All-State Musical Students Headed to Internationals

Four Avon High School students are going to be displaying their acting prowess onstage at an upcoming international event.

We conducted the following interview with AHS Director of Theatre Dr. Caitlyn Steckbeck. Responses have been edited slightly to fit this format.

Avon High School sets the example of how the arts should be nurtured in schools. Dr. Steckbeck

We are excited to hear Avon Theatre kids are participating in the all-state musical. Tell us about that.

The All-State Musical is a program through Indiana Thespians, the official state chapter of the Educational Theatre Association. Indiana Thespians received the The Young are at the Gate grants that allowed for 12 schools/groups across the nation to license the new musical, Suffs the Musical. Suffs is based on the historical events of the suffragist movement that includes many historical characters such as the ones that our three Avon girls play, Ida B. Wells, Mary Church Terrell, and Lucy Burns. Our boy plays various male characters in the ensemble. The students submitted virtual auditions at the beginning of the school year. There are 32 students from 18 different schools across Indiana in the show. We rehearsed almost exclusively on the weekends throughout the first semester at AHS because the show was performed at the Indiana Thespians State Conference in January. While the original production was at AHS, the remounting of the show prior to the International Thespian Festival will be at Floyd Central High School. More details can be found on the ticketing website.

Which students are going to Internationals? How did they qualify?

Avon students are Mayowa Adegunle, Sanaa’ Archer, Eli Neal, and Keely Nance. 

To qualify for ITF, the adult creative team of Suffs (which I am a part of) created a portfolio of the design elements, provided production photos, completed a detailed application, and submitted a full recording of the show to the Educational Theatre Association who then hires outside adjudicators to score the overall application. Suffs is one of 12 productions selected across the country to perform as a Main Stage production at ITF which means they will perform for thousands of their peers during the conference. 

When are Internationals and what will they experience there?

The International Thespian Festival is June 21-26 at Indiana University Bloomington. Even though it is nearby for us, the conference brings in about 5,000 people internationally. Our students will get to participate in professional workshops over all areas of theatre, see the Main Stage performances, audition for colleges and universities across the country, and compete in individual events that are referred to as Thespys. It is a very “chose your own adventure” conference, so the students build their schedule around what interests them. We will stay on IU’s campus in a residence hall the entire week, and the kids are engrossed in all things theatre!

How have you seen students' participation in Avon Theatre impact them as students? As humans?

Research shows that participating in educational theatre helps students of all background grow in their own sense of empathy and social justice as well as gaining confidence, collaborative skills, time management, and creativity. (This was the topic of my PhD dissertation.) As the Director of Theatre at Avon High School, I get the privilege of seeing many students start as shy, unsure freshmen who in four years' time graduate with more confidence, self-assurance, and the ability to work with people who are different from them but who all have the same goal. This is true for students who participate on stage, backstage, or a mixture of both. These skills are immeasurable as our students become adults entering the work force, college/universities, the armed forces, and et cetera. “Theatre kids” are so multi-talented, and I’ve seen firsthand from our Avon Theatre alums that those talents transition into their future careers outside of theatre such as teachers, IT developers, business management, marketing, psychology, real estate, and beyond. The skills learned in theatre don’t just stay in the theatre.

Anything else I haven't asked that you want readers to know?

None of this — both for the Avon students and for Indiana Thespians’ All-State program — would have been possible if it weren’t for Dr. Scott Wyndham, Mr. Matt Shockley, Dr. Jim Graham, and Mr. Ben Biddle allowing the All-State program to rehearse at Avon High School during the first semester around all the other facility commitments. The students were able to solely rehearse in the space where they would perform for the Indiana Thespians State Conference. Avon being in the central part of the state was crucial for students and families to be able to drive sometimes more than two hours each way. Avon Community School Corporation continues to support all the performing arts for its students and allows our performing arts groups to host additional events that then positively affect other students in Indiana. Avon High School sets the example of how the arts should be nurtured in schools.