The Best Gift

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Troupes: complete the Send a Troupe to Thespian Festival grant application to apply. 

The International Thespian Society is very proud that our annual Thespian Festival is the premier international event for high school theatre. More than 2,500 students travel from all over the country, and even overseas, to attend this amazing week. The Festival is an exciting and inclusive theatrical experience that can change a student’s life; perhaps such an experience even changed yours!

We know that it can be very expensive to attend Festival. Many Thespian troupes that would benefit greatly are never able to attend and we are asking for your help.

This holiday season, we would like to give a gift and Send a Troupe to Thespian Festival 2012! Your donation will help us to send one deserving troupe to Festival—including all travel and registration expenses. Once in Lincoln, the students of this troupe will be able to:

  • Watch performances on four stages
  • Develop their skills in workshops and master classes
  • Discover their potential in our student leadership program
  • Audition for college admissions and Thespian scholarships
  • Compete in our Tech Theatre Challenge
  • And much, much more!

Please make your tax-deductible donation here. You may also send a check to:

EdTA
Attn: Best Gift
2343 Auburn Ave.
Cincinnati, OH  45219

Your donation will be one of many that help us raise at least $10,000 to send at least one deserving Thespian troupe to Festival 2012. We will cover all travel and basic registration expenses. The troupe selected through this new program will be one that has never attended Festival and can demonstrate financial barriers from attending.

With your help, we can give a Thespian troupe the amazing gift of the Festival experience!

If you like, you can tell us why you are donating and share your Festival memories below!

 

All Comments

This annual Festival of educational theatre is one of the most rewarding experiences for a theatre student. Camaraderie, workshops, shows, scholarship opportunities, college contacts, and a week of dorm life and cafeteria food before college - who could ask for anything better, especially for a whole troupe of students who would miss out otherwise? I applaud the spirit of this campaign - we give a little so that others can receive so much.
In Georgia we have been lucky and committed enough for years to send our State Student Officers to Festival for leadership training. I have seen firsthand how this experience affects our students in so many positive ways. We all benefit when our students participate in this Festival.

— Frank Pruet on December 5, 2011 at 3:44pm

Just thought I would share with you a lovely moment from this past weekend. My troupe raised about $250.00 at this weekend's shows toward the scholarships (holiday campaign), considering that this is a low income school this was something. I know it isn't a huge amount, but I was very proud of these little middle schoolers for working so hard to accomplish this.:)

Karen Pionke
Theatre Director
Viking Drama
Gurnee, IL

EDTA Board of Directors

— Karen Pionke on December 5, 2011 at 10:12pm

I am in my 35th year as an educator and no other experience I have come across has the profound affect on students that Thespian Festival does. When I was in the classroom I took students to each festival held...first at Ball State and then in Lincoln. Former students who traveled to festival in my early years of teaching still talk about the experience with fondness, excitement, and gratitude. Every mainstage production they saw set a new bar for our program. Workshops introduced new skills to them or improved upon those that I had been nuturing. The contacts and opportunities that were provided to them through auditions, participation in the one-act play marathon, and the face to face conversations with college representatives can not be duplicated.

I am thrilled and honored to be a part of this campaign so that a student who might otherwise miss this incredible event, has the chance to experience the week of a lifetime.

— Joe Burnsworth on December 6, 2011 at 11:08am

I am a former student of Joe Burnsworth (see third comment) and now am a drama teacher myself. I clearly remember the moment I knew what I wanted to do. We were watching Shanandoah on Main Stage, and I looked down the row at my fellow Thespians and at Mr. B. The entire experience of Festival was written all over our faces. The opportunity to audition for scholarships and meet with college representatives during Festival allowed me to follow my dream. I am the proud sponsor of Troupe 6687 (Fleming Island High School), and we are honored to be able to support such a treasured experience for a fellow troupe. See you in June!

— Cherilyn Walker on December 27, 2011 at 8:05am

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