UNL-Based Thespian Festival June 21-26 Is 10th Anniversary

For the 10th year in a row, as many as 2,500 high school students and hundreds of their sponsors will flock to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln city campus for the annual International Thespian Festival. The young actors and their chaperones, representing some of the best and most highly-motivated theatrical talent in the U.S. and abroad, will begin arriving June 21 for the weeklong conference.

Sponsored by the Educational Theatre Association, the festival utilizes campus facilities, including the Lied Center for Performing Arts, Howell Theatre, Kimball Recital Hall, Westbrook Music Education Building, the Nebraska Union, and Abel-Sandoz, Smith, Schramm, and Cather residence halls, as well as Kauffman Residential Learning Center, which will be the site for a special 10-year anniversary celebration June 22.

"It's always a joy to see the thespians come back," said Lesley Esters, manager of summer conferences for University Housing. "They fill our campus with excitement and enthusiasm." Esters said the entire campus community came together 10 years ago to meet the special needs and accommodations for the conference, and continues to work together well, bringing the group back year after year. The conference is one of many camps and conferences hosted during the summer at UNL Housing, and it is the largest.

The students are aged 12 and older, and participate with school groups and clubs or individually in performances, workshops, main stage shows, various training sessions and competitions in monologue, duet acting, group musical theater, pantomime, costume design scenic design and publicity design. Participants also will audition for a part in a special Educational Theatre Association 75th anniversary national cast production of "Ragtime," scheduled for the 2005 festival.

The 10th anniversary celebration reception begins 10:30 p.m. June 22, following the main stage show. More information about the festival is available online.

CONTACTS: Lesley Esters, University Housing, (402) 450-6018 (cell)