| This
year’s International Thespian Festival theme is
“Imagine the Past, Present,
Future.” If you would like to tell us
how this theme has applied to your life or would like
to share your experiences at Festival, let us know! Send
us email or contact us on our Facebook page! Here are
some stories from last year's theme "Ignite the
Limelight":
"Being
in the limelight" In general is to be a performer.
but I think that it goes beyond that.. I think you can
be in the limelight by helping someone, being there for
a friend or family member, Or even raising money for your
thespians troupe. Our troupe is doing a dance-a-thon sometime
in the next month and we are raising money for the homeless
shelters in our local area. I hope to raise a lot of money
for this outreach and I am sure others will be grateful
and benefit from our charity. By doing this outreach I
believe that we will this is a example of "being
in the limelight."
-David Baker Troupe #1553
When
my troup from Mountlake Terrace, WA performed in Nebraska
last year, we had a blast. Our cast of four guys (me included)
did the show "The Complete Works of William Shakespeare
Abridged" and loved every minute of it. Going around
campus after the shows, people everywhere were telling
us "good job" and "loved the show"
etc. We felt famous. None of us had experienced this kind
of recognition before (since our high school doesn't really
care much about the arts). Whenever people stopped us
in Nebraska we'd always thank them, strike up a short
conversation, and then go on our merry way. Then, while
we were in line to see one of the mainstage shows, we
all experienced the most rewarding moment of the week
long trip (at least in my opinion). A middle aged woman
approached us and asked if we were the cast of "Shakespeare."
We told her we were and she said, "I have a degree
in Shakespearean literature and I've always hated the
show 'The Complete Works of William Shakespeare'...but
you made me love it." We were all floored. This woman
who had spent her whole life studying shakespeare liked
OUR performance of his works after years of hating the
show. It was the biggest compliment we could have gotten
and for the first time I felt that our show had had some
sort of effect on someone. All of the other compliments
we'd gotten throughout the week (though they made us feel
good) paled in comparison to what this woman had just
told us. And I'll never forget it.
-Nick Terry Troupe #3627
Being
in the limelight means putting on a production that showcases
everyone's talents. Every actor, techie, crew chief and
director, gives all that they have to the show. It is
more than individual recognition. Maybe you had the lead,
good for you. Maybe you were the stage manager, that's
great. But an individual actor or techie can accomplish
nothing. Without the entire community of directors, techies,
and actors working together, we can accomplish nothing
of significance. Together, we can do great things. We
can move an audience to tears. We can communicate a theme
larger than ourselves. We can ignite the limelight.
-John Stark Troupe #4274
In
March of 2007 Thespian Troupe 2168 from Toms River High
School South performed the musical The Mystery of Edwin
Drood by Rupert Holmes. Though a hard play to preform,
we did it perfectly and professionally. One thing that
not everyone knows about our performance was that it was
changed from the original script especially for us. Our
director contacted Mr. Holmes himself and he gave us an
entire scene especially for our performance. To me I feel
that our recognition for being able to pull off such a
difficult show, with a scene given to us from the creator,
is a time my troupe was in the spotlight.
-JJ Merell Troupe #2168
My
definition on being in the limelight is touching peoples'
hearts with the productions we put on at our school. Personally,
I like to be remembered for my great performances. Our
troupe has put on many plays but the one play that has
touched people the most is "Tracks." We do our
best with what we have at our school, and we do not have
much at all. A real drama troupe can put on a play with
out any costumes or any props and still keep people interested.
I am proud to be a president of the Waccamaw acting troupe,
because no matter what we do people always talk about
our drama troupe, we do our best to put on a great show,
and we always do.
-Karli Sinclair Troupe #7137
Our
theatre troupe really has no one individual that stands
out in the limelight. It's more like we all stand together
as a single artistic entity. We stress the true meaning
of ensemble and just go with it, and because of that,
we have always tried to perform ensemble shows. Our troupe
has had its ups and downs in its 40 year history, and
our membership dropped to its lowest point three years
ago, when I was the only thespian that didn't graduate.
A group of us theatre folk decided we would start fresh.
We worked hard and got the ball rolling. Through ITS,
we became involved in the North Carolina Theatre Conference
(NCTC) competition, where we took "The Bald Soprano"
by Eugene Ionesco. We were the only new school there,
as our troupe hadn't participated in over 5 years, and
we had the smallest amount of funding (virtually nothing,
with a set made up of an old couch, 2 wooden chairs and
a plywood rolling wall). The spirit of Thespis was burning
inside of us as we became a true ensemble, and we went
on to receive a superior rating and 4 awards including
Overall Best Ensemble and Overall State-Level Runner Up.
We felt like we had just lived through the movie "Dodgeball",
and we had finally made a name for ourselves. This was
our first moment in the spotlight, and I can promise you,
that there will be many more moments like this in the
years to come.
-Jake Krug Troupe #3313
My
definition of being in the "limelight" is something
you do on your own. Being in the limelight means that
everything, not only yourself, looks near perfect when
it comes time to perform. In the show that means whether
you are a lead or a minor part of a grip or any position.
You do your best to promote the show as a whole. I don't
believe you can be in the limelight if you care only about
yourself. If you do that than you might look decent but
the rest of the show will just look bad. Everyone in a
play enhances one another by doing their best. So when
the technical aspects are all on cue and all the actors
are into the show and taking it seriously it looks fantastic.
The limelight is awfully big and it takes the collaboration
of everyone involved in a play to truly shine beneath
it.
-Chris DiTomaso Troupe #4566
"All
the world's a stage,/ And all the men and women are merely
players..." To me, William Shakespeare epitomized
what it means to be in the limelight with these lines.
While it is obvious that one can be in the limelight on
the literal stage while performing under the glow of the
spotlight, I think that the most valuable place to shine
is throughout day-to-day life. As thespians, we should
"act well our part" both on stage and off stage,
as role models and as ambassadors of the community. Through
theatre we have the ability to put ourselves in the limelight
for an audience to see, to reveal the deepest parts of
ourselves through this beautiful art form. The most wonderful
part of the limelight is the ability to share it with
others.
-Lindsay Johnson Troupe # 7436
Over
the years I have done theatre from my high school to community
theatre to professional work and through it all one director
stood out to me the most. Her name was Sara King. Sara
had always had a huge expectation above her because both
of her parents were local legends. Her mom the local go
to voice teacher that had been performing in shows for
years, and her dad still performing in operas at the local
opera company. Sara had chosen to follow their paths into
a life in the limelight. Because Sara was talented people
would often create conflict with her and try to drag her
down. Sara would never let any of it get to her. She was
always positive and wonderful to work with. She would
go out into the community and do work with her parents
a a very high level. On top of that she kept up her grades
in high school, participated in our shows and others in
the community, and kept a virtually flawless positive
image on top of it all. All of Sara's hard work paid off
when she was chosen as one of the presidential scholars
and got to sing for the President of the United States
along with a handful of other humble talented teens. Today,
Sara King is a junior Otterbein where she is studying
musical theatre. She is still touching and inspiring many
people through her art to this day. Sara has inspired
me my whole life. It just goes to show a little hard work
and positive energy can bring great things to not only
you, but the people around you.
-Sydney Magers Troupe #4501
I think that the limelight is something that every actor
tries to achieve. Many thespians, including myself see
it as the moment that you have your name on the top of
the playbill or you have the big dance solo, but I think
that the limelight can be achieved by anyone. There are
so many people making that lead character look great.
I think being in the limelight means having that self
confidence in your craft and in yourself and instilling
it in your fellow actor and/or technician and letting
the audience see the hard work you've put into something.
-Chad Burris Troupe #6338
To
be in the limelight means to put all focus on a central
point. Whether you're on stage and in the limelight, or
if a cause you are working for is in the limelight, it
is defined as what all attention is directed towards.
Every student who has been in the limelight in my community
has been there because they followed something they loved,
stuck to it, and were eventually rewarded for it. Whether
they submitted a play to be judged for our State Thespian
Conference, made the winning touchdown in the last few
seconds of the big football game, or started a brand new
service project in town, my peers have been known to inspire
others by following their passion
–Ariel ThileniusTroupe #2445
In
our troupe (TROUPE #2317 REPRESENT!), we try and allow
students to have a variety of opportunities to creatively
express themselves. In our productions the students are
the ones who design the makeup, costumes, set, props,
and lighting. We push our students to do what is best
for the production and allow them to use their creativity
to show that. Also, throughout the year we have a variety
of fundraisers and showcases where students can "showcase"
what they have been working on, performance-wise. The
performances range from speeches to mime, poetry to musical
theatre, and monologues to choral reading. Pretty much,
we try and find outlets to allow each student to creatively
express themselves and be acknowledged for that work.
–Sdra Vasiljevic Troupe #2317
I believe that being in the limelight means that people
look to you. You have their undivided attention and it's
up to you as to how you use it. Anything you do impacts
those people in any way. It can be an extremely flattering
and at the same time scary. It easy to say that the students
who get the leads in shows are automatically in the limelight.
And while that's true, it's also a safe answer. My fellow
senior actor Danielle Darcy cannot be found in the spotlight,
and yet all eyes are on her. She willingly signed up and
took the connotation of a stage manager in my school as
"the person who didn't get in the show" and
turned that around! Danielle commands attention and boy
does she receive it! The actors and other crew members
look up to her and trust her completely.
-Katie Verde Troupe #6185
At
Edina high school, we try to market our shows and thespian
club activities as much as possible. The thespians are
not a very large portion of the population at Edina, so
it's pretty difficult to get different types of people
to come to the shows. It's generally the same audience
every time. This is really a shame because we all put
so much hard work into our shows and we want everyone
to see that the reason none of us have lives is because
we truly love and believe in what we're doing, and we
want to share the joy we get from performing with everyone
at Edina high school. One tradition we have at Edina is
to, on opening day, have everyone in the cast and crew
wear the shirts we get for whatever show we're putting
on around school all day. The seniors also make signs
for everyone to wear around their necks that say their
name and the role they play in the show. This has proven
to be a great marketing technique and it really puts our
show in the limelight, because the school sees how much
we care about our show.
-Emily Liebman Troupe #1539
To be in the limelight is commonly defined as to be the
center of attention. However, in my opinion, being in
the limelight means that you must also earn that attention.
It's not enough to have people watching you, you've got
to be responsible for the story you're telling and the
message you're trying to send and the emotions you want
to awaken in the audience. I alone did nothing to get
my "troupe" to get into the limelight. I think
theater is a group effort, or a fine-tuned machine, like
a watch: one cog missing and it won't work. Everyone and
their contributions are extremely important to the success
of a show. So I guess to answer your question, I got/get
my troupe into the limelight by working with them as a
group and not trying to hog the attention, so to speak.
Individual students have been in the limelight at my school/community
by, as I said, working as a part of the whole group to
put on a great show. They also get into the limelight
through exceptional hard work and dedication, such as
a friend of mine who has been in every show since sophmore
year, regardless of what part they got.
-Teddy Hoffman Troupe #1539
To
be in the limelight is an act of courage and a huge responsibility.
You have a responsibility to your cast, your peers, your
audience, and yourself. At our school we encourage our
fellow members to participate in competitions. A great
deal of it was advertising and simply getting the word
out. One girl in our school (Bree Mahoney) organized a
Darfur awareness group, and our Gay Straight Alliance
are always helping put people center stage.
-Laurel Delany Troupe #6185
I
believe when I am in the limelight, I am the character
with giant facial expressions; strong emotions; and live
actions because I rehearsed my character for three months.
Then, it is show time and I am being a character for the
audience in the limelight. When I am performing on stage,
all I can see are the white lights shining brightly; until
I hear the audience reactions, I know it’s a packed
theater—it is so amazing!
-Steven Pedro Troupe #1717
We
have done many plays and we work really hard. This school
year we did two productions HELLO, DOLLY! and TEN LITTLE
INDIANS. The Thespian Officers are Breanna Castle, Aaron
Barber, Becky Woerner, Josh Kennedy, Mary Fiske, and Sydni
Smith. Grants Pass has three high school theatres and
Grants Pass is the one I hear of the most. We do Regionals,
TOTS, Old Peoples Housing Shows, Productions, and other
stuff in our community; we actually started a thing called
Caroling For Cans! Some of the past plays that we have
done are 7 Brides for 7 Brothers, Fools, The Music Man,
The Man Who Came to Dinner, Fat Chance, The Comedy of
Errors, and many more. I think that we are all like a
family we live, laugh and work together! Thank you for
the consideration and for reading our story. I would like
to thank our wonderful director Katie Skudstad for helping
all of us SHINE!
Aaron Barber Troupe # 2345
Our
troupe is taking a children's theater piece and touring
to local elementary school. We are going to perform The
Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. My personal definition
of being in the limelight would be being spotlighted or
recognized for something you have done.
-Stephen Hilson Troupe #303
To
be in the limelight means that someone draws attention
to themselves but not in an arrogant or disgusting way.
They are someone who can do great things making everyone
like then but still being more humble than belief.
-Kyle Gillikin Troupe #5688
To
be in the limelight would mean to have done something
extraordinary or great that puts you in the line of focus.
We are the best at what we do and just try to do it our
best. I found out today that the children's theater show
we did at Jefferson has been nominated for and Icky award.
They have made it so our school has been put in the papers
or in the news for positive things, instead of the negative
things.
-Jake Rozendaal Troupe #561
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