Check our website for the most up to date information and follow us on our socials! Schedule a meeting with Addie and take our 2023-24 survey (similar to last year's if you completed it with updates for this year).

💎💚 Registration is in full swing! 💚💎 Join us Jan 9-11th for #vtf2025! Stay tuned for more exciting announcements!💎

We would also love to share out about your programs on our social media pages. Follow us on Facebook and Instagram at @vathespians so we can follow you back/keep track of your happenings. You may see your school or show featured soon. Use #vathespians for us to easily find your post! Enjoy media from summer events to see what the Thespians have been up to...

Below is our newsletter from a few weeks ago when registration opened! If you are a teacher of a school who wants to come, go here, if you are looking to book a hotel room, go here. If you are a college, guest artist, vendor, sponsor, alumni, potential college intern, a chaperone who wants to volunteer, food truck, or know someone who is, share this information with them. We would love to see all of you Jan 9th-11th in Tysons Corner with us! See the newsletter checklist below!

Ideas for Getting some $$ for your Classroom:

Fundraising ideas:

• Sock Fundraiser from last month
• Letter-writing campaign: Send letters with a financial ask to community organizations
• Host a coffee house/ talent show/ open mic night at school (charge PWYC or $5-10)
• Bake sale or other goods sold (as your school allows)
• Services (car wash, raking leaves in the neighborhoods, etc.)
• Host experiences around shows or holidays (Tea with princesses for a Disney show, Haunted House or Fun House for the community around Halloween, Character breakfast around Christmas/ Thanksgiving, New Years Bash with local donations and charge attending students (before or after the holiday break, could be a market, talent fair, lock in, game night, etc.)
• Specialized performances (cabaret, dinner theatre, murder mystery experience, escape room, etc.)
• Pick-a-date calendar fundraisers (community members pick a date in a monthly calendar per student, making sure you list what the funds are going to, paying either the day of the month amount. Example: $15 on the 15th day of the month, etc. Or paying what they can or a fixed amount per person for each student who participates in this fundraiser)
• Have others? Share them with us so we can help/support each other.

Grant Writing & Research

• Presentation on Grant-Writing to help guide you/ make it an easier process.

• Money for School Programs

• Grant Writing… Deliverables

• How Theatre Ed. is STEM…
• Youtube video & presentation on Theatre Career-readiness
  

So... help get money to get your kids to come to festival & more this year!

Need other ideas/ help this year? Email executivedirector@vathespian.org to talk about needs, consider coming to the Teacher Leadership workshop at VTF, and consider coming to TEI this summer!

We partner with Creative Stages to bring opportunities to classrooms. We have an opportunity for NoVA (Alexandria, Arlington, Fairfax, Loudoun, Clarke, Prince William, Fauquier) schools Oct. 7th-10th for a FREE Master Class while spots last! HOWEVER, if you are interested in having something like this in your area, email creativestagesdmv@gmail.com to see if we can make something happen in the future!

Join us next summer for the most amazing shared teacher experience! Forget traditional PDs, this is a lesson sharathon, teachers sharing best strategies with teachers, bonding, lesson planning, and more! Add more to your teacher toolbox and join us in August! We are looking for presenters. Consider proposing a topic! Here is a sample of our model lesson plan. Email Addie: executivedirector@vathespian.org or prolearning@vathespian.org with your interest in teaching a session or two! More information coming soon!

Consider Booktix or Ludus for your ticketing programs. Work through our referrals so we get a kickback to further more student opportunities in VA at the festival and beyond!

Virginia Thespians are excited to announce a continued partnership with BookTix Online Ticketing! Many of our schools already use BookTix for their ticketing & fundraising needs. By partnering with BookTix, VA Thespians receive a percentage of all sales which goes directly into creating programs for your students! When you use BookTix, you not only make ticketing simpler for your box office, families & patrons, you are also giving back to VA Thespians. BookTix has committed to helping us grow in many ways, including sponsorship, education opportunities & more! Please use our affiliate link to sign up for a demonstration of their robust system & see for yourself:

CLICK HERE

Join us for an informational webinar on September 5th at 7pm about "Building & Marketing Your Upcoming Season." Here's the link for the webinar. https://meeting.zoho.com/meeting/register?sessionId=1017286171

We're thrilled to continue our partnership with Virginia Thespians, helping your community shine with the best in ticketing, our new volunteer management, collections feature, and more! At Ludus, we're all about streamlining your theatre operations—from easy ticket sales to coordinating your amazing volunteers. Plus, stay tuned for even more exciting updates coming later this year to make your productions run smoother than ever! Learn more at https://hello.ludus.com!

Getting Members Signed Up: Ensure your members sign up using your referral code or partner landing page. This ensures they are automatically assigned to your partner dashboard. We've seen fantastic sign-ups in your area and want to ensure everyone is making the most of their referral codes. Your success is our success! If you would like a webinar, we can schedule one for all contacts or you can inquire yourself.

• Your Referral Code: Ludus.com/VT​
• Your Partner Landing Page: https://www.partners.ludus.com/partners/vt

Product Updates: We continue to add new features and improve existing ones based on your feedback. Recent updates include:

• Volunteer Management: Streamline your volunteer operations with our easy-to-use tool.
• Waitlists: Enable a "Join Waitlist" button on your Events and Classes.
• Direct Forms: Share direct links to forms for collecting information and data.
• Apps: Android and iOS apps are now available!
• Pay Options: Google Pay, Apple Pay, and Apple Wallet are all available. As well as "other" option available for Venmo, etc.
• Collections/Registration updates: Collect payments for member fees, trips, registrations, and more.
• Branding: Fully customizable areas within Ludus to reflect your organization's branding.
• Ticket Transfer: No more having to hold tickets for someone, you can easily transfer it to another phone # or email!

Rhys McClelland is an award-winning director and theatre educator. He has worked with some of the busiest producing theatres in the UK including The Birmingham REP and Chichester Festival Theatre. For 5 years, he served as the Education Director of the Public Shakespeare Initiative at the Public Theater in New York City, where he directed The Hunts Point Children's Shakespeare Ensemble, and piloted a variety of projects that connected students, teachers, artists, and audiences across all five boroughs. Favorite directing credits include Iphigenia at Aulis, Someone Who'll Watch Over Me, Henry V, Journey's End, King John, and the world premier of Lisa McGee's The Heights for the National Theatre Connections Festival. Rhys is the recipient of the 2004 Directors Guild of Great Britain Award, and a Sunday Times Award for innovation. He is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Directors Lab and currently makes his home in the Shenandoah Valley where he is the artistic director of the newly formed Eunoia Theatre. Rhys is also serving on our board as our Guest Artist Representative and works currently with schools in the Rockingham County Public Schools district.

FALL TIMELINE:

All applications/forms are live online now!

Sep 13 - Registration Begins and runs until Nov 15th

Oct 18 - Mainstage Deadline

Oct 18 - One-Act Title Change Deadline

Oct 25 - Mainstage Selected

Nov 1 - One-Act Deadline

Nov 15 - Late Registration

Nov 15 - One-Act Rights Required

Dec 2 - Registration Closes

Check our social media accounts for EdTA, our parent organization or for VA Thespians for recent reminders and updates. Get more resources, learn more about International Thespian Society, and more! The remaining information below is a friendly reminder from previous newsletters. Follow us on Instagram: @vathespians

Email: executivedirector@vathespian.org
Website: https://www.vathespian.org/mission.html
Location: Winchester, VA, USA
Phone: 703-554-3416
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/VirginiaThespians
Twitter: @thespians1

Teachers:

-Fall Expo in MD, Saturday Oct. 19th

• To present: https://bit.ly/2024FallFocusPresenter
• To display for vendors & colleges: https://bit.ly/24ExpoFloor
• To register for colleges: https://chesapeake.usitt.org/store
• To register for secondary: https://bit.ly/24MTEAFallFocus

-Fall National Alliance for Musical Theatre - NAMT Conference Oct. 22-23rd

-CA Edu. Theatre Association fall conference Oct. 24-27th

Students/ Schools:

-VTA Oct 23-27th in Richmond, VA

-VTF Jan 9-11th, 2025 for our 55th season! Stay tuned for more info!

-Potential fall event, more information coming soon!

Use the most up-to-date logos , colors, fonts, etc. for a refresh and to get your branding up to speed with our new logos. Break a leg on fall auditions, productions, one act competitions, ITS inductions, first quarters, and more. Let us know how we can help support you this year!

Did you hear we have a Virginia Thespians Alumni Facebook group? Consider passing this along to your graduating seniors. So far, it is an inspiring network of over 300 professionals, who can be valuable resources for your students beyond high school. These are previous Thespians who remember what it is like to be in their shoes and many of which are happy to serve as mentors. We are creating an alumni board to also fundraise resources for students going to festival, bring in more alumni guest artists, and more! If you are an alumni, consider joining it yourself! We have many more plans in store for the alumni to partner with us to support the current as well as future generations of Virginia Thespians! Join us today!

Here is an easy step-by-step checklist for spring inductions. Use these materials as you see fit!

1. Hold an interest meeting. Ask- Who is interested in becoming inducted into ITS?

2. Share out the point application (your own copy) for students to complete with their past and current theatrical experiences for certain point values.

3. Have students fill out the Member Google form, (your own copy) for the exact information you need to collect to put them into the official ITS/ EdTA system, and pay $35 for the one-time membership fee, which lasts them a lifetime. (More materials at the bottom of the newsletter to promote and explain ITS.)

4. Hold inductions. Here is a sample outline to use. You can create your own rituals, traditions, or if you are in a pinch, it can be less than 30 minutes before school starts or before a rehearsal for example.

5. Log into your myedta account to input all of your new inductees.

6. Pay the lump sum as the director, if your students didn't pay EdTA directly. Our suggestion is to collect the money as you typically do for school events, work with your bookkeeper or boosters to cut one check to EdTA to keep it simple.

7. Hold an end of year or semester celebration to hand out the new goodies when they are delivered to the school! Here is the Thespian store for graduation regalia. If you are trying to save money, cords can be found on Amazon too.

Don't have a troupe yet? Read more about the benefits and process here! You do not need a minimum number of students now to activate/ reactivate your troupe. Get started today! Other resources on inductions from EdTA. Want a 2nd troupe director or someone to go in your place to Thespian events? Consider an Associate Troupe Director! Have you renewed your troupe for the year? If not, follow these instructions. This needs to be done annually for your troupe to stay active.

1. How to renew? Troupe directors, log in to your member portal at myedta.schooltheatre.org

2. Click the "My Orders" button.

3. Renew by Oct 15th for this year!

*Hold fall inductions, so your students get inducted, so they get the discounts for all events and, so they can qualify to move onto nationals with their Thespys. Deadline to be inducted is around 4/15.

Here is a Google Slides PPT about Thespians to encourage students to join or convince Admin about the benefits of having an International Thespians Honors Society troupe or coming to VTF.

Here is a Festival Guide for students or new troupe directors.