Fremd High School Students Recognized At State Theatre Festival

Fremd High School theatre students recently attended the Illinois High School Theatre Festival (IHSTF) at Illinois State University.

The IHSTF is the largest non-competitive theatre festival in the United States, with more than 4,400 attendees, and featured hundreds of workshops for students and teachers to attend, as well as many showcase performances by high schools from around the state, a press release from Township High School District 211 states.

Some students participated in the “Tech Olympics” a series of events sponsored by the United States Institute for Theatre Technology, that showcased their talents in the area of theatre technical support.

College and university representatives attending the festival provided opportunities for students to audition and/or interview. The IHSTF also sponsored an all-State production, whose cast and crew are selected from a statewide pool of high school students, the press release stated.

Along with the general opportunities at this year’s festival, Fremd High School students also were recognized. Valerie Pizzato was cast in the all-state production, “Almost, Maine.”

Seven FHS students competed in Tech Olympics (Karlee Burns, Sara Chamberlin, Maggie Dunn, Patrick Fiedler, Diane Kohlin, Michael McWilliams, and Samantha White), placing third in the team competition. Three students took part in college auditions, including Jonathan Stoller-Shoff, Samantha Noga, and Hannah Krull, each received more than 20 callbacks from colleges at the festival.

Fremd High School student attendees were accompanied by teachers Josh Cattero, Betsy Dusenske, Mike Karasch, and Judy Klingner, who serve as sponsors of school drama productions.

“This is the 37th annual Theatre Fest, but only in recent years have we had the chance to bring students,” Karasch stated in a press release. “It has been amazing the amount of opportunities students have been afforded.”

State Superintendent Chris Koch had a chance to attend the festival this year, and wrote in his weekly newsletter: “We put so much focus on Math, Science and English Language Arts and unfortunately, sometimes, neglect areas that are not tested. I believe the arts are every bit as important to a student’s education as algebra, biology or composition.”

Information submitted by Township High School District 211.