Happy fall everyone! I know it is hard to see summer come to a close. Hopefully you are refreshed and ready for a new year! I chose legos to remind ourselves that we are building up programs, new preps, new classes, new shows this year. Give yourself grace, make time for YOU, and let us know how we can support you! -Love, The Virginia Thespian Board!

Follow us on social media for more information and updates! We would love to know how to support you this year. Please complete our 2023 Troupe Director Survey.

Sept 6th- Virginia Thespian Festival registration opens!

Nov 6th- Regular registration closes, NO MORE shows, Thespys, auditions or other entries, only late school registration allowed until Dec 1st after this point

Dec 10th- Guest Artist, Colleges, Vendor, and all other application deadlines

We have a potentially exciting headliner that we will announce in October related to a hopeful all-state show so keep your eyes peeled for that!

Lesson/ Activity Sharathon! This was from our summer PD and it is FILLED with many gems. Thank you to our board members, attendees, and all contributors in between so we can start the year off with more tools, sub lessons, etc. Included in here is how to include THESPYS into your classes, prepare students for competition, and more!

You do NOT need to have a student get a superior or a show to be selected to go to ITF! Anyone can go. Ask us more about this at VTF this winter!

Hi theatre educators!

After being asked for years, in 2019 I developed a classroom resource designed to build confidence through choreography...daily8count!

Each week daily8count releases a short musical theatre dance combination broken down over 5 brief videos for ALL skill levels!

Daily8count strives to be the most adaptable theatre classroom resource…”perfect bellringer”, “excellent warmup / cooldown”! Stream each week's content on your own schedule (i.e. one video each school day...or 2 on Tuesday & 3 on Thursday...or even have a dedicated "CHOREOGRAPHY DAY" each week where you learn that week's combination all at once).

Each combination will remain accessible for 4 weeks.

Check out a few sample weeks that are available on daily8count.com right now!

For less than the cost of bringing in a teaching artist for a day, dance with daily8count for the entire year! Early bird pricing is now extended until 9/11/2022.

~brian curl

daily8count.com

daily8count@gmail.com

P.S. Daily8count is a true one-person operation dedicated to building confidence through choreography...we strongly believe in equity/inclusion for all, would you please consider donating to our scholarship fund so less fortunate programs can access daily8count.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-daily8count-remain-an-accessible-resource

-Brian Curl (Teaching Artist Alliance, Frequent Thespian Festival Guest Artist)

Did you hear we have a Virginia Thespians Alumni Facebook group? Consider passing this along to your graduating seniors. So far, it is an inspiring network of over 250 professionals, who can be valuable resources for your students beyond high school. These are previous Thespians who remember what it is like to be in their shoes and many of which are happy to serve as mentors. We are creating an alumni board to also fundraise resources for students going to festival, bring in more alumni guest artists, and more! If you are an alumni, consider joining it yourself! We have many more plans in store for the alumni to partner with us to support the current as well as future generations of Virginia Thespians! Join us today!

Here is an easy step-by-step checklist for spring inductions. Use these materials as you see fit!

1. Hold an interest meeting. Ask- Who is interested in becoming inducted into ITS?

2. Share out the point application for students to complete with their past and current theatrical experiences for certain point values.

3. Have students fill out the Member Google form, for the exact information you need to collect to put them into the official ITS/ EdTA system, and pay $35 for the one-time membership fee, which lasts them a lifetime. (More materials at the bottom of the newsletter to promote and explain ITS.)

4. Hold inductions. Here is a sample outline to use. You can create your own rituals, traditions, or if you are in a pinch, it can be less than 30 minutes before school starts or before a rehearsal for example.

5. Log into your myedta account to input all of your new inductees.

6. Pay the lump sum as the director, if your students didn't pay EdTA directly. Our suggestion is to collect the money as you typically do for school events, work with your bookkeeper or boosters to cut one check to EdTA to keep it simple.

7. Hold an end of year or semester celebration to hand out the new goodies when they are delivered to the school!

Don't have a troupe yet? Read more about the benefits and process here!

Our next festival will be Jan 13-15th, 2023 at Shenandoah University again! Mark your calendars now and we hope you join us then! Registration will be open September- November. Our working theme is Thespians are Out of This World and getting finalized by our current as well as hopefully new incoming student leaders. We want to bring the energy, show the importance of the arts, and make our next festival the best one yet! Stay tuned for more information coming soon! Check out the link below and remind your students to apply for a VTO position by May! Be the first to watch our YouTube Thespian Festival 22 Highlights thanks to our festival photographer/videographer & Virginia Thespian Alumni, Destiny Martinez!

Here is a Google Slides PPT about Thespians to encourage students to join.

Here is a Festival Guide for students or new troupe directors.

Why join or have an ITS troupe? Share with students & administrators!