On last Tuesday, March 17th, the Marco Island Academy Thespians Society Troupe 8628 packed their bags and set off on a two-and-a-half-hour-long road trip to Tampa City to compete in the Statewide Thespians Festival.
The Thespians Festival hosted in Tampa is the largest high school theatre convention in the entire country. Running from March 17th to March 22nd, the five-day-long event brought in nearly 10,000 students, theatre directors, parents, and artisans.
The States Experience
While some may believe that the week spent in Tampa was a vacation, any Thespian present would say otherwise. The average day would see Troupe 8628 rising with the sun around 6:00 A.M. to depart the hotel by 7:30 A.M.
From there, the Thespians would make their way to the Tampa Convention Center to attend classes and workshops hosted by artists and instructors on various topics under the umbrella of the Performing Arts. This included interactive lectures on topics such as: Acting, Dance Choreography, Stage Combat, Costume Design, Stage Design, Puppetry, Color Theory, Playwriting, Singing, Stand-up Comedy, and many more.
Workshops would conclude at 4:00 P.M. Then, there would be a short period of free time for the Troupe to freshen up before attending events in the evenings.
On some days, attendees put on their fine garments and travelled to the Straz Center for the Performing Arts to see full-length shows put on by their fellow high school students, such as: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee.
On other nights, Thespians would attend events hosted by professional artists, such as a concert hosted by musicians Nick Cearley and Lauren Molina and a four-person Improv Show from Orlando.
The Thespians would then be slated to return to the hotel around 11:00 P.M. with a curfew of midnight mandated by the State Festival. Attendees could expect a quick dinner before being sent off to bed and do it all again.
The Competition Results
The State Thespians competition judges use the following rating scale: Poor, Good, Excellent, and Superior, to score the quality of the performances. The highest honor of “Critic’s Choice” is reserved for pieces with perfect scores, which was awarded to Joaquin Perez and Samuel Zocco at the District level for their Two Person Scene. The MIA representatives to the festival scored as follows:
For her Solo Musical Piece, Part of Your World from The Little Mermaid, Madisyn Steiner received an Excellent.
For his Student Directed Scene featuring Luke Tirrel and Lukas Beal, The Two Kids Who Blow Shit Up, Ari Kuperman received a Superior.
For their Two Person Scene, The Bird, Colin Hinton and Ian Zarate received Excellent.
For their Two Person Scene, Boys Gone Mild, Joaquin Perez and Samuel Zocco received Superior.
For their Two Person Scene, The Two Kids Who Blow Shit Up, Luke Tirrel and Lukas Beal received Excellent.
For her Costume Design and Construction piece based on the musical, Disney’s Moana JR., Kyleigh Haueter received Excellent.
Grace Elliott and Alexa Hamm were attendees of the event and supported their fellow troupe members throughout the competition week.
With two Superiors, these students meet the qualifications to represent MIA in the National Thespians Festival in Indiana this Summer. However, concerns have been raised by the Thespians Society over transportation fees, accommodations, and scheduling conflicts.
Nevertheless, those who qualified are still able to submit their performance pieces virtually via video recording to be scored by the judges. The students who qualify at the National level have yet to make an official decision.
