This past weekend, I attended some of the best, most diverse and most rewarding conferences yet, and I couldn’t be more thrilled about! From the Junior Thespian Festival in Denison, Texas, to the Minnesota State Thespian Conference, the two events, though they were quite different in regards to weather conditions, were both just as exciting and filled with passion. My travels began on Thursday, where I flew into Dallas, Fort Worth. I was greeted not only by warm weather, but by one of my fellow ITO gals, Ari Hayaud-Din! We drove to Denison, Texas, where we met up with the rest of the EdTA staff, including Craig Branch, Marion Combs, Jim Palmarini, Clare Jaymes, Harper Lee, Angel Wuellner, Nancy Brown, Jim Curtis, and David LaFleche, who would be with us for Jr Fest that weekend. After a delicious dinner and an opportunity to catch up with many people we had not seen in months, Ari and I returned to our hotel that night. In the elevator up, we were thrilled to see some of the Jr Thespians from China and Saipan who had already arrived! This was so exciting, as Ari and I had been looking forward to having these international students at Jr Fest with us for many weeks, and we could not wait for tomorrow’s events to begin!
Friday morning met us with both new and familiar faces, as Ari and I saw our friend Doug Berlon again, who introduced us to Matthew Lee Robinson, the fabulous guest performing artist for Jr Fest. Then we all split up, some of us heading over to the school, others to grab some more supplies for the Festival. Craig gave Ari and I an official tour of the school, introduced us to a few more people, and then let us get to work hanging up signs around the school, filling out registration bags, and completing whatever tasks we could find. By around three in the afternoon, the schools began arriving! Ari and I had the pleasure of welcoming them during opening ceremonies and introducing them to Matthew Lee Robinson, who proceeded to blow everyone away with his incredible performances of his original music! The kids then dispersed for workshops, and I taught my Be Bold, Be Brave, Be Unafraid leadership workshop to over 30 excited middle schoolers!
After grabbing a quick group selfie, I met up with Ari and the Texas STOs for dinner before the evening’s events, which included a Minute-to-Give-It fundraiser and a mainstage performance of Circus Olympus! We were thrilled to find out that in one minute, the middle school thespians raised over $437.00, meaning that every single attendee gave at least one dollar! It was a great close to my time with them at Jr Festival.
The next morning, Mr. Palmarini and I, along with Matthew Lee Robinson, headed back to the Dallas airport. We dropped off the Mr. Robinson and after saying our final goodbyes, we settled down in the airport, where we would wait for much of the day for our flight to Minnesota. Mr. Palmarini and I headed over to the high school were the Minnesota State Conference was being held early Sunday morning, and I was warmly greeted by the Chapter Director, Michael Sheeks, along with the 17 remarkable STO leaders! After being crowned with a traditional STO Burger King paper crown and receiving my clip board and clothes pins, we had a huge pow-wow with all 400 Minnesota Thespians during the opening ceremonies! We split up into mixer groups, where 13 thespians and I all bonded (we created a secret handshake and a call and response, to be specific). Lunch followed, and pretty soon the STOs were off teaching workshops! I got to sit in on their great sessions about self-promotion, college auditions, student dramaturgy, and even making a group medley! The evening ended with some awesome pizza, a Ted Talks that my mixer group watched and critiqued, and a great conversation about diversity and what “Theatre For All” truly means. Sunday closed with the All-State Show, a performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream that had the audience roaring with laughter, jumping with fright, and thunderously applauding.
Monday morning I was in for an exciting surprise—the event was being held now at the Guthrie Theater! This gorgeous building in Minneapolis offered backstage tours throughout the day exclusive to the Minnesota Thespians. We opened up the final conference day with our mixer groups again, and we parted to start with workshop sessions and one act performances. I went to a great workshop led by the STO coordinator, who talked to the students about how leadership and social justice could be achieved on a student level. The STOs then led a STO Interest Session, where all prospective candidates participated in leadership games and talked about why they wanted to be an STO. There were so many passionate responses and stories, and afterwards the STOs and I all went out for ice cream to discuss the submitted applications! I then taught my leadership workshop to a small but mighty audience, with much diversity in its age group, and later the STOs met to discuss the closing ceremonies. I got to see some of their one-act performances, as well as go on a tour of the Guthrie, so that by the time I had to leave, I was as filled up with as much Minnesota Thespians as I possibly could be!