Student Auditions

This is a reminder to all students in grades 6 through 12 about auditions for ZOMBIE PROM!!!

Directors (including assistants and stage manager): audition/sign up TODAY 9/9/2010 from 4 to 6 PM at MHS D 101.

Actors (actresses): audition on Tuesday, 9/14 or Thursday 9/16 from 4 to 6 PM at MHS D 101.



Techies (includes everything from set and costume to SFX and performance crew): sign up Tuesday, 9/14 or Thursday 9/16 from 4 to 6 PM at MHS D 101.

Marketing (promotion, sales, programs): sign up Tuesday, 9/14 or Thursday 9/16 from 4 to 6 PM at MHS D 101.



Musicians (we need a rock band!!!): pick up audition sheet music Tuesday, 9/14 from 4 to 6 PM at MHS D 101. Audition (indivually or as a band) on Thursday, 9/16 from 6 to 8 PM.

Join the fun!

STAGE DOOR-tickets on sale!

The student Thespians of the Western Pacific Islands will be presenting the play "Stage Door" at PIC Charley's Cabaret on Tuesday and Wednesday, October 27 and 28, 2009 at 7 PM.

The play is a 1930's comedy, written by George S. Kaufman and Edna Ferber. (Another of their plays--The Royal Family-- is on Broadway now, in a new revival. And one of Kaufman's plays--Once In A Lifetime--is being presented this month in Los Angeles on stage and through radio theatre. So the Saipan students have a play that is very much in vogue. )

Tickets are $7 for adults and $5 for students. I'm selling. Leave a comment --PLEASE-- and I'll get the tickets to you.

International Thespian Festival news

I've posted a long report on the International Thespian Festival on the CNMI Competitions blog, if you're interested.

A quick summary of some of the notable highlights:

19 TWPI students, 8 advisors/chaperones from Saipan.



About 2000 students from around the world (mostly the mainland USA, but also Dubai and of course, the CNMI).

More than 500 students competing in Individual Events (IEs).

4 TWPI students on the honorable mentions list (meaning they earned the highest overall rating-superior-given by the judges in their IEs): Aisha Joyner and Akeiko Dela Cruz in the top 6 of Duet Acting; Sung Yul (Tommy) Baik and Moon Hyo Lee in the top 9 of Mime.

And a new TWPI college auditions callback record--Kay Park (technical theatre--costume design; set design; and photography) with 21 colleges or universities putting her on their recruitment lists.

Commedia Dell'Arte in Saipan

229. At the Multi-Purpose Center

Last night there was a diverse crowd at the Multi-Purpose Center. Two quite-different, but sometimes overlapping, groups showed up. It was quite amusing as people from each group-unaware of the other group's contemporaneous event-stood about, trying to get to the right spot.

Area students from Hopwood, Mount Carmel, MHS, Saipan Southern and SAEFS (Saipan American...School) were staging two one-act comedies in the main area of the Multi-Purpose Center. They had been rehearsing for weeks, had put up posters around Saipan, and sold tickets, all on a shoe-string (or less!) budget.

Scheduled at the same time, in the conference room, Representative Tina Sablan hosted a forum on the Open Government Act.

Ruth Tighe, Greg Sablan, John Gourley, Mike Nisperos, Wolf Mojica and a whole lot of other well-known and lesser known people eventually headed into the conference room--packed in tightly, with less-than-satisfactory air-conditioning, all to learn and participate in a meaningful way in our local civic affairs.

Meanwhile, an equally large crowd, including Mike Dotts, Karen Borja, Dora Miura, and a whole host of future leaders, took seats arranged in a circle around an open space--the shoe-string version of "theatre in the round" to watch CINDERELLA WORE COMBAT BOOTS, and AN EVENING OF CULTURE.

I sat at the ticket table for the student Thespians of the Western Pacific Islands(TWPI) production, selling tickets at the ridiculously low price of $3 for students and $5 for adults, enjoying the bedlam. Adelayah Mojica, interested in both events, helped steer people in the right direction with a well practiced "Are you here for Tina Sablan's forum?" directed at those who came with notepads and serious faces, and with a patient request to "please wait until the house opens" at known teachers, parents, those with children, and anyone obviously smiling.

As both events got underway, there was very little sound coming from the conference room, and occasionally someone left early or entered late, jostling for an open chair.

In the "theatre," there were few empty seats, but because of the "in the round" staging, everyone was within 3 rows of the action. Bursts of laughter streamed through the closed doors, punctuating the quiet of the lobby.

Two very different events, both part of a vibrant community life. I'm glad I was there.

224. Theatre in the CNMI

No movie theatres, so come watch live action drama--well, comedy!


That's just $3.00 for students and $5 for everyone else. See you there!

143. More UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE photos

The show UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE got better and better with each performance (starting Friday evening, continuing with a Saturday matinee, and ending with Saturday evening).

Here are some photos backstage, set and in performance on Saturday. (Some Friday photos are in the prior post.)

If you want photos, feel free to copy any, but please remember the limits placed on their use by the creative commons license (info in sidebar). I also have more photos than what are shown here, so if you don't see the one you want, or would like something in particular, feel free to contact me (info in profile).

BACKSTAGE

And then on-stage:

Kudos again to the hard-working students, who learned something from putting on this play and had fun in the process. And thanks to all who came to see the show.

142. UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE

Student actors and actresses, student directors, student set designers, student artists, student costumes--UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE is an entirely-student show. And it's fun!

Friday's audience was mostly students, too! The tightly-scripted show is guaranteed to get laughs, but also explore the difficulties of teaching and learning when life is happening all around.

Kudos to all who participated. And break a leg on the 1:30 PM and 6:30 PM Saturday shows.

137. UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE

More than 40 students from Saipan area middle schools and high schools are staging the classic school drama, UP THE DOWN STAIRCASE. The play is set for 9/28 at 6:30 PM and Saturday 9/29 at 1:30 (matinee) and 6:30 PM at the Multi-Purpose Center. This is an entirely student run production-from directing to acting to costume and stage set design to tech crew. Our students learn a lot from this cooperative artistic endeavor and they do a great job with production values.

And you can't beat the prices. :-)

Hope to see you there.

109. Reports from the CNMI's Thespians

Reports are starting to trickle in from the CNMI's Thespians who participated in the International Thespian Festival at Lincoln, Nebraska.

The biggest news so far is that Jomanda Manglona won a scholarship through her competitions. Yay! And congratulations.

You can see some photos, also, over at the Mount Carmel Junior Thespians' blog troupe88799 .

Looks and sounds like they did well, had fun, learned something and made us all proud.

70. TWPI

TWPI-That's Thespians of the Western Pacific! Our dramatic middle and high school students had their regional competition Saturday, April 21, 2007 at WSR. Despite the intermittent rain that turned to steam in the sun, the students managed to keep their cool and perform their pieces with flair and panache.

Winning in the high school Thespian competition:
Regional 1st places: Monologue: Ryan Gutierez.
Duet: Richelle Denora and Ryan Gutierez
Solo Musical: Tikla Brown
Mime: Moon Lee and Tommy Baik

The cumulative points for the entire Thespian season resulted in the same top place awards, except in Solo Musical, where Joan T. Liwanag outscored Tikla by 2 points for the overall seasonal win, despite the regional competition result.


Winning in the junior Thespian competition:
Regional 1st places: Monologue: Anna Rose DLGuerrero*
Duet: Dayanara Flores and R. Banados
Solo Musical: Anna Rose DLGuerrero*
Mime: J. Camacho and N. Salem

Duet and Mime regional first place winners were also the top finishers in the overall points in their categories. But cumulative points resulted in overall wins in Monologue by Dayanara Flores, and in Solo Musical by Akiko Dela Cruz.


Those with the highest cumulative points may participate in national competition at the International Thespian Society (ITS) Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska, scheduled in late June this year. There may be some slight variations, as students who won in more than one category opt for the one they'll compete in, and possibly second place winners will then compete instead; or if any student winner doesn't go to the nationals, the second or even third place finisher may take the place. It's a juggling act right now!

Congratulations to all students who participated.

Each year, we're seeing more and more students in tighter competitions. Performing arts are an important part of the school curriculum, with arts mandated to be part of the No Child Left Behind program. The talent among our kids is pretty impressive, but more important are the benefits in language development, teamwork, and cultural understanding that drama promotes.

If you want to see the complete scorecard and speculate about the national competition line-up, you can view the matrix here .

Good luck to the Thespians and Junior Thespians who will be representing TWPI in the nationals at the ITS Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska. Have fun and break a leg.


*P.S. Yes, the one and only daughter of mine! The flair for the dramatic is growing stronger. I didn't think that possible.