Saturday, November 11th, 2017

8:26

To start the day, we left Kwik Star yet again. Armed with Mountain Dews and Tornado sticks, our van headed back towards the Gallagher, excited for yet another day of performances and productions.

12:48

We arrived five minutes right before the opening show of the day, “Next to Normal.” The performance was about a mother going through the trials of being bipolar and slowly accepting the early death of her son, which seemed to be haunting her.

2:04

After yet another lunch of tacos, waffles, and ice cream, we were moved into the Strayer-Wood theater once again, but for individual events this time. The best of the bests performed for us live. We watched an improv about selling lemonade, a villainous monologue, and an insane musical theater. Next up, we separated into workshops of our choosing.

4:15

One of my sessions taught about how to build characters in a script. Our instructor asked us questions, and we had to write down how our character would answer them. Other than that, the workshops I attended were just repeated information I had learned, whether through the internet or through personal experiences.

7:30

It’s over. The last show on our list to see was “Almost, Maine,” a conglomeration of love stories and love losses. Tina suggested we could do this show for our spring play, but we quickly decided against that as there was way too much kissing.

Prior to the show, the results were posted for the Studio Performances, and second place went to West Delaware’s “Hello Darkness, My Old Friend!” The group was ecstatic. While this didn’t secure us a spot in the Internationals, we still could apply, which is something the group will talk about.

After the festival, we clambered back into the van and drove to Pancheros and Coldstone for supper. I’m pretty sure Emily La Rosa ran and got fudge from HyVee.

I’ll be attending next year. This experience has changed my life. It’s opened the doors to my future. I’ve made friends with I don’t know how many people, just from these two days. It even convinced me to change my lanyard to an Iowa Thespian one! Thank you, ThesFest, and I’ll see you next year.

-Tyler Salow

P.S

Mariah Seeley was not only invited to perform at the International Thespian Festival but also was a Scholarship finalist and called back by six colleges for their performing programs.

“Hello Darkness, My Old Friend,” received second in the Studio One Act performances.

Ben Litterer, Grace Reiss and Olivia Neuzil received an overall Excellent rating with their Improv performance.