It’s somehow the middle of November, and I am very much looking forward to traveling home for Thanksgiving next week. I can’t wait to eat my dad’s chestnut soup and my cousin’s apple pie, and to spend time with my little nieces and some dear friends from high school.
Today, the Educational Theatre Foundation is launching the Thespian Alumni Fund to support under-resourced school theatre programs. Since its founding in 1929, the International Thespian Society has inducted more than 2.5 million students—and 80,000 more join each year.
“Quite honestly, with the way the country is moving right now, our theatre programs are seeing the crunch of that,” says Dr. Jennifer Katona, executive director of the International Thespian Society and a proud alumni herself. “If we could get every alumni to give us $10 that we can get back to those schools, it could be very impactful. I think people would love to give the kids of today what they enjoyed so much themselves.”
Beyond raising funds, the initiative seeks to reconnect with alumni, gather contact information, and spark regional Thespian Society reunions leading up to a larger national gathering in 2029. “We turn 100 in 2029, and part of that celebration is wanting to bring everybody home and reconnect as much as we can,” says Katona. “We want to have as big a thespian reunion as we can.”
Pop-up activities could include regional meet-ups, Thespian Troupe gatherings at high schools, and, as one Educational Theatre Foundation staffer suggests, Thespians throwing late-night Denny’s gatherings, à la post-show cast parties.
I imagine that many of you reading this are Thespians yourselves, or perhaps you lead a Troupe at your school. My school wasn’t part of the International Thespian Society, but if you were involved in any school theatre program, supporting this fund helps ensure that students today can enjoy classroom and onstage experiences—and make those unforgettable post-show memories at Denny’s.
Speaking of early theatre experiences, the latest episode of The Subtext podcast features Theresa Rebeck, who talks about the student matinee performances that inspired her to become a playwright.
Wishing you all a wonderful Thanksgiving!
✏️ Around the Web ✏️
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Pink Fang and Hunter College’s theatre department have announced the Ping Chong Archival Symposium, a semester-long partnership with screenings and symposiums scheduled for later this month and December.
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The Naples Players and Naples Comprehensive Health have launched ArtRX, a new partnership integrating the arts into healthcare worker training.
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Love this story about a first-grade teacher in New York City whose students have enjoyed workshops with special guest artists, including Stephen Schwartz.
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Check out this feature on Broadway stage manager Bryan Bauer, highlighting training at the University of Oklahoma and teachers who left an impact.
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Read about how a California school is creatively using Prop. 28 funding to support arts education for preschool students.
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Attention high school students! Applications are now open for the Andrew Lloyd Webber Initiative Training Scholarships.
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The recent Broadway production of Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor is the Villain is now available to view at the New York Public Library’s Theatre on Film and Tape Archive.
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Great interview featuring a teacher talking about her students’ experience staging Beetlejuice, Jr.
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A recent study shows how HBCUs prepare students for careers in the arts.
💫 On Social Media 💫
Theatre teachers: What productions are you planning for this fall?
AT Readers Respond:
Michael Berquist
Gruesome Playground Injuries, The Outsiders, Bad Seed, Love/Sick, Streetcar, Ordinary People, Love and Information.
Erin McGuire
Antigone, The Lion in Winter,Trifles, The Laramie Project,Mother Courage, to name a few.
Rebecca Arnold
Mousetrap, The Sugar Bean Sisters, Lysistrata, and A Doll’s House.
Brandon Dirden
Rosmerholm by Ibsen (Duncan Macmillan translation), Seven Guitars by August Wilson, Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegría Hudes, and The Great God Pan by Amy Herzog.
Maxwell Peters
Eurydice, A Collection of Shakespeare Scenes and Sonnets, and Three Sisters.
Katie Davis
Fairview by Jackie Sibblies Drury is on my intro syllabus this term.
Read more great responses here.
📰 From the Archives 📰
This 2024 article highlights alumni, faculty, and students from historically Black colleges and universities reflecting on how their training prepared them for careers in the arts.
