Hey guys!
I flew back home to Georgia from Thespian Conference on Sunday morning. It is now Thursday. I think this is enough time to get my thoughts together in order to put them into words.
This was my first time at Festival. I had a few ideas of how wonderful it would be, but when I arrived I realized it surpassed anything I thought it would be. I got to meet wonderful aspiring actors and actresses, amazing techies, adults with patience I don't think I could attain even in a lifetime, and great young leaders. Though very different in size and shape, we all had one common interest; to further ourselves and others in the arts. Even those who don't want to be in the theater as a career STILL understand that this art is one that molds us into wonderful human beings.
There has never been an environment in which I felt so understood and accepted like at Thespian Festival. The shows were SO IMPRESSIVE. I knew the talent was there. What I did NOT know was how AMAZING it was. Not just the MainStage shows, either. The chapter-select shows were astonishing.
One place where I was taken aback by the talent I witnessed was
Festival's Got Talent.
In that small black box theatre there I saw talent that I would've never seen in one of the shows. Acts that were well thought out and beyond impressive. There were people who went up to perform in font of everyone who had never performed in front of a group of people before. It just made me love live theatre all the more.
There is one place where the people were just so sweet and genuine beyond explanation. That place was our leadership workshop. We all woke up at that ungodly hour of seven AM to work our way to the Student Union to be taught and inspired by great leaders. Take it from a person who is in
NO way a morning person and I STILL thought it was beyond worth it. Tuesday through Saturday every morning the International Thespian Officers led us in lessons about confidence, self worth, taking chances, and being a true leader. I think we can all agree to say that we all picked up a thing or two in that workshop!
I also got the pleasure of being one of the candidates to run for International Thespian Officer. I was so honored to be in a wonderful caliber of young leaders. They all had a story and an amazing vision for EdTA. At the end of the week, votes were taken and I was elected as the new ITO Communications Editor. In the midst of all my teenage squeals of joy, I went and met with all my other new ITO and I realized how lucky I am to have the opportunity to serve Thespians everywhere with them.
I can't wait to get started and meet all of you!
From left to right:
Alyssa Jewell: Region I Rep., Liz Coin: Region II Rep., Rachel Gatewood: Region III Rep, Tracie Kunzika: Region IV Rep., Danysha (Dany) Lamadieu: Communications Editor., Alex Minton: Chair.
