84. 2008-2009 TWPI Season

The TWPI Board of Directors met to discuss what plays to include in the 2008-2009 season. This year, we present a musical, and possibly will again present a junior thespian one act and a senior thespian one act in the Spring.

Although students and teachers are hopefully getting some R & R this summer, the schedule will be tight and busy when school starts. Because of the cost-cutting delay adopted by the PSS this year, school starts after Labor Day instead of in early August as usual. So we're looking at approximately a 6 to 8 week schedule for auditions and rehearsals and then staging!

The play will be THE SECRET GARDEN, a Broadway musical based on the novel by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The musical won 3 Tony awards and incorporates many elements we've been working on here in the CNMI-a Greek-style chorus, this time of ghosts; a simple set that may use backdrops or flats; and a full orchestral production.

If you want to get an idea of the show, you can watch this student production (from the French Woods Festival). Note the sound/dubbing is off in some of these, but still they give the full flavor! (And you can pick the parts you're auditioning for!):



Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5


Part 6


Part 7


Part 8


Part 9


Part 10


Part 11


Part 12









We're targeting the weekend of November 14th -16th, 2008.

Everything, of course, is subject to change (even the play selection). But for now, this is what we're thinking will be first up on our 2008-2009 production schedule!

63. CNMI TEAM rehearsals schedule

CNMI students going to the ITS Festival at Lincoln, Nebraska are REQUIRED to rehearse in preparation for the event. See schedule listed below.

Students will participate, representing not only your school (Yay MCS!), but also representing the entire CNMI. And because this excursion is paid for by PSS with hard-won grant money, students are expected to work hard to do a good job representing the CNMI (as well as have fun!).

Rehearsal schedule--starting May 19, 2008:
Monday: 4:30 to 6 PM (work on Individual Events Showcase piece)
Wednesday: 4:30 to 6 PM (work on Chapter Select/Freestyle productions)
Saturday: 9:00 to 11 AM (work on Chapter Select/Freestyle productions)

All rehearsals will be at Room 101 D, MHS.

Junior Thespians will be staging AN EVENING OF CULTURE, Faith County II, by Mark Landon Smith for the Chapter Select. If you were good, you were either in this, or watched it, at the recent TWPI production.

If not, you can read more about the play here.

See you Monday, May 19!

59. Thespian Scholarships

A note to the high school Thespian readers: Seniors can now apply (until May 7) for an EdTA / Thespian scholarship. These are available to seniors in high school who have at least a good academic GPA, have been admitted to college, and will be pursuing some theatre-related studies, either as a major or minor.

You can get more information here .

Theatre-relted studies includes anything in theatre, music, communications, drama education, and similar course-work.

The Thespians of the Western Pacific Islands typically contribute to the fund, as does EdTA. Students who win one of these scholarships typically receive up to $1,000 in UNRESTRICTED funds, which can be used for books, supplies, or other needs while at college. (Money is paid to the college or university where you're attending, and then accessed while there.) Of course, you can apply it toward room and board, if you want.

TWPI chooses the recipients, and tries to include at least two or three students each year as award winners, and tries to select students from various schools in the CNMI.

If you've done any drama work this year at all and you attend a school with a Thespian chapter (Mount Carmel Seniors--this means you!), then you may want to apply for this scholarship. When you're going to college, every bit helps.

57. An Evening of Culture

The comedy that will be staged by the TWPI junior thespians is called "An Evening of Culture. The Mineola Society for Cultural Recognition presents Romeo and Juliet," by Mark Landon Smith. This play is sometimes referred to as "Faith County II."

If the title doesn't give you a sufficient hint, this is a spoof on small towns, community theatre, and the great art of William Shakespeare.

Can't wait!

54. Auditions-junior thespian play

This notice from Chapter Director, Mr. Harold Easton:
Junior Thespian Play Auditions will be held on Friday April 4th from 3:00pm to 6:00pm at the MHS Studio Theatre. Be prepared to improvise!!!

Now from me: I encourage all middle school students to come to this audition and try out. This is a "real" audition--meaning not everyone will get a part, because there are limited roles. We don't yet know what the play will be, but most likely it will be a comedy (and not a musical).

53. Awards Banquet Photos

Duet Acting:

Solo Musical:

Mime:

Troupe 88799 students present:

Absent: Victoria Camacho, Victor Sablan

I realized today that MCS Junior Thespians took home more "overall" awards than any other middle school! I'm proud of all of you.

A Summary of the Overall Awards won by Troupe 88799:

Duet Acting--2nd place (Anna and Mariel);

Mime--1st place (Jimmy & Victor);

Solo Musical--1st, 3rd, and 4th places--(Anna, Mariel, Victoria, respectively).

The awards banquet was fun--good food, lots of high energy teens, celebration of good work done.

51. Awards Ceremony!

Yay!!

The Thespians of the Western Pacific Islands (TWPI) chapter is hosting its annual awards banquet on APRIL 1, 2008 at 6:30 PM at CANTON RESTAURANT. (note, I've edited this post because of a change of venue.)

Ribbons and medals for the Regional Competition (held March 8) will be distributed. Ribbons and medals for the overall winners of the year-long TWPI Competition will also be awarded.

And of course, with those awards, we'll get a good picture of our TEAM 2008 for the ITS Festival!

The awards banquet is free to junior thespians (and high school thespians) WHO COMPETED AT LEAST ONCE in the 2007-2008 competitions, so I encourage all of you to attend. Most of you will receive some award! All of you deserve to celebrate your efforts, triumphs, and excellence!

Talk to me for more details, if you're interested.

29. TWPI Radio Show

This is your chance to be on the radio! Here's a notice from Mr. Easton, our Thespians of the Western Pacific Islands' chapter director:

******************************

THESPIANS / NFL:

Starting this Sunday at 3:00pm @ The MHS Studio Theatre (101D), a new “Saipan Radio Theatre” Project – Great Scenes from Western Theatre.
Scenes and Playwright Biographies will be recorded for Radio Station KRNM.
This can count toward NFL points, and the scenes could be used in Competition.
If you are interested – just “show up!!!!!

******************************

Your participation will also earn you troupe points. (I have to see how long each session is, but you'll get at least 1/2 a point and possibly 1 full troupe point for each session.)

27. COMPETITION RESULTS

Yay! MCS rocked the competition.

Solo Musical:
1st place: Anna DLG
3rd place: Victoria Camacho

Duet scene:
2nd place: Anna DLG & Mariel Ferrer

Mime:
1st place: Jimmy Baik and Victor Sablan
2nd place: Lourence Camacho and Kevin Kim

GREAT JOB!
You can see all of the competition results here.

P.S. Victoria--remember how I said you should really go for Monologue? There was only ONE competitor in monologue! You would have gotten at least a 2nd place if you had just competed! Oh well!

26. Congratulations!

Congratulations to our seven middle schoolers who competed in the first Thespian Competition!

Jimmy Baik
Lourence Camacho
Victoria Camacho
Anna Deleon Guerrero
Mariel Ferrer
Kevin Kim
Victor Sablan

You guys ROCKED! I'm impressed that you summoned up the courage to compete in a room filled with other middle and high school students from around Saipan, with various parents and a panel of three adult judges! It was almost like American Idol!


I don't yet know the competition results, but no matter where you placed in the competition, you should feel great about your efforts, talent and achievement in participating.

The next competition is November 17, 2007, at 1 PM at MHS, Room D-101.

We'll meet when I get your ribbons (because I just know that you did well), and talk about what you can do next.

9. More Photos from the ITS Festival

Backstage--before the TWPI's performance.

8. Photos of CNMI Thespians in the States

MCS junior thespian, Anna Rose Deleon Guerrero, took some photos of the trip to the ITS Festival. She says that no photos were permitted during performances or during the individual events, and when they were in workshops, she was too busy to take photos. So all of these are before and after the actual Festival events.

She flew into Wichita, Kansas, to meet with the students from the Forensics competition and travel with those who were also going to Lincoln to the ITS Festival. While there, they saw CLUE, the musical comedy.


Anna Rose Deleon Guerrero, Harold Easton, Mark Anthony Liban, Adelayah Mojica, Rachel Reyes, Richelle Denora, Mrs. Liban, at a theatre in Wichita, Kansas.

Of course, the students took breaks, shopped and ate.


Ryan Gutierrez (Harold Easton and Andrew Golden in background)


Anna Rose Deleon Guerrero, Joan Liwanag


Aisha Joyner, taking a break from shopping at Target.


Tommy Baik


Rachel Reyes, Moon Lee, Adelayah Mojica, all at Target, Lincoln, Nebraska


Anna Rose Deleon Guerrero, Richelle Denora, Jaythan Camacho


Johnna Lubuguin, outside their hotel in Lincoln


Richelle Denora, Johnna Lubuguin, at the hotel in Lincoln


Anna Rose Deleon Guerrero, Johnna Lubuguin


Tori Brown, at a cafeteria at University of Nebraska, Lincoln


Moon Lee, Akieko Dela Cruz, at University of Nebraska

7. The International Thespian Festival-some news

MCS student Anna Deleon Guerrero participated in the ITS Festival, held in Lincoln, Nebraska from June 25th through the 30th, 2007. She, along with other students from the CNMI and elsewhere, enjoyed a feast of productions.

Here's a short list of plays that Anna saw at the Festival.

THE TAFFETAS, enacted by Norwin Theatre Club, Troupe 35493 (Pennsylvania).
MOON OVER BUFFALO, enacted by Klein Collings High School, (Texas)
ZOMBIE PROM, enacted by Floyd Central High School, Troupe # 1794 (Indiana)
BLACK ELK SPEAKS, enacted by Lincoln Southwest High School (Nebraska).
THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE, enacted by the ITS national cast.

Besides seeing some great school Thespian productions, the students from Thespians of the Western Pacific Islands staged THE GOOD DOCTOR, by Neil Simon, in the Howell Theatre. Anna was the "Selector" in the audition scene.

CNMI student Thespians who participated:
Tommy Baik
Royce Banados
Victoria Brown
Jaythan Camacho
Akieko Dela Cruz
Anna Rose Deleon Guerrero
Richille Denora
Dayanara Flores
Ryan Gutierrez
Aishi Joyner
Moon Hyo Lee
Joan Liwanag
Johnna Lubuguin
Jomanda Manglona
Adeleyah Mojica
Rachel Reyes
Nevin Salem
Ahjung Sin

Congrats to all.
Look for more reporting and photos tomorrow.

5. ITS Festival--June 25-29

The International Thespian Festival is set for June 25th through the 30th in Lincoln, Nebraska. You can read about it here .

PSS awards the top winners in the local competitions with travel vouchers to the ITS Festival. This year's CNMI winners (high school Thespians and middle school Junior Thespians) include:

Ryan Gutierrez
Johnna Lubuguin
Richelle Denora
Moon Lee
Tommy Baik
Joan Liwanag
Dayanara Flores
Tori Brown
Akiko Dela Cruz
Nevin Salem
J. Camacho

The last two are 6th graders from San Antonio School who won in the Junior Thespian mime competition! You can see the full results here .

None of the SY 2006-2007 winners are from MCS, because our students didn't compete for the full schedule. However, Junior Thespian Anna Rose Deleon Guerrero competed in all but the first competition and won a blue ribbon in the regionals. Her total score was not enough to get a free ticket from PSS, but she will participate in the ITS Festival at her own expense.

One of the goals for Troupe 88799 next year is to compete in the TWPI competitions all year long. We'd like to see MCS represented at the annual ITS Festival, where our students would participate in workshops and presentations in all aspects of theatre, enjoy the fun and meet other Thespian students from around the U.S. and world. The high school students can also audition for colleges.

This is a great opportunity for the new MCS Junior Thespians.

The categories for competition are monologue, duet scene, mime, and solo musical. Junior Thespians--be thinking about what you'd like to do next year. Feel free to use the comments section here for your questions and ideas.

And watch this blog for possible posts from Anna Rose about the ITS Festival.

1. Mount Carmel's Middle School Joins ITS

Mount Carmel School has created a middle school Thespian troupe that is now chartered by the International Thespian Society (ITS). Troupe 88799 is for 6th, 7th, and 8th graders interested in or active in dramatic arts. The MCS troupe will join the other CNMI schools in our chapter: Thespians of the Western Pacific Islands (TWPI).

MCS Principal Galvin Guerrero organizes and directs the MCS theatre activities. This troupe will start with a groupe of students he has chosen for special recognition for outstanding participation in dramatic arts. The troupe director is a parent-volunteer (me): Jane Mack.

By being a member of the troupe, MCS middle-school students will get recognition for their theatre activities at MCS and in the community. They can also participate in CNMI-wide thespian competitions and activities. Each year, TWPI/PSS sends the students who win the competitions with the highest total competition-point count to the national ITS festival & competition in Lincoln, Nebraska. Troupe members who do not win can attend the ITS festival at their own expense. Troupe activities next year will focus on participating in the local competitions, and developing and recognizing our middle school drama students.

This blog is designed to be a forum for troupe members, parents, MCS students and any other interested people to find out about troupe activities and how to support our students.

Hafa adai and congratulations to the newest Junior Thespians at MCS. Look for the announcement of their names here.