23. Mime Workshop

Our troupe will have a mime workshop on October 2, 2007 from 3PM to 4 PM in room B-102. Any MCS student in 6th grade through 12th grade can come. I especially want the troupe members to be there.

The Chapter Director, Harold Easton, will present basics of mime. We hope to have a demonstration from MHS students Tommy Baik and Moon Lee.

This will be a fun time. Be prepared to laugh!

And of course you'll have the chance to ask questions, and possibly try out some moves yourselves.

Edit: Be sure to have your "After School Permission Form" signed by your parent or guardian. If you need one of these, see Mr. G.


A nod and a prayer for Marcel Marceau, the 20th Century's most famous mime, who died September 22, 2007.

22. Points and Pointers

First competition is October 20, 2007 at 1:00 PM at MHS, room D-101.

You need 10 troupe points and a lot of competition points to win a trip to the International Thespian Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska, set for June 2008.


Troupe points: You need 10 troupe points to be inducted into the Thespian troupe. You get these points for activities and service. Come to a meeting, you get 1/2 point. Audition for a play, you earn 1/2 point. Attend a performance, you earn 1 point. Participate in any performance-type activity, you can earn points. If you are doing these things, just let me know. I keep track of the points.

Once you're inducted into the troupe, you're a member for "life," which in the case of middle school means until you graduate from 8th grade.

The Thespian troupe is an honor society, so the recognition is the first benefit of being an inducted member.

And you must be an inducted member to participate in the International Festival at Lincoln, Nebraska.

Competition points: In order to win a free ticket to the International Festival, you need to have the most competition points in your category, or win one of the extra positions as a high-scorer. Competition points are DIFFERENT THAN troupe points. You get competition points by winning at the competitions here in Saipan. For each competition,

first place gets 6 points
second place--5 points
third place--4 points
fourth place--3 points
fifth place--2 points
all other participants--1 point

The total number of competition points earned during the competitions in Saipan determines your competition standing.

The system builds in an incentive for those who participate in every competition. If you compete in every competition, you have a better chance of accumulating more competition points.

Pointers: Read through the blog. Check out the links on the left and others you find on your own. Ask for help from Mr. G.--he's the MCS drama teacher and he knows a lot of tricks that can help you. And most importantly, PRACTICE your competition piece.

(For those doing mime, try it out over and over again in front of your friends and family and see what works. Change it as much and as often as you want to. For everyone else, you need to know the script and stick to the script.)


Meeting dates: I'm looking at Tuesdays for meetings in October, possibly October 2 and October 16. Please watch the blog for news and if you have questions or opinions, feel free to leave a comment.

21. Important Message about Competitions

The Thespian competition schedule is posted at TWPI Competition Schedule. It might be changed, but until it is, we should plan on being ready to compete on the dates shown.

We have a Troupe 88799 meeting set for September 20, 2007 at 12 noon at MCS Room B-102. Please be sure to come to the meeting and bring your suggested competition piece(s) with you. If you're doing mime, write out a short skit ahead of time. Edit, added 9/18/2007. If you want to see a mime skit from the national competitions, you can watch a you-tube video here: Mime of the Carribean. I also hope to have a lesson in mime for you in early October, taught by Hal Easton (Chapter director), with demonstration by Tommy Baik and Moon Lee (Saipan students who earned the highest rating possible, a "superior" in mime at the 2007 Festival).

If you don't have anything prepared for your competition choice--monologue, duet acting, mime, solo musical-- come to the meeting anyway. I'll have some extra materials (on monologue, duet acting and solo musical theatre) that you can select from for your first competition piece. Mime competitors will brainstorm ideas for original composition and performance.

I want to make sure each of you has a good chance at winning a free trip to the summer 2008 International Thespian Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska.

ANY MCS middle school student can compete. Now is the time to join. Just come to the meeting. It is important to compete in every scheduled competition, because cumulative points determine who wins the trip.

See you there.

20. Meetings

Meeting today, September 6 at noon in the FACULTY LOUNGE. Wow!

Next meeting: September 20, 2007 (time and location to be announced). Save the date.

19. A Post for High School Students

This blog is really all about Junior Thespians, but sometimes it's important to spread the word about what is going on in the high school Thespian troupes and our chapter, Thespians of the Western Pacific Islands. So this notice, although it doesn't effect any of the junior thespians of Troupe #88799 right now, is included here to let you know what you can look forward to in high school, and to pass the word about this event.

Thespian Meeting about college--notice from Chapter Director Harold Easton.
Each year the Chapter sponsors a brief workshop for Juniors and Seniors on the subject of College admission.

This is particularly important to our Thespian Seniors.

The presentation will feature our 5 Thespians who participated in the Junior Auditions at the ITS Festival this past summer. Our focus, therefore, is on those schools that have been recruiting our Thespians and accepting them into their Theatre programs.

However, much of the information is also relevant to admission to schools outside of the Theatre Curriculum. We expect that the workshop will at least help you in the following ways:

1. Provide a list of Colleges already being attended by some of our CNMI Thespians.
2. Provide a list of schools currently recruiting CNMI Thespians.
3. Procedures that we feel will insure a maximum potential for success in College admissions.
4. Raise your awareness of the value of the ITS Festival's Junior Auditions, summer 2008.

The workshop will be held in the MHS Cafeteria, on Thursday, September 6 @ 4:00pm.

Freshman and Sophomores are also invited to attend, but the focus will be on the Junior and Senior Troupe members.

18. Reminder-auditions

Auditions for MCS's production of NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS are set for Tuesday, August 28, 2007 from 3 to 5.

If you attend the audition, please sign in with Anna Rose Deleon Guerrero or Victoria Camacho (your troupe officers). You will get 1/2 of a point for attending the audition.

17. An Abundance of Opportunities

Audition opportunities
1) The Thespians of the Western Pacific Islands (TWPI) had auditions yesterday for the Chapter Play, UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE, which will be staged in late September. Hurrahs to the two Junior Thespians from troupe #88799 who auditioned. A total of 29 students from participating schools across Saipan came to the auditions. Wow! If you're intersted, it's not too late. You can still be an extra on stage, help with the back stage workings, or lend a hand with publicity. Let me know (phone or e-mail) or identify yourself in the comments trail, here.

2) If that weren't enough, MCS Principal and Dramaturg Extraordinaire, Galvin Guerrero, has announced auditions for the annual school musical. MCS is staging THE NIGHTMARE BEFORE CHRISTMAS, and hopes to have a December production. They're starting early, though, so now is the time to express your interest. Auditions are Tuesday, August 28, 2007, 3 to 5 PM at MCS and are open to all MCS students.

A note about "points."
If you are in middle school at MCS and participating in these or other performance events, let me know and I'll credit you "points" that can be accumulated toward full (inducted) membership in our troupe. You get points for attending troupe meetings, going to auditions, participating in performances, and other drama-related, troupe-related activities.

If you win a spot to go to the International Thespian Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska this summer, you must be a full member. And it takes 10 points to get full memberhip. Also, it's good to have a lot of points for the honor, and because you can transfer 10 of them toward membership in Thespians when you get to high school.