Festival kicked off with two shows, several workshops, and students arriving from throughout the country. 
Little Shop of Horrors, Troupe 7023, Arab
(Alabama) High School. (Photo: R. Bruhn) 
Normal, Troupe 5470, Greendale (Wisconsin) High School. (Photo: Susan Doremus) 
Joanne Woodard works with a student on a monologue in her auditions workshop. (Photo: Jim Palmarini) 
Cooling off in the University of Nebraska
fountain after a busy day. (Photo:
Jim Palmarini) 
Learning the steps in the intro to jazz workshop. (Photo: Jim Palmarini) 
The Thespians of Pleasant Valley High School, Bettendorf, Iowa. (Photo: Jim Palmarini) The national cast of Thoroughly Modern Millie School Edition kicked off Festival in a thoroughly entertaining way Tuesday afternoon and evening. Lyricist Dick Scanlan and composer Jeanine Tesori were on hand for the show. Here’s a bit of what Millie looked like: 
Elizabeth Elliot (Millie Dillmount) and David King (Jimmy Smith) share a moment in Thoroughly Modern Millie. (Photo: Susan Doremus) 
Millie lyricist Dick Scanlan and composer Jeanine Tesori backstage after the show with cast member Jenna Paulette (Muzzy van Hossmere). (Photo: Jim Palmarini) 
The Millie ensemble gets caught up in the rhythm of “The Speed Test.” (Photo: Susan Doremus) 
Miss Dorothy Brown (Jessica Richards) sings
of falling in love. (Photo: Susan Doremus) 
The guys kick up their heels. (Photo: Susan Doremus) 
The gang welcomes Millie to town. (Photo: Susan Doremus) 
Mrs. Meers (Rachel Buethe), Bun Foo (Louis Casados), and Ching Ho (Antonio Addeo) strut their stuff. (Photo: Susan Doremus) 
Jenna Paulette (Muzzy van Hossmere) gives it her all in “Long as I’m Here with You.” (Photo: Susan Doremus) 
Millie makes the best of things in “Thoroughly Modern Millie.” (Photo: Susan Doremus) Other Festival events also took center stage as well: 
Two students play a scene from My
Brother’s Keeper in the Playworks auditions.
(Photo: Jim Palmarini) 
Working the board in the Professional Development Institute “Moving Light Applications.” (Photo: Jim Palmarini) 
China Allen in the solo musical Individual
Events auditions. (Photo: Susan Doremus) 
Kate Baumgartner does her presentation in
the scenic design Individual Events audition.
(Photo: Susan Doremus) 
Getting the light set right in the Tech Challenge. (Photo:
Susan Doremus)
John B. Connally High School in Austin, Texas kicked off Wednesday morning with a main stage production of Much Ado About Nothing. 
Emily Smith (Beatrice) and David Nguyen (Benedict) trade witty barbs. (Photo: Susan Doremus) 
Andrew Robinson as Don John. (Photo: Susan
Doremus) 
Emily Smith as Beatrice. (Photo: Susan Doremus) While Kimball Theatre audiences were treated to the Bard, Thespians in the Lied Center were entertained by Lincoln (Nebraska) Southwest High School’s production of Black Elk Speaks.
Cast members share a moment backstage before the show. (Photo: R. Bruhn) 
Heroism and high emotion. (Photo: R. Bruhn) 
Ceremony and dance. (Photo: R. Bruhn) 
John Beal (David), Charlie Mock (Leon), and Sadie Wilson (Frances) in The Voice of the Prairie by Blue Valley West High School, Overland Park, Kansas. (Photo: Susan Doremus) 
Gloria Bueno (Pinnochio) and Rinel Longoria
(Columbina) in an outdoor performance of
Pinnochio Commedia by Alice (Texas)
High School. (Photo: Jim Palmarini) 
Thespians break it down in Kym Rau’s jive workshop. (Photo: Susan Doremus) 
Students react during Mike Rock’s
improvisation workshop. (Photo: Jim Palmarini) On Wednesday night, Blue Valley High School in Stillwell, Kansas presented A Piece of My Heart. Here are a few shots. 
Sissy (Alexandra Matteo) and her friend get their orders to go to Vietnam. (Photo: R. Bruhn) 
Members of the Sugar Candies all-girl band celebrate with soldiers. (Photo: R. Bruhn) 
Leann, played by Stefanie Wienecke, decides
to disobey orders and keep her yellow ribbon.
(Photo: R. Bruhn)
Beavercreek (Ohio) High School treated the Lied Center audience to a musical morning with their production of Songs for a New World. 
Megan Kubasky and Travis Williams join their
company in a rendition of “The New World.”
(Photo: R. Bruhn) 
Tommy Skelton sings “On the Deck of a
Sailing Ship.” (Photo: R. Bruhn) In the evening, Norwin High School in North Huntingdon, Pennsylvania presented the musical revue The Taffetas in the Kimball Theatre. 
Donna (Amber Williams), Peggy (Mandie Russak), Cheryl (Brett Czekaj), and Kaye (Erika Pealstrom) do a commercial for Galaxy Beauty products. (Photo: Susan Doremus) 
Peggy (Mandie Russak) and Donna (Amber Williams) snap a photograph of the audience for their memory book. (Photo: Susan Doremus) 
Kaye (Erika Pealstrom) takes questions from the
audience during the Taffetas’ chatterbox session.
(Photo: Susan Doremus) While the Kimball Theatre audiences were rocking out to the Taffetas’ tunes, New Albany (Indiana) High School brought Disney’s High School Musical to the Lied Center stage. 
Cameron Hobbs as Troy and Hanna
Lohmeyer as Gabriella, performing “Can’t Take
My Eyes Off of You.” (Photo: R. Bruhn) 
Sharpay (Sara King) and Jack (Brett Howard)
meet at the lockers of East High School.
(Photo: R. Bruhn) 
The whole cast takes the stage to show “We’re All in this Together.” (Photo: R. Bruhn) 
Larry Bridges helps a student with his vocal range during his singing workshop. (Photo: Susan Doremus) 
Emily Goodburn of Big Sky High School in
Missoula, Montana performs during
college auditions. (Photo: Susan
Doremus)
West Port High School in Ocala, Florida presented Edward Albee’s The Zoo Story Friday morning in the Kimball Theatre. 
Jerry (Derek Galarza) strikes up a conversation with Peter (Jacob Titterington) outside the gates of the zoo. (Photo: Susan Doremus) 
Derek Galarza as Jerry. (Photo: Susan
Doremus) 
A moment from Ken Ludwig’s Moon over Buffalo, brought to the Festival by Klein Collins High School, Spring, Texas. (Photo: R. Bruhn) 
Zombie Prom, presented by Floyd Central High School, Floyds Knobs, Indiana, on the Lied Center stage. (Photo: R. Bruhn) 
Zombie Prom. (Photo: R. Bruhn) 
Zombie Prom. (Photo: R. Bruhn) (Some of our stuff is still en route from the Festival site in Nebraska to our offices in Cincinnati. We’ll post more Friday photos—and more complete cutlines—when it arrives.)
After a week of workshop rehearsals in the Thespian Playworks program, four new student-written plays were given staged readings on Saturday. (Playworks photos: Don Corathers) 
The writers, left to right: Chris Osborn,
Southridge High School, Beaverton, Oregon;
Katie Sheldon, School for Creative and Performing
Arts, Cincinnati; Chad Baker, Beavercreek
(Ohio) High School; Max Posner, Denver School
of the Arts. The sculpture behind them is Torn
Notebook, by Claes Oldenburg and Coosje
van Bruggen. 
Gage Wallace played Liam in My Brother’s
Keeper, a drama about the Troubles in Ireland
by Katie Sheldon. 
Director Joe Salvatore watches as the cast of My Brother’s Keeper performs an alternate scene for the Playworks readings audience. 
Izabel (Vikki Valenzuela), is having second
thoughts about a kiss from Curtis (Timothy Rizzo)
in Max Posner’s play The War on Safety. 
Raquel Woodruff and Nick Parker in the Playworks reading of Constellations, by Chris Osborn. 
Blake Oliver and Jeff Hayes in a moment of
fraternal bonding in Brothers Don’t Say It, by
Chad Baker. 
The denizens of the village of Kulyenchikov in Neil Simon’s Fools, the Saturday night closer in the Kimball Theatre, brought to the Festival by the Jenison (Michigan) High School Thespians. (Photo: Don Corathers) 
Angela Grotenhuis and Mathew Palmitier in Fools. (Photo: Don Corathers) 
Hope Shangle played Sophia in Jenison’s
production of Fools. (Photo: Don Corathers) 
Thespians from the Denver School of the
Arts closed out the Festival Lied Center
performances with Neil Simon’s Brighton Beach
Memoirs. Leah Watson as Kate Jerome and
Anne Joy as her sister, Blanche. (Photo:
R. Bruhn) 
Joe LaFollette as Eugene Jerome and Jamie Billings as his ever-ailing cousin, Laurie. (Photo: R. Bruhn) 
Eugene (Joe LaFollette) and Stanley (Max Posner) discuss the many wonders of the female anatomy. (Photo: R. Bruhn) |