In addition to what Shira and Dianne have posted, I'll say that an active ITS troupe is the collective collaborator I need to run a very busy Theatre Program.
Our meetings are primarily organizational. The agenda is based on what we have going on and on the horizon.
We require every Thespian to participate in every extracurricular show in some way. It's in our Bylaws. I depend on troupe members to invite fellow students and prospective Thespians to attend any Saturday work day. They invite students to audition for extracurricular shows and urge them to take Theatre Arts courses. The Thespians are the ones who know in their bones that a successful show is the responsibility of all of them, and sewing on a button, or coming in during a day their dual enrollment college course doesn't meet to focus lights, is just as important as being the lead.
At our final meetings each year, we discuss potential shows for the next year, both curricular and extracurricular. I go home each summer with a long list that I whittle down. I often contact the troupe over the summer to help me make final selections.
Eight to 10 of our Thespians direct 10-minute plays for our spring
Quixotica, which pays for our hotel rooms at the NC Thespian Festival. Most, if not all, of the plays are student-written, because (21st Century Skills!) our Thespians understand that we make a heck of a lot more money if we don't pay royalties and script fees. They are very proud of paying for their hotel rooms, plus registration fees for students who can't afford them, from
Quixotica.
I am retiring in June, and our Thespian troupe is working with me to make sure the building is in shape to hand it over, and Thespians not graduating are learning equipment to teach the new teacher.
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C. J. Breland
Asheville High School
Asheville NC
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Original Message:
Sent: 04-11-2019 08:12
From: Dianne Rowe
Subject: ITS Troupe Ideas
Yay for new troupes! Good for you! Have you checked the resources on the EdTA website? They have a sample letter to your principal, and lots of other good resources. https://www.schooltheatre.org/internationalthespiansociety/troupedirectors
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Dianne Rowe
Theatre Arts Teacher
Junior Thespian Troupe 88177
Berry Middle School
bit.ly/BerryDrama
Birmingham, AL
Original Message:
Sent: 04-10-2019 11:41
From: Shira Schwartz
Subject: ITS Troupe Ideas
Good for you! Here are some of the things my high schoolers in ITS do:
- earn graduation honors that are worn at the ceremony
- scholarships (both for use in their applications in academic scholarships and theatre based ones)
- high academic standards from students involved
(this year I have 33 AP exams between the 20 kids in my adv class - all of whom are in ITS)
- teachers and reinforces cooperative learning, business skills, understanding of hard deadlines, self esteem building,etc
- produces main stage productions
- earns money
Hopefully this will help you get started. You can message me if you want more specifics on anything, Good luck!
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Shira Schwartz
Chandler Unified School District
Chandler AZ
Original Message:
Sent: 04-10-2019 08:10
From: Elizabeth Austin
Subject: ITS Troupe Ideas
Hi geniuses!
I am working on a proposal for administration to approve chartering an ITS Troupe at our school! We are a K-12 school so I'm hoping to add on a Junior Thespian Troupe later on.
I don't anticipate issues from administration, but ITS is pretty open-ended. I know admin will want to see concrete examples of what we can do with this organization. Does anyone have ideas/suggestions for us? I have 22 high school kids interested, so I plan to have a brainstorm meeting with them as well. Thanks in advance for you help!
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Elizabeth Austin
Middle School Theatre Teacher
Chattanooga Christian School
Chattanooga TN
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