Connecticut! One of the smaller states, but the amount of passion it has for the arts exceeds the size by many miles.
Enough of that strange analogy because the Connecticut State Conference was spectacular! I don't think that I've seen so many people at our state conference ever before! This year we had five schools participating, which definitely beats the two schools we had last year. And let me tell you, the old saying "The more the merrier" was definitely true for me.
As soon as I walked into the school building I was put to work explaining what guidebook was to one of the schools that were joining us that day. (It's also really awesome to see that many of these festivals are working on going mobile because it can really translate well with us teenagers who are way too into our technology.) Then the STO and I were sent to the stage to do our heroic intro given that the theme was also
Adventures in Theatre: Think Outside the Box! Then we were all set off to our first workshop of the day
My first workshop that day was tech challenge, and although I'm not much of a techie I got to witness a lot of the techies in action. It was amazing to see how fast some people could fold a drop, change a set or get me in and out of clothes as fast as possible. Oh, did I forget to mention that I was the quick change model? Indeed I had to change from full army uniform to a ball gown many... many times. It may have been quite repetitive, but it was quite the experience being quick changed.
Look at all those Techies! :D
After the first session of workshops we went straight into the next one which happened to be my
NAPS! advocacy workshop. There may have been four students in that workshop, but they were all really dedicated and had a lot to say about the importance of the theatre in their schools.
Look how awesome they all are!
Then, it was my favorite time of the day: LUNCH! Nothing in particular happened at lunch, but it was really great to see my friends and peers showing off the old person make up or their cool stage combat moves that they learned in their workshops. I even had a few students come up to me about wanting to join our State Thespian Officer board which made me so excited because I'm always excited for student leadership!
Right after lunch, we had an amazing one woman show called
No Boxes Allowed and directed by Ernasja Curry
performed by Tonille Watkis. It was such a beautiful piece about a girl who was struggling with her past, family and her identity and how she needed to accept who she was no matter how others viewed her or even how she viewed herself. They both also taught a workshop for cabaret style writing where we learned how to write parodies and rants.
Tonille is both an alumni from my school and both are alumni for the Thespian Society, so it is amazing seeing what kind of work they have gotten into, and of course I had to take a selfie with them.
Before I took the cabaret style writing workshop, I had to help teach the STO workshop, which went quite smoothly. We had a great turn out and had so much fun learning how to be a leader within our own schools or thespian society.
After all of the workshops we had a cookie break! While also doing our BC/EFA raffle! We raised a lot of money and many people won some cool Broadway gear. The raffle is always my favorite part of the festivals because we all get to celebrate gifts and raising money and awareness for a great cause.
Then came the closing ceremony, which is always sad. It especially upset me because this would be my last state conference in my hometown, but it still brought me joy to see the showcase participants and the slideshow (which had Troupe #7168's song Don't Stop Believing - Journey). This festival may be my last hometown state conference, but I will always cherish the memories in my heart.
I would like to especially thank my STO board, the CT-EdTA board, Liza McMahon, Marydell Merrill and Joe Norton for being there and hopefully having a good time at the conference, because I know I had a blast!