TheatreFest delivers Inspiration and Excitement to McMurry Students
What is better, Theatre or Education? Easy! Theatre AND Education! This past week McMurry Theatre traveled to Galveston Texas to participate in the Texas Education Theatre Association’s annual TheatreFest!
TheatreFest is an annual convention that celebrates educational theater and offers training and education for both current and future theater practitioners. It features events catered toward eager learners ready to absorb theatre knowledge and activities! The events present at this year’s TheatreFest included: Theatre and film-related workshops, a playwriting contest (PlayFest), a design contest (DesignFest), a film contest (FilmFest) and scholarship auditions. Our department operated a booth promoting our program and also participated in many workshops, but the standout experiences of our trip were PlayFest and FilmFest!
FilmFest is a contest catered towards high school and college theatre students to film a three-minute film on a smartphone in 24 hours. The goal behind this contest is to foster creativity and to bring student filmmakers around Texas together to learn from and experience the work of their peers. Our students (Aby Brown, Joe Caton, Grant Pike, Lauren Scott, Evelyn Van Houten) created a Sci-Fi comedy film, full of mystery, suspense, and… toothbrushes. “We learned a lot and had so much fun,” says Evelyn Van Houten, a sophomore Theatre Major. “I had a lot of fun with my character Bridgett because I enjoy the ‘valleygirl’ trope, and just got to go all out with the voice.” Her performance was clearly admired, as she won the Best Supporting Actress award!
McMurry Theatre was also a proud participant in PlayFest, a playwriting competition that fosters the creation and production of new plays. I had the incredible opportunity to bring my original show “Do Mockingbirds Sing at Night” to the competition. I gathered readers from our McMurry team – Aby Brown, Charlie Hukill, Neena McLain, Grant Pike, and Evelyn Van Houten— to read for my show. After one rehearsal we brought the show to playwright Don Zolidus, where we received an insightful critique following the reading.
The experience getting to hear my story on stage was so overwhelming. I gained clearer insight into my characters and the direction of my story, and also go the chance to hear how others connected with it. To top off this incredible experience, I was honored with the Best Play award in the traditional PlayFest category!
Thank you, McMurry, for giving Theatre the chance to participate in this convention, and a special thanks to TxETA for the invaluable opportunities and insights provided at your conference. We returned as a more inspired and enthusiastic group, excited to share and apply what we’ve learned to our lives moving forward!