Blogs

At the end of March, the North Carolina Thespians assembled for their annual state conference, and I could not have been more thrilled to attend! Arriving early on Thursday morning of their festival with the wonderful Kimberly Staples, we dropped our bags at the hotel and headed over to the Cultural Arts Center in Greensboro, where the first two days were located. There we were greeted by the always-smiling and enthusiastic chapter director Chris Veneris, who excitedly welcomed us and got us settled into the “war room” all the adult leaders were located in. More and more students piled into the Arts Center, eager and excited for the day ahead, which held several workshop sessions and activities with other troupes. I had the opportunity to teach two sessions of the ITO Arts Advocacy workshop (NAPS) to two groups of awesome, eager attendees! After everyone had been registered and the conference was kicked off, Staples and adult board member John Friedenberg headed back to the hotel where the majority of the Thespians were staying, planning for the next few days.

Up bright and early the next day, we headed back to the Arts Center to kick off a day full of IE events, scholarship auditions, and workshops. Dozens of students competed in events ranging from music to technical theatre, and by around noon the nerves were over for the most part, as students attended workshops and spent time with friends. I got to see the STOs teaching their “So You Want to Be an STO?” workshop, of which they had many attendees and even more applicants for the 2017-2018 NC STO board. Later I taught many of those same, awesome candidates in a session of leadership, of which there were tons of excited students interested in opportunities at the local, state, and national level. After workshops wrapped up, the attendees headed back to the hotel for a group banquet and dance. Mr. Veneris inducted the first NC Thespian Hall of Fame members and celebrated the students transforming the banquet hall into a dance for the over 500 students. Simultaneously, interested STO candidates were interviewed upstairs by those STOs continuing on to another term on next year’s board, and so many students expressed their desires and passions to be a student representative. The evening came to a close with many of the students exhausted, but not ready for the last day of festival to come!

Saturday required a change of scenery as the conference was now located at Grimsley High School, who’s beautiful old auditorium was home to the one-acts performing throughout the day. Show after show cycled through the stage with pieces ranging all time periods and genres. After a delicious food-truck lunch the STOs ran the Minute to Give It fundraiser, in which the students were able to raise over $200 in sixty seconds for the Send a Troupe campaign! Then, one-act shows continued up until the end of the day. Before closing ceremonies, the STOs met and finalized their new board, preparing to announce the elected students at the finale. Performers and talented technicians were recognized at closings, some invited to perform on stage for the entire group and some ranked high enough to continue on to the national level at ITF this summer! After a brief word from Mr. Veneris the students were already through another festival, some attending for the final time. Many tears were shed, but excitement was already forming for next year’s conference, as the conference attendees already could not wait to be back!