Members of the theatre department went to the University of Maryland, College Park for the Maryland Thespian Festival on January 13 and 14.

Students left for the event before school on the 13th, and stayed overnight at UMD for more festival activities on the 14th, before leaving that evening.

The Maryland Thespian Festival is an annual festival held to encourage students passionate in the performing arts, specifically theatre, and is an opportunity to connect with other students and schools to hone their skills.

The festival provided a multitude of activities for students to participate. One of these activities included the many skills-building workshops present. These workshops included a “Broadway Bootcamp,” “Vocal Master Class,” “Paper Mache Mask Making,” “Puppetry 101,” and “Stage Combat.”

Senior Chloe Davies explained the value of these workshops and the overall festival experience. She said, “I learned a lot of tips about auditioning and presenting yourself, which is something I’ve never really been taught before. I also met a lot of people in the industry and started making connections which is so important especially in the performing arts field.”

Aside from workshops, the festival included a “One-Act Festival.” Students from other schools were able to view others’ one-act plays and perform their own.

The One-Act Festival at the Maryland Thespian Festival leads to one school’s act being chosen to perform at the International Thespian Festival in Indiana.

The International Thespian Excellence Awards (“Thespys”), were another main part of the festival.

Sophomore Kate McCracken was awarded with a Thespy for Stage Management in the Technical Theatre category. Being awarded this Thespy allows her to audition for the International Thespian Festival in Indiana.

Kate revealed that she will be going to the International Thespian Festival in June.
To receive this award, Kate shared that the audition process included her giving a speech “on how I stage managed the John Carroll Theatre Department’s Elf: the Musical.”

She shared that, through this musical, she researched different types of learning styles and created “in detail drawings of each set, written instructions and exercises that induced muscle memory” to help actors in the play learn the material and perform better.

Kate received a superior rating for this speech.

The award means a lot to Kate. She said, “It gave me confidence in the work I was doing. I also was given feedback and tips from not only the judges, but from other contestants as well.”

College scholarships were also awarded to select students at the festival. Seniors Chloe Davies and Reagan McComas were presented with scholarships after auditioning at the festival.
At the auditions, Chloe sang a song, performed a monologue, sang another song, and performed a short ballet combination.

This was in addition to answering questions in front of a panel of collegiate adjudicators who then decided if she should win any scholarships/acceptances.

Chloe ultimately won a $2,000 scholarship to UMD and was accepted into the American Musical and Dramatic Academy in New York City.

Chloe found this aspect of the festival her favorite part of the experience. She said that auditioning in front of a panel of collegiate judges “helped prepare me for upcoming college auditions and made me feel more comfortable with the process.”

Reagan was also awarded a $2,000 scholarship to UMD and a $1,000 scholarship to Arcadia University with an immediate acceptance into their BFA Acting program with a concentration in Musical Theatre.

Overall, Reagan shared that the festival “was a great experience, and there was a lot of outreach to many conservatory schools and liberal arts colleges.”