By Avery Walts
The two short, cherished months of summer for high school students are usually spent at the pool or on the couch. However, the theater students at FC spend their summer preparing for upcoming shows, competing at Internationals in Nebraska, and this year competing in Scotland. Yes, Scotland.
The International Fringe Festival held in Edinburg, Scotland is the largest arts festival in the world. To say FC being invited for the fourth year is an honor would be a grand understatement.
“I received an invitation saying that a college had submitted our name as a high school with an exemplary theatre arts program and they hoped we would apply to be considered for the Fringe Festival,” said theater teacher Chris Bundy.
Only one school from each state is selected after the evaluation process to represent the United States.
“The process for being invited is not based on a single show, but rather they look at a three-year period of work by the school, theater offerings within the school, community support of the arts, etc,” said Bundy.
The real work for the festival began earlier this school year. Despite a few sightseeing excursions along the way, the main focus of the trip will be the group’s production of “E.A. Poe…Into the Mind of Madness.”
“We have just started work on ‘E.A. Poe’ so most roles have not been cast as of yet. The roles that are cast include junior Zach Hebert as Poe, senior Tyson Woolf as his adoptive father Allan, and Ryan Bickett as the young Poe,” said Bundy.
From past experiences at the Fringe Festival, Bundy noticed original plays fare better with the critics.
“I settled upon an American icon, Edgar Allan Poe, who is certainly well known throughout the world. We wanted to approach the show not only using some of his stories as a basis, but to really ‘get into the mind’ of Poe and what might have influenced his macabre nature,” said Bundy.
Along with the Scotland trip is FC’s 13th trip to the International Thespian Festival in Nebraska. The students will be performing the smash hit “The Drowsy Chaperone.”
“It will be performed before 2,800 theatre kids from all over the country and they are the best audiences a school could hope for,” said Bundy.
Each year, hundreds of schools enter their shows to be considered for an invitation, and only five shows are given the evening slots to perform. FC is one of those shows.
Internationals also includes hundreds of workshops conducted by professionals from around the world as well as college scholarship auditions.
None of these prestigious festivals would be possible without summer rehearsals.
“The main issues with rehearsing during the summer is balancing everyone’s schedules. It is always hard to get everyone on the same page,” said Bundy.
With all the hurdles of summer schedules and stressful roles to perfect, Bundy finds any extra practice beneficial.
“Any opportunities to hone one’s craft outside of school hours is both useful and important in being the best one can be,” said Bundy.