Competing in national competitions is the dream of many who are involved in sports or clubs. The Jimmy Awards are one of the national competitions that high school theater students can do. No, no, I am getting sidetracked, the main focus here is International Thespian Festival (ITF). Stella Kolb (11) and myself attended ITF in June after being awarded a Superior that January at Thescon.
Thescon and ITF are two very similar events for theater students — Thescon being state level and ITF being national level. At both events, everyone participating stays at a hotel near the convention center, or on site in the case of St. Louis hosting Missouri Thescon at Union Station. Students and directors alike attend workshops on acting, auditioning and technical theater techniques .
On top of the workshops, there are some small scale competitions you can register for such as the Improv Intensive. But there are the rare few, such as the one Stella and I competed in at Thescon.
Three groups from Oakville High School Theatre Troupe competed in the Thespys, the qualifying competition for the national stage, at Thescon. Sarah Burchett (12) and Keaton Rick-Tappella (12) competed in a duet acting piece, performing a medium length duet scene for the judges earning an Excellent, the second highest rating. Teagan Crecelius (12) competed with a solo musical piece, also earning an Excellent.
Stella and I competed with a duet musical piece with the song You’re The Top from Anything Goes, earning a Superior score in the category. At the closing ceremony of Thescon the keynote speaker announced our school for a Superior in duet musical performances and we knew we were able to move on.
During a conversation with our director, Isabelle Zurcher, about whether we were going to attend ITF, she told us she was not going to take us. We were able to compete because of Jane Kolb, Stella’s mom, being able to take us.
We stayed in a much-too-hot dorm right next to the McNutt dining hall on the University of Bloomington campus. To battle the heat in the not-so-air-conditioned dorms, we made a much needed Target run for fans.
After dinner, we promptly headed to the opening ceremony. We got there early so we could get good seats and we enjoyed free snacks like pretzels, frozen Minute Maid (a blessing in the heat), fountain drinks and bottled water. We gladly took advantage of the free food and settled into a spot by the door to wait for the sound check to be completed. The opening ceremony, usually a dull, unimportant moment, was quite memorable this time around. The opening pieces were incredible, and I felt like I was watching mini-broadway show previews because of the extreme high quality. They brought out their guest speakers, Miguel Cervantes and Jodie Langel. Langel led a conference-wide vocal warm-up and we got to warm up in a stadium of about one thousand theater kids.
During the day, we participated in workshops about all things theater. The workshops were a little longer than at Thescon and there were fewer a day, only two compared to three to four a day. We did workshops on audition tips, how to move with the music to make your audition song better, multiple dance workshops including Legally Blonde, Abracadabra by Katie Perry and a tap sequence to I Can Do That.
In the afternoon, we got to see the one acts and performances. We saw Hadestown: Teen Edition, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child: High School Edition, Drowsy Chaperone Jr. and Little Women as mainstages. We saw The Wolves, 21 Chump Street and Cut as one acts.
For You’re the Top, Stella and I worked many hours in her basement to bring it together. She choreographed all of the dance breaks and we worked together to bring the song to life with blocking and inflictions. At ITF, we practiced in an empty lounge area on our floor. We added a dip at the end of our song last minute, thinking it added some flair.
When we got to the building we were performing at, we didn’t know where to go. Finding where to go was a bit of a challenge having to first find the help desk to ask where our performance room was. We sat in the hallway for about 10 minutes before getting called in with eight other groups.
We received our scores back from the judges two days after we performed. We had received an Excellent, losing points for jewelry and a slate, a brief introduction, that didn’t grab their attention.
The experience of getting to be on the national stage and being the first to represent our troupe on that big of a stage, however, was better than the disappointment of not getting a Superior or winning the Thespys. This opportunity was exceptional and will always hold a special place in my heart because it has taught me valuable skills that I will be able to carry with me for the rest of my life. Theater has incredibly built my confidence, and I am grateful for all of the skills that Troupe Director Isabelle Zurcher and all of the shows have given me. Getting into theater was the best decision I’ve ever made, and I implore those with the aspiration to join theater to make the jump. It will build important life skills that you will not regret growing upon.
