District 2 Thespian festivals always have a nervous energy tension to them, a kind of internal tension split between the joy of being around other people, the high you get from performing, and the nerves associated with being judged by peers and professionals. Whenever theater people gather en masse there is a level of comradere, sure you want to do well, but you don't want to see someone else fall flat on their face because the competition is against yourself more than it is against the other cometitors.
While this is a slightly poetic way of describing the festival it is the most accurate way I can find of describing the feel of the whole day. The two events I compieted in were monologues and costume construction, I also was an actor in a student directed scene for a friend of mine. I was not in love with either of my monologues and it showed in my performance, my physicality was not practiced and my nerves started to show. I didn't do poorly though, just not well enough to make me truly happy, the judges gave me a 'good' and that was that.
My next event was costume construction and I was much more confident going into that event than I was for monologues, truth to tell I had spent much more time preparing for this event than I had for my performance and it was evident. I presented the skirt and fully lined jacket which were my pieces for the costume of Eliza Doolittle from the second act of My Fair Lady. The judges were thrilled by my piece and were very complimenatry, and I was thrilled by their reaction. The comments they gave were to fill out my research booklet and clean up some threads. For this event I earned critics choice and am going to be able to compete at State Thespians with my costume, I can only hope to do so well at the state level as I did at the district. The other members of my troupe did well too, however we missed out on the talent of those who recently graduated that were constistant superior winners. All in all it was a very nice day, and winning didn't hurt. :)
Check Please was a production that I was very glad to have done with. The cast gathered at the beginning of tech week the play appeared to be a fiasco in the making. No one knew their lines, the set wasn't finished and the lights weren't working, oh and our director was rather irritated with all of us. Although tensions were running high and everyone was annoyed with one another, some more than others *cough-assistant-director-who-didn't-know-anything-cough*, we ended with a product that we could be proud of. The author, Jonathan Rand, was in town and watched the show; he said that he truly enjoyed the play and he wasn't just being nice. I learned how to put up with morons and to make sure what I was supposed to do was done so that I could help others.
And now for the one acts...
Pictures from the Play:
