Thespian Newsletter

9/05/03

Hey Thespians!

Welcome to the 2003-04 season! We have a big year ahead of us, and lots of questions to be answered. Here's what's coming up for us:

"Go Ask Alice"

I've just finished up the audition materials, and made the posting for audition flyer. I need 4 volunteers to go around the school during 1st period on Friday to go around to the bulletin boards to recruit performers!



Auditions will be held on Wednesday, September 24th from 2:30 to 5:30 in Room 229. The audition pieces are duet and ensemble pieces directly from the play. There are 7 different audition packages:



1. Alice
2. her Mother
3. her Father
4. one of the "good girls" who try to help Alice out (Alexandria, Beth, Chris, Marge, Dr. Miller)
5. one of the "good guys" who try to help Alice out (Tim, George, Joel)
6. one of the "bad girls" who try to hurt Alice or don't care about her (Jill, Jan, Gloria, Peg, Sheila, Gertrude, Babbie)
7. one of the "bad guys" who try to take advantage of Alice or don't care about her (Samuel, Bill, Joe, Freddie, Tom)

So, if you are particularly interested in auditioning for Chris, for example, you would pick up the generic "good girls" package and learn those lines. Bundling up some similar roles into audition packages allows me to match up actors to appropriate personalities while narrowing down the audition craziness to just 7 different roles.

The audition package will have brief descriptions of all of the characters.

Performance nights will be November 21 & 22. For a rehearsal schedule, check out members.aol.com/mrgaudet6172/thespian/calendar.htm.

New Members


We have 3 new Thespians in our troupe. Be sure to welcome them at our next meeting! We'll hold a quick-ish Fall Induction at our October 8th meeting.

Megan Nelson, c/o 2006, who comes from the Thespian troupe at East Bay High School in District 9. She's previously competed in Ensemble Acting.

Amanda Short, c/o 2004, who is currently in Drama IV.

Matt Frankel, c/o 2005, who is a WCHS Drama veteran of "Boardinghouse Reach," (Detective Connolly) "A Christmas Carol," (Trumpet #2) and "The Odd Couple" (props crew).

Set Designers & Costume Designers Shout Out!

All you Thespians who've dreamed about becoming a bigtime Set or Costume Designer - this is your opportunity! Designers come up with ideas for how they want things to look and work, and then lead a team to make it happen. If you want to be a designer, you should be creative, willing to learn how to become organized (I'll help), and you should be willing to work with other students. Becoming a leader is one of the most challenging and rewarding jobs you can take on. And once you've been a designer - you'll never look at plays the same way again! (In a good way) If you're interested - talk to Mr. Gaudet before the end of school on Monday, September 8.

You can perform a role in "Go Ask Alice" and be a designer.

"The Odd Couple" coverup

I need two students to volunteer to stay after either Thursday or Friday for about ½½ an hour to "cover up" the paint spill on the loading dock by the Theater. Special thanks goes out to Mariela for going to Home Depot and getting the concrete paint!

Sourcebooks for Districts

We're still waiting for those 11 books (9 filled with one acts, 2 with monologues) to arrive from Dramatists Play Service. Once they come, they'll be available to check out in the Drama room. One Acts are great sources for scenes that don't get "overdone" in competition - because you've pulled them out yourselves. Practically every troupe already has copies of the scenebooks we use. So judges see those same scenes over & over & over again. Plus, with a collection of One Acts, you don't have to spend as much time reading whole, full-length plays in order to understand the characters, the situation, and select a great scene.

Districts are Set!

District Competitions will take place on January 23 & 24. Once again, events will be held at Central Florida Community College in Ocala. This year, I'll be looking to avoid the car-chaos and personal fear of losing Thespians en route by renting a bus for January 24th.

One Act at Districts

I'm considering doing a One Act, but am waiting until our new sourcebooks come in to make a final decision. I've tentatively scheduled auditions and rehearsals for them in our calendar, but they are subject to change. If we do one, it will be a small cast, with a small crew, and we will drive up in a couple of cars. It would also be our first shot at competing in this major Thespian event!

Auditions for District Individual Events

Are tentatively scheduled for December 3rd. If our District registration meeting is BEFORE December 3rd, then I will move this audition date up accordingly so we can register who is performing in all the events!

Everyone should compete in an event. It's an experience you should not pass up! Afterward, you will find yourself taking Drama more seriously - in a good way. Expect all of your personal performances and designs to be of significantly higher quality after competing. You can check out the rules and judging criteria for all of the events at members.aol.com/mrgaudet6172/thespian/competitions.htm. Enter the one that interests you the most. Just remember, there's always lots of competition within our troupe for the Monologue and Duet Acting events! Sign up for your event on the door at the back of Room 229 - and see who else is competing.

Advice Needed

Are you a Thespian who has competed before? If you are, then you have an assignment!
Write back to me, and tell me about one event that you competed in. What was it like for you? What advice would you give to a brand new Thespian who wanted to compete in that event? Let me know! Write back with your experience & advice to mrgaudet6172@aol.com. Do it now; don't wait!

Other Stuff

So many other things: the Film Festival, "Bus Stop" (our spring production), and it's never too early to start thinking about next year, either! But hey .. we have enough to think about as it is, so let's leave that stuff for a little later.

Club Meetings

I'm trying to get us scheduled for both White and Blue club days. I'll let you know how it turns out.

Hope you're all having a good day out there. Let's make this year one to remember!! (in a good way)

Sponsorly yours, Mr. G