Good afternoon, everyone,
I'm not sure what's happening on your side of the screen but on mine, this is NOT the school year I was promised this year! Kids are getting quarantined left and right, teachers are out in record numbers and our available substitutes seem to have all disappeared.
I'm being aggressively optimistic about our chances to have a face to face festival but I know that my school district has temporarily suspended group gatherings and field trips. I'm not sure how long temporary is but I know it must be important because they've cancelled PEP RALLIES!!
If it turns out that we are unable to have a face to face festival then we will pivot to an online festival like last year - the only difference will be that in addition to registering as usual you will need to upload a video. This is the back-up plan in place in case we're not able to meet.
All Thespians activities and events will be masked. Our Governor (bless his heart) has no real say in how we operate as we are not a school program and so our Board of Directors has decided to make masks required at our festival. This will be treated the same as any other Troupe Violation so please communicate with your students, chaperones, and whoever else you need to that we expect everyone to be masked.
I am sending you a Google Form that I need you to please complete ASAP - it has some questions about the September meeting as well as some festival questions.
We usually have a little over 600 people at Districts but I know everyone's numbers and participation is all over the place and this is, really, the first festival that I'm attempting to pull together on my own (as opposed to something set up by Christa or a virtual festival option) and I can tell you that I'm going to need all the help I can get!
I would love to be able to plan things with teams - in my brain it makes sense to have a Team: Pensacola, Team: Tallahassee, and Team: Panama City - that seems to be the largest clumps of where everyone is. If each team could choose something to help out with then we all end up as co-owners of the festival and are all invested in its success. I want to talk about this when we meet in September.
I've been pretty open about my challenging summer and I know that many of us are dealing with similar challenges and obstacles. It always feels like we're somehow doing too much and yet I accomplish NOTHING on my To-Do List. It's hard enough to be a teacher these days without also being a theatre teacher, troupe director, show director, festival attendee, club sponsor, parent, partner, etc, etc, etc - I am constantly amazed at the amazing and talented people in my district. Even though we are WAY more spread out than most other districts I still consider us a (dysfunctional) family that I'm proud to be a part of.
Please take a second to complete this Google form and then take a couple more seconds to center yourself, compliment yourself on something you accomplished today, set a challenge for tomorrow, and know that you can do this.
Google Form: https://forms.gle/aS3iJtbZ8GQUsL8q7
Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns that I can answer. I'm still trying to work out the math (and the Google form will help me) but right now I'm trying to not charge more than $40-50 per student but it may be tight. I want as many students as possible to have access to the festival but I want to make sure I can pay my judges, vendors, and hosts. Math makes me sad.
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Jason Blanks
District One Chair
Florida State Thespians
Fort Walton Beach High School
Sponsor, Troupe 01-4967
Electives Department Chair