Today started with about a 90 minute presentation of some of the strongest Individual Events (IEs) of the festival being presented in the giant Lied theatre for the masses. Individual Events are performances by one performer and could be a song or a monologue. The IEs were interesting and the performances were fun to watch. Their performances were broken up by a long series of awards for volunteers, teachers, programs and students across the country. The EdTA has given over $100,000 worth of scholarships this school year, including many thousands of dollars worth of scholarships this morning alone. I also received news that one of the students from the school I'm registered under, from Alabama, had a student that was elected as chair of the International Thespian Officers. There are students that are elected at the school level and the state level and this young lady was elected at the national level. What that means is that this young lady from Huntsville, AL, will be flown to festivals all across the country, about one each month for the next school year. All of her expenses will be paid for by EdTA, what an adventure for a high school senior.
I also had another great workshop from a teacher that has been teaching for 49 yrs. She has written several books on theatre and is a great motivator. She is from California and her name is Gai Jones. She led the class in lots of ensemble activities, many of which I have done, but it was a fun workshop regardless. Here is a picture of the instructor and I.
I then moved on to a workshop on rasaboxes which was led by an instructor from the Alley Theatre in Houston. It was based on movements that were created for Indian dance and allows students to assign different 'rasas' (emotions) to different pieces of scenes/monologues/etc. The workshop is difficult to explain, so I won't attempt it. The instructor assured the teachers she would email us her notes and so once I get them I can understand all of the different rasas with more clarity. This workshop took place in the Temple building. In the front of the Temple building is a large picture of Johnny Carson because he was one of the most famous University of Nebraska alums. He made a huge donation to the university in 2004 to help ensure that many other students will benefit from the educational opportunities in Nebraska. Here is a picture that references Mr. Carson and his gift to the university.
Here is a picture of me in front of the Mueller Tower, the university bell tower.
The festival concluded with a great performance of the musical Shrek by a troupe from Wisconsin. The musical is based on the famous children's animated movie and followed the same plot line closely. The script and lyrics were written by David Lindsay-Abaire (Pulitzer Prize winning playwright of Rabbit Hole). The play was uplifting and left the entire audience singing along after a standing ovation. The young man playing Lord Farquar walked on his knees the entire show (his short legs were drawn or sewn onto the front of his pants) and his legs from the knees down were disguised by a cape. The musical's setting theme was that of a garbage dumpster. The dumpster nearly filled the entire stage, but was on wheels and had different doors on various sides of the dumpster that would open at various times. The dumpster would also spin to reveal a new set. The musical also featured an enormous singing dragon. The actress singing for the dragon served as the puppet master that operated the mouth as she sang. The dragon was also controlled by four other actors (one for each wing, one for the main body, one for the tail). The dragon's eyes & mouth moved and it was really incredible seeing the entire body & wings of the dragon be controlled by a total of 5 actors. The swamp (in this version) was actually the dumpster. It was an interesting take on the story's theme, but I believed that it worked. The show was a great way to end the festival. It was followed up by a final adult social that also had a Shrek theme. Each night the festival had the adult socials (our 4th meal) which featured great food, desserts, bottled water & punch. They would usually go from about 11 PM until around 12 or 12:15 AM The socials were extensively decorated (similar to that of a theatre set) and the food was delicious. I think that the folks at the University of Nebraska are glad the festival is over as well because many of their cafe workers were busy until late night providing the food & clean upfor the late night socials.
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