This past weekend I had the absolute pleasure of returning
to University of Nebraska - Lincoln for Nebraska’s State Thespian Festival! My
flight touched down in Omaha the afternoon of Thursday, January 7 before I made
the quick drive over to Lincoln to meet up with Nebraska’s energetic and dedicated
group of STOs and troupe presidents from all over the state in the Howell
Theatre.
We spent the evening planning for the kickoff of
the full-blown festival, which was scheduled to begin the next day with the
arrival of the rest of the thespian troupes. The theme was to be Clue, with an
air of mystery and intrigue coloring the whole event in a fun way. After
planning was wrapped up for the day and everyone was prepared for the opening
of festival, we spent the rest of the evening having fun with decorating STO
sashes. Here’s a picture I snapped with a couple of NE STOs:
The
next day at opening ceremonies, Nebraska Thespians were able to raise $730 for
The Lincoln Experience in ONE minute; how awesome is that! We also heard a
presentation from amazing guest speaker Quentin E. Darrington, who performed in
Ragtime on Broadway and in the
national tour of Memphis. His story
was so inspiring and hearing him sing live was absolutely surreal.
Then
we got treated to a fantastic performance of The Addams Family. I was so
impressed by Nebraska Thespians’ high level of talent!
The next day I got to teach my Leadership and N.A.P.S.
workshops to two awesome groups of thespians. Getting to interact with other
students in my workshops on a personal level is always my favorite part of attending
festivals!
We closed out the festival on Saturday evening
with closing ceremonies, where we saw some crazy talented thespians perform
their winning IEs, gave out some hard-earned awards, and expressed our
well-deserved thanks to troupe directors and state board members. I even got to
take a selfie with the crowd:
Thanks
again to everyone who made the festival happen, especially to Chapter Director
Angela Dashner, the NE Thespians adult board, and the NE STOs. Thanks as well
to EdTA rep Jo Lane who I had a pleasure serving with throughout the weekend. I
had a truly unforgettable experience in Nebraska, and I can’t wait to come back
home in June!