Hi, Kristin
I agree with the others that the ideal would be for their middle schools to have theatre programs and Junior Thespian troupes of their own, but we play the hand we're dealt. Hats off to you for giving them opportunities. It benefits them and provides your high school program with a predictable stream of prepared and motivated theatre arts students. Hopefully the demand you're creating will grow and result in new middle school theatre programs.
Because your middle schoolers don't have theatre programs in their schools and are participating in your high school theatre program, you do have some options for integrating them into your Thespian program. At your discretion you could consider them de facto Thespian apprentices and award them points
on a provisional basis. Here are some things to consider:
1. Those point awards would only be guaranteed by you in your own program. If a student advanced to a different high school than yours, it would be up to that troupe director to decide if the work would be eligible for points. That's a big benefit of official Junior Thespian induction. All Thespian troupes are expected to start Junior Thespians off with half of the points needed for high school induction, normally 5 out of 10, the equivalent of 50 out of 100 hours of quality work. Without official induction those point awards are at the troupe director's discretion.
2. Regardless of the school, the students will only be eligible for induction into a high school troupe in or after grade 9. As Elana and Valerie noted, some troupe directors won't induct otherwise eligible students in grade 9. That's an acceptable, local eligibility requirement.
3. At least half of the points needed for induction should be earned in the school's theatre program. The other half can be a combination of work in outside programs, including other school, community, professional, youth, private academy, etc. Work done by middle school students in your program would be treated the same way. Specifics are determined by the troupe director.
4. A big advantage to having an official Junior Thespian troupe is that it provides a built in, progressive system for recognizing and rewarding middle school student work and achievement, i. e., induction followed by additional point stars ratings. If middle school students are provisional Thespian apprentices, that structure isn't available. You could create a recognition system in your own program, though. I really like Carolyn Little's suggestion to award them physical certificates for hours worked, roles performed, etc., and allow them to redeem the certificates for Thespian points when they reach grade 9. Kudos to Carolyn for that creative and elegant solution!
I hope this helps. If you have additional questions on this or any other troupe management issue, please feel free to contact me.
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Brian Benz
Membership Manager
Educational Theatre Association
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-13-2018 13:22
From: Kristin Lundberg
Subject: Involving Middle School Students
For the high school musical this year, I will be casting and involving in tech several middle school students in the show as the next steps of building the program. I know this will be well received and am excited for it. The middle schools do not have theater programs however my high school has an established troupe. When the middle school kiddos become our high school students and are ready to join the international thespian society, would they be able to accumulate their points from performing at the high school from when they were in middle school and put it towards their membership?
Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
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Kristin Lundberg
Theater Arts Teacher
Rocky Mount NC
kalundberg@nrms.k12.nc.us
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