able to step into the open mic session they had going on. This, as well as an improv competition, was being held in tandem to the dance in case there was anyone who just didn't have the extra drive to dance their hearts out. I heard so many wonderfully talented thespians sing and recite original poetry, even a few did some standup comedy. All in all, it was great stories from great thespians. After open mic, I attended the dance for about 30 minutes and had a lot of (clean) fun with my STO friend Marissa! Hours flew by, and before I knew it, the day was over and we were headed back to our hotels for a good night's rest.
The next day, I sprung awake to make a quick run to Starbucks to prepare for the day ahead of me. As I arrived at the convention center, I headed to the room in which I'd be holding my leadership workshop. As I closed the doors, there was about 40 Scooby-Doo Lovers ready for an hour of fun! Time flew by and needless to say, we were all left saying "Zoinks Scoob!" The rest of the day flew by, and before I knew it, I was already with another group of wonderful students talking about how National Advocacy is Plain and Simple! After saying goodbye, the day was nearly over and closing ceremonies had already snuck up behind us. Dinner with the chapter board was an uplifting, inspiring talk for the future of theatre, and I was hard to say goodbye to people I had grown so close to in such a short span of time.
Once again, thank you so much Arizona for the wonderful experience, and I hope to see the Arizona Thespians again at ITF!
If you want to keep up with the fun, follow the ITO on all of our social media! Instagram: internationalthespianofficers, snapchat: itoofficial, facebook: The International Thespian Officers, and my twitter: ITOAustinN !
Au Revior Thespians!