The thespian experience

This year the manatee theater department put on the annual thespian showcase. Which is a “showcase” of everything the theater department brought to competitions this year. Which could range from the smallest monologues to our one act. But first lets go over what their competitions are and how they work.

There are 2 separate competitions they go to they go to Thespians and SWFLTS (southwest Florida Theatrical Society) and these competitions have two different parts, the individual events, and the one acts. And since SWFLTS is always a bit before Thespians most people take their critiques from SWFLTS and improve their performance at Thespians. The basic premise of the individual events is that you pick any piece, ranging from monologues & solo musicals, to ensemble scenes/ large group musicals and compete for the highest score. There are also technical events you can compete in as well, for example: set design, costume construction, student directing, and choreography, and those are just to name a few. Then at the one-act competition different schools bring a “one act” play (a 45 minute play/musical) to competition and also compete for the highest score.

We started off the show with a lot of our technical events, such as our playwriting which Mitch Michel’s, Hostile Hostel, received a superior on at Thespians! We interviewed him and asked him a few questions. The first question we asked him was “how was your experience acting for competition compared to playwriting?” and he said that his experience acting was a lot more involved and that there was more preparation involved, memorization, inflections, and generally finding the rhythm for his performance compared to playwriting which he said was a lot more hands off than acting was. We then asked him “what was you inspiration for your play?” and he said “My inspiration for “Hostile Hostel” came from different concepts I had that i put together for a Florida studio theater festival. It’s a play with a cautionary moral of being careful of the company you surround yourself with.” Our last question for mitch was “What do you think you improved on from SWFLTS to Thespians?” He responded with “I definitely improved upon Hostile Hostel with dialogue & backstory, which was a critique SWFLTS.”

Next there was Ella Fish with her student directed scene which received the best in room! (best in room is the judges favorite performance they saw all day. We also interviewed her, the first question I asked her was “what was it like running your own audition process?” and she said “When running my own audition process I had to make sure I was taking notes constantly. It was definitely strange having to make decisions by myself. However having no adults in the room forced me to make my own choices with my judgement.” Next I asked her “How did it feel when you got best in room?” and she said “When i got best in room, i was shocked at first because i hadn’t expected the judges to pick me. Last year I had received an excellent at SWFLTS and a good at thespians, so I was surprised I even go a superior. After the shock set in, it felt very rewarding. I had put so much time into my piece with with all the rehearsals & my prompt book that it was amazing to get recognized for that.”

Now we are going to move away from our technical pieces and move towards our performers. Starting with Moira Corbett who received straight superiors on her solo musical! (A straight superior is when you get a superior in every category!) And we also asked her a few questions, the first of which being “What was your general experience given it was your first year at SWFLTS?” and Moira said “It was a fun filled day! Seeing so many great performances was a blast, and being able to perform a song that stretched my range as a singer was amazing!” Nest we asked her “what was this experience ar a theater competition compared to chorus competitions?” and she said “Well I’m always going to be a choir kid through and through, but it as great to branch out into acting! It gave me confidence to audition for Mamma Mia this year! Combining singing, acting, dancing has always been something I strive for in preforming arts, and having an outlet to do that is very important to me!” And our last question was “how was it receiving straight superiors during your first year?” she responded with “I genuinely couldn’t believe it when i found out! Like I said, choir has always been my thing, but combining that with everything else at SWFLTS was amazing! Getting a score like that in my first year at competition was truly wonderful and such a confidence booster for me!”

This year seemed like a pretty good year for the theater depertment, and there was so much I didn’t cover. But one more thing I want to cover, the one act. This year’s one act was “The Laramie Project” Which is about a horrifying story about what happened to a homosexual man in the small town of Laramie. And this was put on by ms.catell’s advanced theater class, and i think they did a great job! The synergy they showed to put on a 45 minute production was immaculate! The set was minimalistic but it fit for the type of play this was. They ended up receiving an excellent at Thespians! And for all the hard work they did, it was definitely deserved.

In retrospect, this year seemed like the best year I’ve seen for their competitions! So congratulations to everyone who participated at competitions this year!