Good afternoon, team,
I have been on the phone this morning with Kristen Neander to talk through festival options and choices, etc. I got a lot of great information and ideas and next Friday is the big District Chair board meeting in Tampa where all the official information is handed down. There are some things that I just won't know until next weeks' meeting.
I had what I thought was a really solid plan in place but, as I have previously mentioned, it all blew up on my drive home on the last day of school and then shortly after that my parents began their never ending ride on the carousel of healthcare that has taken a large part of my focus this summer. Happily, my parents are both doing pretty well and we've got dates and locations for our festivals - these are not ideal choices for either location or date and I know that but we will do what we've been doing for the past few years - adjust and excel.
I am still working on costs but it is my commitment to you to keep the costs as low as possible. Since we're going to do two festivals I want to try and make sure that you are only having to pay once for a student to register (so if your kid is performing an IE and in the One Act you don't have to register for both festivals). We have traded in our old two/three day festival for two one-day festivals.
Our IE Festival will take place November 6th on the campus of Ft Walton Beach High School - we are currently working on a plan for rooms, hotels, judges, etc and I will be reaching out to you all soon for help in getting many of those questions answered and positions filled. Our One Act Festival will take place on December 14th at the mainstage at Northwest Florida State College.
I know that the One Act festival is later than many of us would like and is probably bumping up against some Midterm Exam schedules but it was the only date in December I was able to secure.
I want us to have a District meet-up in September to hand out all of this info and to answer any lingering questions anyone might have - I'm sure there are plenty, please ask them, I will answer any that I can. Please complete this Google Form to vote on which Saturday in September you want to meet - this meeting will take place at Ft Walton Beach High School, you are free to invite your student leadership for your troupe (one or two kids per troupe please - if you feel like you need to bring more, please shoot me a message and we can discuss it).
Okay, team, so that's where we're at now. I'll be back in the office starting next week and then school will be starting up and suddenly we're back at it - I'm not sure what this school year will be like, you know Florida likes to challenge the status quo for EVERYTHING but hopefully we'll get through this year with less quarantines and more joy - we're reset for success!
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Jason Blanks
District One Chair
Florida State Thespians
Fort Walton Beach High School
Sponsor, Troupe 01-4967
Electives Department Chair
email: JasonBlanksD1@gmail.com
cell: 850-441-0447