By: STO Lia Graham, Texas HS, Troupe 2526

Hey Texas Thespians! During this quarantine, my fellow State Thespian Officers and I have had to adjust to a new way of living...just like you all. Despite many things trying to bring down our moods, we have persevered and found joy in the simplest of things. Thus, I bring you a very chaotic, creative list of questions that have been answered by each STO. We hope our answers can remind you to stay positive and fill your days with fun. Without further ado, 13 questions with 18 STOs.

1. What are 3 words you would  use to describe your quarantine?
“Boring, long and uneventful.” -Brenna 
“Messy, productive and long-lived.” -Olivia 

2. What SpongeBob character do you relate to the most?
“I wish I could say Larry the Lobster, but I’m Gary: unimpressed at everything.” -Jackson B.
“Probably Patrick because I'm always hungry. Always.” -Avery
“SpongeBob...due to the fact that I am a really bad driver. People should be afraid to get on the road with me.” -Bradyn

3. On a scale of 1-10, how much do you like french fries?
“15. Is that allowed?” -Jackson L.
“10. If I had the choice to only live off of potatoes, I'd be doing it by now.” -Jackson B. 
“A solid 9. They've betrayed me before, but overall they're pretty good.” -Annie

4. Have you picked up any new hobbies?
 “I have been going to get the mail a lot.” -Brenna
“I've actually been working on writing a script.” -Cody
“I can make friendship bracelets really well.” -Megan 

5. What is your favorite ice cream flavor? 
“Classic chocolate. Simplicity is key.” -Avery 
“Bluebell’s Banana Pudding, of course.” -Campbell
“Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia by far!” -Lia
“I gotta go with chocolate chip cookie dough!” -Caleb

6. What is one positive thing about quarantine?
“I am bonding with my family more, even though it's not really a choice.” -Piper 
“It gives you a lot of time to meditate and focus on yourself.” -Elisa
“It gives you more time to spend with family and do things you didn't have time to
do originally.” -Victoria

7. Do you have any pets? 
“I have 7 cats. Agustus, Sophie, Gracie, Max, Oliver, Sammy and Maddie.” -Olivia 
“I have a really big stuffed animal elephant that I consider a pet.” -Alyssa
“I have a pet bunny named Noodles, she has pink hair.” -Lia 

8. Do you play video games? 
“I played Madden once. Some people (aka myself) say I was a beast at it, and others not so much...”  -Campbell
“Pocket Edition Minecraft, but other than that not really.” -Annie 
“If you count The Sims.” -Jarrett

9. What's a funny quarantine story? 
“I was walking my dogs right next to a pond. They saw a duck and they pulled me into the pond.” -Piper 
“I got on NBC News for building my school in Minecraft!” -Jackson L. 
“While I was driving, I turned under an overpass, but I got in the wrong lane. In a fit of panic, I pulled to the right and then drifted into my lane, so I guess you can call me baby driver.” -Tyler 

10. Be honest…how many hours do you spend on Tik Tok a day? 
“Honestly, I think like 10 hours.” -Alyssa
“Oh, it's somewhere between 4 and 18 dependant upon the mood.” -Bradyn 
“Maybe like 10 minutes.” -Cody

11. What is your favorite tech position you've been or character you’ve played? 
“My favorite character that i've played is the Earthworm in James and the 
Giant Peach!” -Jarrett
“Elle Woods.” -Elisa 
“Stage Manager for Into The Woods.” -Megan 

12. Any hints on what the STOs are planning for this year? 
“Something crazy that's going to knock your socks off.” -Jackson L. 
“You're going to be stuck with us for a while.” -Avery
“Thats a secret. We keep it confidential here.” -Victoria 
“ :) “ -Tyler 

13. What is this year's festival theme? 
“Dehumidifiers and more!” -Olivia 
“Shrek the Musical.” -Jackson B. 
“Agriculture: farms, plowing, and live cows!” -Annie 
“It's going to be an anti-theme where the whole thing is we don't have a theme. It's like irony? Get it?” -Caleb

We are proud to see all of the truly amazing things y'all are doing to make do with our circumstances. We know it hasn't been easy, but we do know that the Texas Thespians are one strong group of people!

We'll see you all very soon, 
Your 2020 Texas State Thespian Officers!

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By: STO Jarrett Stewart, Sunnyvale HS, Troupe 7532

Hello Texas Thespians! As many of you know, this past month theatre students across the country celebrated Theatre In Our Schools Month; an entire month dedicated to theatre students supporting each other, raising awareness about the impact of theatre education, and drawing attention to the importance of all students having access to educational theatre. As this month comes to a close we wanted to share 3 major takeaways from Theatre in Our Schools Month that you can take into the rest of the year.

1. Connect With Your Administrators. You are going to want the support of your administrators to grow your theatre program, here are a few ideas that can help them feel connected to your program.
   1. Show them what you’re doing at rehearsal. If your department has a twitter, post rehearsal updates with pictures and tag your administrators. If your school does not typically use twitter you could also have your president or director email your admins a small paragraph about how rehearsals are going (Don’t forget to attach pictures!).
   2. Personally invite them to shows. If you go to a smaller school, you may be able to walk up to your admins in the hallway and ask them to come see your show, but if not, you can always email them an invitation. If you are going to email an invitation, make sure to send it a few weeks in advance, as it may take your administrators a while to get around to reading your email. 
   3. Thank your administrators. Whether it is for coming to a show, or just for being supportive of your program, you should always thank your administrators. A great way to do this is to have your troupe make cards at one of your meetings, nothing makes someone feel more appreciated than handwritten cards!
2. Support other Theatre Programs. As thespians, we can’t expect anyone to support us if we do not support each other. Be sure to follow troupes from surrounding schools so that you can stay updated on when they are putting on shows. 
3. Contact Your Representative. Getting March declared as Theatre in Our Schools on a statewide level is one of the STO’s biggest goals this year, but we can’t do this without the statewide support of every thespian, here are three steps you can take to make sure TIOSM is a topic on the Texas Legislature's table this year.
   1. Find out who your representative is. Using This link you can enter your address to find out who represents you. Each Texas resident has both a Texas senator and Texas house representative, we recommend contacting each of them.
   2. Write out a letter or email to your representatives. Be sure you include facts on how theatre education supports students' academics (Grades, Test scores, Etc.). You can find statistics to use Here, and explain why getting TIOSM declared is important to theatre students. Expect a letter template from the STO’s to come out in the next few months.
   3. If you are able to get a meeting, prepare! Make sure you have a packet with all the statistics and information you may need. It may be nerve wracking, but relax. You are just going to be sitting down, talking about what you are passionate about, Theatre!

Thank you all so much for an amazing Theatre in Our Schools Month. As we transition into the rest of our year, we don’t want to leave everything we’ve learned behind, always keep advocating for the arts, no matter what month it is. If every thespian does these three things, The rest of the year is going to be great for Texas Thespians. 

Keep it up,
Your 2020 Texas State Thespian Officers!

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Hey Texas Thespians! Before the 2019 Texas State Thespian Officers officially leave office and pass our torch to the 2020 Texas State Thespian officers, we would like to remind all of you about the upcoming month. If you didn’t already know, the entire month of March is Theatre In Our Schools Month! And in support of #TIOSM, it is our job as Texas Thespians to promote Arts Advocacy in our state.

Here are some ways to celebrate Theatre In Our Schools Month:

1. Participate in #TakeALookTuesday and #TheatreShirtThursday. More information can be found on our Instagram (@texasthespians) and Twitter (@Texas_Thespians) pages. Follow us!
2. Post pictures of shows you have been a part of or shows that you have watched and why theatre has impacted you on World Theatre Day which takes place on Friday, March 27th, 2020.
3. Write to your state representatives as to why Arts Education is important in the public school system.

With that being said, we encourage all of you guys to participate in #TIOSM and to be amazing Arts Advocates. We believe in each and every single one of you. Thank you for such an amazing year. It has been a pleasure to serve all 8,000+ Texas Thespians. Because of you guys, we were able to make this place better than we had found it.

We’re signing off,
The 2019 Texas State Thespian Officers

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Hey Kids! It’s a new March! The first and only one of 2018! And I’m very sure that we all know what that means….

THEATRE IN OUR SCHOOLS!

Woooooooooooo! A whole month of advocating sounds absolutely fantastic, and just what we need to keep advancing educational theatre all around the state, or at least it feels that way until you stop to think about all that advocating and how exactly you’re going to do it…. 

Don’t worry, we all can feel like that sometimes. Fighting for the cause can be a daunting task, and when you try to tackle it head on without a plan, you can get a little lost. FEAR NOT, however, because we’re here to do the best we can to help you keep that fighting spirit!

The first step is to give you guys the tools for advocating, so keep up with the blog during March to get some nice and easy ways to spread awareness and love for educational theatre. See, I’ll start us off!
IDEA #1:
One of the cool things about educational theatre is that one of it’s many uses is to.. You know… educate! So take the initiative to spread some amazing and kind of weird facts about theatre around your school! Maybe your school has an announcements broadcast, get it on there! Or Maybe find an empty space on the wall to tape them up daily for all passerby to see!

Here’s a couple facts to get you started:
DID YOU KNOW THAT...
1. ‘Theatre’ comes from a Greek verb meaning ‘to behold’
2. Shakespeare's Globe is the only building in London allowed to have a thatched roof since the Great Fire in 1666
3. Two seats are permanently bolted open at the Palace Theatre for the theatre ghosts to sit in
4. William Shakespeare once had to play Lady Macbeth when Hal Berridge, the boy playing her, died suddenly
5. Walt Disney World, Florida, has a record 1.2 million costumes in its theatrical wardrobes
6. Theatre has a longstanding history in America. The first theatre here was built in Virginia in 1716, 60 years before the Declaration of Independence
7. When Shakespeare’s Globe burned down in 1613, the one casualty was a man whose breeches caught fire; they were put out with a bottle of ale.
8. Thespis is the man first credited with the role of an actor, he stepped forward from the greek chorus to portray a character (giving us the name thespians!)
9. In May 1849 the Astor Place riot broke out in New York and it was caused by two actors arguing over who was better at performing Shakespeare.
10. The word ‘tragedy’ comes from a Greek expression translating roughly to ‘goat song’
11. Ancient Greek audiences stamped their feet rather than clapping their hands to applaud
12. The oldest play still in existence is The Persians by Aeschylus, written in 472 BC.
13. World Theatre Day has been held on March 27 every year since 1962 when it was the opening day of the “Theatre of Nations” season in Paris.
14. The original concept for West Side Story was East Side Story where a Jew and a Catholic fall in love.
15. Saying "Break A Leg" in the theatre didn't start until the 1920s.
16. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic The Phantom of the Opera is the longest running Broadway show of all time.

Best of luck, and remember - ADVOCATE AND APPRECIATE

Please be sure to tell us all about your ways of advocating by posting about it and tagging us or contacting us directly!

Alright, get ready, because we’re about to talk a bit about the dances here at TTSF!

We have two this year, and they’re both going to be fantastic, but in order to make them an even better and more spectacular fantastic, we need a little help from our lovely thespians.

THURSDAY NIGHT: A Tacky Tourist dance! Wear your best dad attire and enjoy the night as start the celebration for adventure!
FRIDAY NIGHT: Two-Can Toucan dance! Step into the jungle for a bit and go wild at Friday’s dance… AFTER you give us two cans to donate to the Tarrant Area Food bank!

But more on that in a moment.

While we’re at the dances, the main thing we have to remember are the rules of the festival. Dances are for a good time, not a get-your-entire-troupe-in-huge-trouble time! Every single rule that applies to all day when you are running around to workshops, shows,and whatnot STILL applies at these dances. And if you need a reminder, you can find those all attached in the button at the bottom of the article! Or talk to your troupe officers! They should’ve attended the president’s meeting on thursday morning, and should be able to give you all the rules that were presented at the meeting.

About the Two-Can dance! The Tarrant Area Food Bank is always thankful to us for providing enormous donations, and it’s because of your cans that we can do that. The Thespian Society is focused on helping everyone around us, and this is a really easy way to make sure that someone gets a meal, especially this close to the holiday season, we want to continually give!

And for both dances, we really want to make sure you guys actually enjoy the music, right? So there’s a twitter account for you to request all of the best music. @ttsfdj Tweet at them! Message them! And seize the opportunity, because you can’t complain if you don’t request! ;)

So dress up, bring your cans, request your beats, and follow the rules!

We’re excited to see you!


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As you know, there’s a TON to do at festival. There’s never a dull moment...

BUT sometimes it can get overwhelming when trying to figure out your schedule! So, if you're a little unsure of what you plan on using your time for, we’ve created a nifty guide of what’s hot this year:

Events:
Events are our cool little competitions we have at festival! We compete with everything from group musical numbers to individual stage management. Unfortunately, if you didn’t sign up before the 13th, I’m afraid it’s too late. But if you are signed up, GREAT! We wish you the best of luck! 

Workshops:
Workshops are something that everyone can participate! These are cool little classes/demonstrations that you can participate in during the 60-90 minute time slots we provide for you! They can range from wild stage combat classes to a funky and fun learning of a popular musical theatre dance! They’re a blast, and there’s no need to sign up for them. Simply find the one you’re interested in in guidebook and attend at the right time! Guidebook is a nifty app we use for festival that will go live much closer to the actual event, read more about it below.

Shows:
We have a variety of shows to enjoy at festival, such as play marathons, a mainstage musical, multiple mainstage plays. They’re hand picked to be presented to you, and that means that they are guaranteed to be a fantastic watch. See the titles here:

Talent Show:
The talent show is a cool at festival event where anyone can sign up to perform for anyone who attends the talent show. We ask that you have something prepared ahead of time, but you can’t sign up until you get to festival. More information below:

Closing Ceremonies:
Something new we have this year is that we opened auditions for students to participate in a performance during closing ceremonies. They will be choreographed by 2 time EMMY nominee, Tony Smith, and they’ll get to perform with Mamie Parris, who’s starring in Broadway’s Cats! If you don’t audition before October 16th, you’re out of luck. But you can still enjoy the show! More info below:

Vendors:
You can also spend money at festival! Our vendors are fantastic and come through with anything from spike tape to Scripts! Everything for your theatre nerd dreams! Preview who they are here:

Buttons:
We’re trying something else new this year… Buttons! We have 4 different buttons for you: “Adventure Awaits,” “Texas Thespians,” “Dusty the Duck,” “STO.” You can buy the first three from our STO table (and lots of other neat stuff as always,) But the last one, the STO button, you can only earn by being a leader and having an STO witness it. But, we do want you guys to bring your own troupe buttons to pass around and spread good times with!

Scavenger Hunt:
We can’t say much about this one but.. Check out the STO table ;)

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