Hey Thespians! Only a few days after I got home from the Georgia Thespian conference I was off to the 2016 Arkansas Thespian Festival in Russellville, Arkansas. “Capture the Moment” was the theme of the festival and the weekend started off with a festival wide opening number. The fabulous Arkansas STO created a mash-up of music that dealt with taking pictures and each troupe present at Festival sent two representatives to dance in the opening. Afterwards the STO went over expectations and fundraisers that would be held throughout the weekend! Right after workshops Thespians went straight into group musical, group acting, lighting design and short film IEs!
The next morning began bright and early at 8am when I lead Minute to Give It at Morning Ceremonies raising $590.37. That morning the 2016-2017 Arkansas STO were elected in the STO leadership workshop. Candidates were asked to give a short speech about themselves and answer two impromptu questions about their leadership and character. After leadership I had to opportunity to judge Honor Thespian and Thespian Scholarship interviews. It was interesting listening to why students wanted to pursue theatre, how they became involved in the art and what their plans are for the future. One of the most inspiring things an candidate told me was that she wanted to “leave a legacy not a legend”. While I judged interviews, 850 Thespians were running about attending workshops, watching One Acts, auditioning for colleges and participating in the Arkansas Thespian Selfie challenge.
The final day of Festival I taught NAPS and my leadership workshop “Be the Change” to about 50 awesome thespians. In NAPS we tackled issues that Arkansas Thespians are facing in their troupes and in Be the Change students discovered how they can make a difference in their troupes.
I very much enjoyed my weekend in Russellville, Arkansas and am looking forward to see how the conference grows in the future! For right now, I am very excited to see the rest of my ITO family in a few days at the home office in Cincinnati! As always to stay up to date with all things Thespians follow the ITO and I @ITOEmmaA (Twitter), @internationalthespianofficers (Instagram), and @ITOOfficial (Snapchat).