The Cultural Center will set the stage for more than 400 high school students as the West Virginia Division of Culture and History hosts the annual West Virginia State Thespian Festival April 10-12. Drama students will perform, attend workshops and be judged on their technical theater skills.
The Festival begins with registration at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, April 10, and ends with an awards ceremony at 2 p.m. on Saturday, April 12. At that time, five outstanding play performances, six scene performances, technical theater winners, an all-state cast, two $500 scholarships to individual students, and theater representatives for the Arts Alive! Showcase will be announced. Other announcements including the Thespian Teacher of the Year and a Theater Appreciation Award to a person who has worked in theater and with thespians will be acknowledged during the opening ceremony at 11 a.m. on Thursday.
Twenty-one schools from six areas of the state will participate in the Festival. There will be 13 plays and 19 scene entries judged by five guest adjudicators. Nineteen theater professionals will provide technical theater adjudications and lead students in workshops.
Technical theater categories include costume, extraordinary project, lighting design; make-up; mask design; playwriting; properties; publicity; puppetry; stage management; and tech rodeo. Fifteen workshops, held Thursday and Friday, will round out the Festival. Topics include “Basic Set Design,” “Bringing a Show to States: A Guide to Getting There,” “Broadway Dance,” “Building Your Technical Theater Program,” “Extraordinary Projects,” “Improv Games,” “Intro to Single Sword for the Stage,” “Musical Theater,” “No Acting Please,” “Puppets,” “Stage Movement for the Beginning Actor,” “Student Board Campaign,” and “Tips for Lighting Design with Limited Equipment.”
For more information about the 2008 West Virginia State Thespian Festival, contact Jacqueline Proctor, deputy commissioner for the Division, at (304) 558-0220.
The West Virginia Division of Culture and History, an agency of the West Virginia Department of Education and the Arts, brings together the state’s past, present and future through programs and services in the areas of archives and history, the arts, historic preservation and museums. Its administrative offices are located at the Cultural Center in the State Capitol Complex in Charleston, which also houses the state archives and state museum. The Cultural Center is West Virginia’s official showcase for the arts. The agency also operates a network of museums and historic sites across the state. For more information about the Division’s programs, visit www.wvculture.org. The Division of Culture and History is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer.
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