A Spook-tacular Connecticut Festival!
Wow! I had an incredible (and spooky) experience this past weekend with the Connecticut Thespians!
On Friday, I flew into BDL airport and met with the lovely mom of an STO who brought me over to the STO slumber party. The CT STO have a tradition of an all night planning session the day before the festival, and they were kind enough to invite me to this terrific event. Once I arrived, I met Sophie, Amara, and Orla, and I had the wonderful opportunity to reunite with Linda whom I had met last year when I travelled to the Northeast festival. After eating some delicious pizza from a local CT shop, we got to work. We had a busy night ahead of us, starting by making Connection Circle necklaces and ending with finalizing the STO workshop. Throughout this whole process we laughed and talked and I got to know these four terrific young ladies. After several hours of hard work we finally called it an night. We turned in and couldn't wait for the day ahead.
By 5:45 AM we are all up and getting ready! We all pile into to Sophie's van and head down to Simsbury High School. We immediately start organizing the concessions and Broadway Cares table as well as setting up the High School with signage for the festival. The next two and a half hours of setup go by like a breeze, before we know it, the Thespians are arriving!
Opening ceremonies were a tremendous success, complete with a keynote from Janelle Robinson, the incredible actress and Hart Grad who originated the role of Mrs. Corry on Broadway. After opening ceremonies we went right into our Connection Circles. This is a wonderful initiative the STO use to encourage students to meet Thespians from different schools. Thespians were split up into different groups and each of the STO and myself got a group of students. We played games, got to know each other, and even made secret handshakes! Connection circles are one of the many wonderful CT STO initiatives.
The day zoomed by with workshops and before we knew it, it was lunch. We ate a delicious Chipotle catered meal and then gathered together in the Simsbury HS auditorium. Once we all settled in we did Minute-to-Give-it for the CT Thespian Senior Scholarship. The CT Thespians donated almost $100 for this wonderful scholarship! We regrouped to watch an incredible production of "She Kills Monsters." After the show we headed down for the STO workshop.
The STO were kind enough to let me join in and assist while the taught to their STO candidates. I was able to observe these phenomenal leaders in action and have a wonderful time learning about the way CT Festival works.
The next two hours were gone before we knew it, we had elected a group of four terrific new STO and then closing ceremonies was all that was left. We completed the event by announcing winners to the Halloween costume contest, played a festival-wide Kahoot, and then watched a slideshow of pictures from this incredible day together.
Thank you again Connecticut Thespians for allowing me to join in on your wonderful festival! What a terrific and spooky way to spend Hallo-weekend!!
Until next time Thespians make sure to stay connected! Follow me us on Instagram @InternationalThespianOfficers, Snapchat at ITOOfficial, and Twitter @ITOChair. As always, never hesitate to email me at sseth@schooltheatre.org! See you soon!
