If television has taught me anything, it is that title sequences are out, no one is allowed to cast Katherine Heigl, and New York is the place to be. After being there for only a few moments, I understood the hype I so greatly anticipated.
This journey began at the Portland airport, to which I showed up two hours earlier than I needed, because I so excited not only to be going to New York, but to see the friends I have been thinking about since we last parted. As your resident red eye flyer, I have some advice to make your traveling better. First off, invest in a neck pillow and, if you can, a window seat so you can lean on the wall. Second, have ABBA Gold downloaded and ready to listen to as your plane lands. If you are lucky, you will hit the ground on beat and enhance your listening experience.
Reunions began at the Denver Airport, where I met Elam and Estee, who were on the same connecting flight! We had a wonderful time catching up and slept barely a wink.
Arriving early at 6am, we made our way into the city and found our hotel. Being the first three there, we had the opportunity to quickly run around and take in as much as possible. I felt overwhelmed with excitement and anticipation for the days ahead. Throughout the morning more ITO and adults arrived, each reunion just as exciting as the next. We had extra time before our first meeting, and took the opportunity to check out the most amazing theatre bookstore, which we would have all been happy to have spent all three days at!
We then went to our meeting at the American Theatre Wing, an amazing opportunity to learn more of the hard work the Wing does to provide opportunities for artists of all ages. The work Megan Kolb and Rachel Schwartz of The Wing do is exceptional and I am so grateful for the opportunity to have met them.
Next, we met the fantastic people at Playbill, and learned more of what they are doing to support arts education. Sarah Jane Arnegger met us and shared her stories of creating Playbillder, an amazing database in which students can create their own playbills for their shows. We also met Tyler Mount and Felicia Fitzpatrick, who are in charge of social media and publicity, and had the opportunity to listen to their stories. Everyone left that meeting feeling inspired and eager to embrace the next few days fully.
We concluded the day with the amazing production of Come From Away. GO SEE THAT SHOW!
Day two was a day filled with a lot of hard work! We made camp at TRW headquarters, a fine group of people that license some amazing musicals, and got in the zone planning the travels of this school year. I am so excited to begin going to festivals and hearing the stories of others told by the ITO. There is so much amazing content headed your way!
We finished this day with the amazing performance of 1984. GO SEE THAT SHOW TOO!!
Day three was, for a lack of better words, a masterpiece. We spent eight and a half hours working the Broadway Cares Flea Market, which lived up to the year long anticipation! Highlights included meeting tons of Alumni Thespians, running around selling aprons with the Dirty Dancing logo on them (Which were harder sell than you would think!) , and catching a glimpse of Bernadette Peters from across the street. The Queen does not age.
I was especially moved by the performances we saw later that night at the Broadway Back to School Concert. There is nothing more powerful than being surrounded by the most important organizations in the arts education community. We then headed back to the hotel, crammed in as much bonding as we could, and went our separate ways early the next morning.
New York was one of a kind. Thank you to The Wing, Playbill, TRW, Chad Kimball, Q Smith, BCEFA, and ITS for providing us ITO with an incredible opportunity to experience the amazing galaxy of New York’s theatre community.
Next stop: New Mexico Thespians! See you soon!