This is a press release from the Francis Howell North Drama Department.

Production Announcements and Dates

Fall Play

The fall play will be The Calamityville Terror by Sam Gleason.  It is about murder, ghosts, and deception-perfect for Halloween weekend.  Ticket prices are $6 in advance and $8 at the door.  The cast consists of 7 girls and 5 boys.  Audition dates for this show are Monday August 23^rd and call backs are Tuesday August 24th.  Rehearsals will start on August 25th.   The performance dates for this show are Thursday October 28^th, Friday October 29^th, and Saturday October 30th.  All shows start at 7:00pm sharp.

Winter Student Directed One Act Festival

We will be presenting four one acts for our winter one act festival.  Each will be student directed.  Juniors and Seniors who want to direct will have to apply for directing positions.  These applications will be available November 2^nd.  Auditions will be held November 10^th.  The first rehearsal is November 11^th.  Show dates are December 16^th and 17^th at 7:00pm sharp.  Tickets will be $6.  Below are the summaries and titles of each one act being performed.

Spring Musical

We perform a musical every other year and for the 2010-2011 school year, we will be performing Godspell by John-Michael Tebelak and Stephen Schwartz.  This musical takes stories and teachings from the Gospel, puts them into a late 60s and early 70s setting with hippies, and teaches tolerance, love, and the golden rule.  It is catchy, entertaining, and an excellent show that many high schools have done and continue to do in the St. Louis metropolitan area.

I would eventually like to perform a musical every year and that is something the fine arts department will be discussing this upcoming year.  Audition dates for the musical will be January 11^th and callbacks will be January 12^th.  The first rehearsal will be January 13^th.  Performance dates for the musical are Thursday April 7^th, Friday April 8^th, and Saturday April 9^th.  We will be doing two shows on Saturday-one at 3:00pm and one at 7:00pm.  The shows on Thursday and Friday will be at 7:00pm.  Tickets will be $9 in advance and $11 at the door.  Ticket prices for the musical are more expensive, but this is due to how expensive the royalties are for the show.

End of Year Saturday Knight Live Comedy Sketches

This is something that was done long ago that I want to bring back.  It was a great success and I am looking forward to starting it up again.  Students will be given the opportunity to write short sketches with small sets about daily life here at FHN.  These sketches are meant to be parodies of our school life, but be performed in good taste.  The performance dates for this show are Friday May 13^th and Saturday May 14^th.  Both

Shows are scheduled for 7:00pm.  Auditions will take place on April 18^th and rehearsals will begin on April 19^th.  Tickets will be $6.

Annual Thespian Leadership and State Conferences

Thespian State Leadership Conference

The annual Thespian Leadership Conference will take place on September 11^th at Missouri State University in Springfield.  This conference is for the Thespian Officers only.  We attend the conference to discuss the events taking place at the All State Conference in January.  We will be leaving after school on Friday September 10^th, traveling to Springfield, MO and staying the night, attending the conference on Saturday, and returning to school Saturday evening.  At this point, Howell High and Howell North have started talking about traveling together, but we are still in the planning stages about specific travel plans.  There will be more information to follow.

Fundraising for the Annual State Thespian Conference

Because of the cost of attending the State Thespian Conference in January, we will be doing fundraising to assist students with funding the trip.  The trip last year was $180 per student and the conference was held at UMSL.  This year will be considerably more due to more nights in a hotel, a longer distance to travel, and bus fees as the conference will be in Springfield.  Currently, Howell High and Howell North or discussing renting a bus together and traveling together, but it will depend on how many students we can bring to the conference.  In the past, we were capped at 23 students per school.  This year it could be more, but we are waiting for the adult state board to make these determinations.

The fundraiser is through a company called Clubs Choice (http://www.clubschoicefundraising.com/).  They sell every kind of food product imaginable.  Students get to apply 40% of their gross sales toward their state conference bill.  Students can start selling on August 23^rd and sales must be complete by September 10^th.  All orders will be delivered to school on October 12^th and students can pick up their orders after school.  Students do not have to participate in fundraising if they did not want to, but this fundraiser can greatly reduce the cost of the state conference for students.

Annual State Thespian Conference

The Annual State Thespian Conference is being held Thursday January 6^th-Saturday January 8^th in Springfield, MO.  This will be the first year the conference is being held in Springfield and we are very excited.  We will be leaving on Wednesday January 5^th after school and returning to school on Saturday January 8^th in the evening.

Only students who have been inducted as Thespians can attend this conference.  Seniors and Juniors are given first priority for this trip.  Because of this, their initial payment of $80 (this is the fee for conference registration) will be due by Monday September 20^th.  On Tuesday September 21^st, I will accept an $80 payment from any underclassman who wishes to attend until I have reached my maximum student limit or if it is September 30^th-whichever comes first. NO MONEY FOR REGISTRATION WILL BE ACCEPTED AFTER SEPTEMBER 30^TH-IF THE INITIAL $80 FEE IS NOT TURNED IN BY THAT DATE, STUDENTS CANNOT ATTEND.

Once I have finalized the number of students attending, I will have a break down of how much the additional fees for conference will be per student as it is dependent on how many students attend (hotel rooms and bus fees).  Students are responsible for bringing their own money for meals as well as any miscellaneous needs they may have.

In addition, every year I offer a scholarship to a student who wishes to attend the conference, but perhaps cannot because of financial needs.  Last year I split the scholarship between two students.  This year I will again be offering a scholarship to a student.  Their will be an essay application and I will choose the most deserving student.  The deadline for the scholarship application is Monday October 11^th (the Monday we get back from fall break).  However, I will happily take essays before this date.  Students will receive more information about this essay in September.

Lastly, with the conference being held in January, there is obviously a weather concern.  If it looks like winter weather will be a problem, myself, our Activities Director, and several of our Principals will make decisions at such a time.

New Clubs and Organizations

Drama Mamas and Papas

As we all know, “It Takes A Village…”  Running a drama department is no different.  I am looking for committed parents who would be interested in helping out with some of the drama duties for the 2010-2011 school year.  Duties which would need parental involvement would include assisting with meals during dress rehearsals, assisting with concession sales during performances, assisting with the planning and implementation of the end of the year banquet, assisting with possible fundraising opportunities, volunteering to hold cast parties and the planning/implementation  of such party, and other duties as needed.

We will be having a meeting for parents who are interested on August 18^th at 6:30 in the auditorium at school.  I am hoping to see many people there.  If you would like to help out, but cannot attend, please contact me by email or by phone.

Cappies

Cappies is something new which our drama department would benefit from.  There are currently 23 schools in the metro area involved in Cappies and Howell High is one of them.  A school will have to sign up to be a Cappies school.  Students from our school will attend a training session on a Saturday to learn about critiquing productions.  These students will then sign up to attend 5 shows throughout the school year at other Cappies schools.  The critiquing team can be no more than seven students.

Once our students attend a performance, they will write up a review of the performance and the review will be published in the St. Louis Post Dispatch.  At the end of the year, nominations for best sound designer, best lighting designer, best actor in a musical, etc. (there are over 25 different awards) are decided and the different Cappies schools vote.

In addition, because we would be a Cappies school, students and Directors from other Cappies schools would attend our productions and our students would have critiques written about them.

At the end of May, a very nice dinner and awards ceremony are held (this year at Missouri Baptist University) and the award winners are announced.  They receive plaques, medals, and potential scholarships (this past year Lindenwood offered $1,000 and the best actor/actress winners were able to attend a national play in Washington, D.C.).  Both the Muny and The Fox are sponsors of Cappies.

Friends of Theatre Association

Our theatre program runs on the revenues brought in from ticket sales.  We are very dependent on our ticket sales and we usually turn a profit from the shows.  However, we are always in need of new equipment, supplies, and ways to assist in funding student cost.  A couple of things I would like to be able to cover for students (but at this time cannot because of my budget constraints) are induction fees and subsidizing part of the cost of the Thespian Trip.  In addition, we are in need of new tools for the shop as well as new technical equipment for the lights and sound booth.

Anyone who wants to be a member of the Friends of Theatre Association can for a fee.  This fee will also give you certain privileges.  Below are the set fees and privileges:

Gold Star Friends: One time payment of $75.  You will receive two free tickets to the Fall Play and one free ticket to the Spring Musical.  You will be assigned a “choice” seat for the musical.  If you own a business, your business card will be placed in the program as well as your name.

Silver Star Friends: One time payment of $50.  You will receive two free tickets to the Fall Play and your name will be put in the program.

Bronze Star Friends: One time payment of $25.  You will receive your name in the program.

Programs

In the past, the publicity Crew has been responsible for putting together the programs for the productions and we have printed the programs at school.  For the 2010-2011 school year, The Publicity Crew will still be in charge of putting together the program, but I want to start having the programs professionally printed as well as selling add space and “call outs” to students.

If anyone knows of someone who owns a printing business or if anyone owns a printing business themselves, please let me know to see if we could work a deal of some sort for the printing of our programs.

If a parent owns a business they can purchase add space in the program.  A business card is $15, half a page is $25, and a full page is $45.

If parents would like to purchase “call outs”, they are $15 each.  Parents can put notes in the program to their children (i.e. “we are so proud of you.  Love, Mom, Dad, Billy, and Rover The Dog).  Call outs will be limited to three lines.  Many schools put call outs in their programs and sell add space as a way to generate revenues.

I hope you find this newsletter both helpful and informational.  If you have questions or concerns, please feel free to email me or call me.  Thank you again for your continued support of the Francis Howell North Theatre Department.  We are all very excited about the 2010-2011 school year and look forward to you continued involvement, support, and patronage.

Sincerely Yours,

Jeff Tandler

FHN Theatre Director

[email protected]

636-851-4975