Day Two of "District Three: The Thespians Strike Back"

Technically, it's Day 3 of the Festival, we just did not have to be there on Friday.

Saturday and we're at our high school at 7:30 a.m. to pick up the kids riding in my car for the festival. It was going to be a LONG day.  Closing ceremonies were not until 7-9:30 p.m. that night!!  Ugh!

This day was filled with all the individual acts I mentioned in my previous post.  Our Troupe had entries in Duet Acting, Publicity Design, Duet Musical, Ensemble Acting, Student Directed Act, Solo Song, Monologue, Costume Construction and Costume Design; in all we had 22 separate events.  I made a spreadsheet for myself so I knew where each kid was during the day.

Two students put finishing touches to their costume
 construction for "Chicago."

The chaperones had to man a room all day.  Our Troupe chaperones got to be in the Duet Musical room.  We had 4 ladies, but only needed to fill 3 positions, so every once in a while, once of us would skip out to see our kids in other areas.  In our room, we needed a time keeper (5 minutes per performance), an outside door person (who would not let anyone in during the performances) and an indoor person (who would not let anyone out during the performances.)  75% of the time, I was time keeper.

It was SO much fun. SO much fun.  I got to see duets perform songs from all kinds of musicals including "Spamalot," "Phantom," "I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change," "Chicago," "Wicked," Tick Tick Boom," "Guys and Dolls," "Sweeney Todd," Spring Awakening," etc. etc. etc.

We were a finely tuned machine.  Each act had a specific time to be on, with usually 3 minutes before to set up and turn in their evaluation sheets.  Once they were done, I would walk to the judges (3) and show them the timer so they could log the time.  I kept my own time log as well.

We got a break for lunch and headed out to the main area.  The kids were stressed but having a ball.

Jacob, Ezequiel and John run lines

Jacob, Hunter and Ezequiel

To add the pin craziness, we had a new addition: balloon hats - Star Wars style.

The balloon artist, wearing his tauntaun creation.

Princess Lea balloon buns.

C3PO and R2D2

X-Wing Fighter

Darth Maul's Light Saber

TIE Fighter. 

Boba Fett hat

Me and my Saber with a Storm Trooper
Chewbacca hat in the background.

I was able to leave my post to see Jacob, John, Bobby and Ezequiel perform an act from "Waiting for Godot."



And the Student-Directed performance of a scene from "Red."

Please note: There is cursing in this video below.



After everyone was done, we met back out for dinner from the various vendors in the courtyard.  The results slowly started coming in.  You need a "Superior" to move on to State (Superior, Excellent, Good, Fair, Poor.)  The troupe was receiving "Excellents" and "Goods."  Our One-Act Play that Jacob stage-managed got "Excellent," but we were waiting and waiting for the results of two.  The Student-Directed play Melissa (director), John, Bobby and Julian called "Lend Me a Tenor," and the Student-Directed play by John (director), Jacob and DJ, video above.  What was taking so long?

Suddenly, one of the girls yells out! She got a Tweet (yep, she subscribed to the districts Twitter feed because they were tweeting the results.)  Both of our student-directed plays got SUPERIOR!  We're heading to State in 2012 and Jacob's included!!

The kids react to the news.

The evening ended with the closing ceremonies.



Awards were handed out.  Us parents/teachers were EXHAUSTED.  Fifteen hours later, and we could finally head home!

Oh, and how did we fare with our pin hunt, Jacob and I?

Wampa, Akbar, Fett, Vader, Maul, Frozen Han, Imperial Guard,
 Ewok,  Jabba, Palpatine and Lando!

Jacob's Favorite

My Favorite

Isabel's Favorite

Baddies!

We had a BLAST! We're going to State!  Woo Hoo!