(courtesy The Columbus Dispatch)
6 March 2006 - By Aaron Marshall


(News photo by Tess Colwell)
Dublin Jerome senior Chris Wood focuses himself as the cast and crew of Sylvia set up for their performance at the State Thespian Conference.


(News photo by Tess Colwell)
Dublin Jerome senior Chris Wood focuses himself as the cast and crew of Sylvia set up for their performance at the State Thespian Conference.

Ashland, Ohio — The doctor is downing a Pop-Tart.

The homicidal maniac is playing Mary Had a Little Lamb on the piano.

And the theater critic is off somewhere chugging water.

Just a trio of teenage actors finding their own ways to transform their raw bundles of preshow nerves into focused performances.

It’s a ritual taking place backstage in the chaotic minutes just before Central Crossing High School students perform the old standby Arsenic and Old Lace for a packed house in Redwood Hall at Ashland University.

This wasn’t just any audience the young actors were shaking out their jitters for yesterday morning. It was their drama-loving peers who really know their stuff and had come for the three-day 2006 State Thespian Conference. Flub a line here, and these teens know.

"It really adds to the experience and makes you want to be as focused as possible for an audience that is going to be a little more critical than you usually get," explains Central Crossing senior Joey Shea, the aforementioned water-chugger who says a full bladder helps him maintain his focus onstage. (Whatever works, man.)

So there’s a little something extra on the line as the black-clad Crossing stage crew darts about readying the set. And maybe a little extra level of apprehension when the crisis of the final minutes arrives: One young actress has almost completely lost her voice.

"Hey, Gretchen," Shea says soothingly to the hoarse-voiced senior Gretchen Lightle in a hallway. "I can totally play off of it. Don’t worry about it."

The two exchange a friendly hug but are careful not to muss their stage makeup.

The Central Crossing production was just one of 40 put on in marathon theater sessions spread out over several stages from Friday afternoon through yesterday morning. It was not a competition exactly — no state champion was crowned — but more of a chance for the most dedicated drama programs to show off their scenes before 1,438 kids from 64 Ohio high schools that had come to the 31 st annual event.

It’s part-show, part-networking as kids and drama teachers talk shop with people who love the theater as much as they do. Because the plays are screened by a committee before invitations are issued, only the best actors and finest-designed sets make the state conference cut.

"For the schools with little core groups, they get to come here and see that there is more than just their little group that really likes theater," says Johnothon Sauer, a board member of the Ohio Educational Theatre Association, which sponsored the event. "And that’s really exciting to see that kind of dawn on them."

The effort is not just for show. Cutthroat competition comes in the form of individual events, such as solo musical, solo acting, makeup design and scene design.

Dublin Jerome senior Chris Wood, the state champion in the duet-acting category along with Andrew LeVan, folds his navy blazer carefully over his arm and closes his eyes in a cramped backstage area. He has just a few minutes to become Greg, the lead character in Sylvia.

The Dublin Jerome kids have 15 minutes to unload a U-Haul truck full of scenery and are figuring out their blocking — where to stand on the stage — on the fly. The audience will be coming in any moment to see their 45-minute performance in a room they barely have had a chance to glance at.

Wood talks to himself for a moment, then opens his eyes. Greg is ready to walk onto the stage.

It’s showtime.

Winners in individual events at the State Thespian Conference that wrapped up yesterday at Ashland University included these high-school students from central Ohio:
Kelsha Dean, Central Crossing, publicity
Katie Kemp, Hilliard Davidson, scene design
Annie Bobbitt, Hilliard Davidson, makeup design
Kelsey Hpkins, Bexley, solo musical
Chris Wood and Andrew LeVan, Dublin Jerome, duet acting

(Link to actual article)