Blogs

Special Spy Mission: To enrich lives through theatre education.

Mission Location: Russellville Arkansas

Agents: approx. 700 Thespians

Mission Day 1: Thursday, February 12th. I arrived in time to plan for the Opening Ceremony Spectacular--a light show set to a medley of songs and a student-choreographed dance. I was included in the dance and had so much fun strutting my stuff onstage in a sparkly purple hat and glasses.

The team of six STO and the representatives from various Arksansas high school presented the opening remarks following this dance and kicked off the 2015 All-State show titled, "I Want to Make Magic", a very heart-warming show featuring some favorite showtunes and scenes. Thursday night ended with adjudicated group event performances such as Group Musical Theatre, Group Acting, and Short Film.

Mission Day 2: Friday, February 13th. What better way to start a Friday morning than with some swing dancing? I took a workshop with Jason Thomas Mayfield, a NYC-based stand up comedian I had met at the Missouri Thespian Conference. I am not the best dancer, but I definitely learned some cool new moves. In the same space as the swing dancing workshop was the STO Leadership Workshop. This 1.5 hour long session involved group games and activities followed by two minute speeches from each of the STO candidates. What amazing examples of student leadership!

After lunch with the STO, it was NAP time. About 25 thespians attended my workshop and we had SO much fun learning about advocacy and sharing stories.The picture below shows some of the attendee's own definition of advocacy written on sticky notes.

 Day 2 came to a close after dinner, two more workshop sessions, and a late night snack at Ruby Tuesday's with the staff of the festival.

Mission Day 3: Saturday February 14th. Happy Valentine's Day, thespians! I started my day off teaching one of the things I love most-- leadership. A smaller group of students allowed for a more intimate workshop and for the thespians to create and share their own leadership contract. I also acquired some new snapchat friends from this workshop, check out the pictures below!

    Mission Accomplished: Arkansas Thespians are fabulous! Thank you!