LYNNWOOD—The cast of Meadowdale High School’s production of Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice by the Meadowdale Players will be packing their sets, costumes, and stage tech gear this summer to make their way to Indiana where they’ll take the main stage at the 2025 International Thespian Festival.
This opportunity is a first for the Drama Department and allows students to perform the tragic tale on a professional stage in front of thousands of audience members. The students will also have the opportunity to leverage the festival’s many workshops and casting calls to further a career in acting after high school.
The International Thespian Festival (ITF), which will be held at Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana, from June 22 through June 27, held an application process for high school drama departments across the country. Of the 30-applicants, a total of eight productions — four plays, and four dramas — were selected, six of which have never before performed on the ITF stage before (including Meadowdale).
Meadowdale High School was also the only high school selected from Washington State.
The other selected schools across the country include: Dubuque Senior High School (from Dubuque, Iowa), Martin Luther King High School (from Riverside, California), McKinney North High School (from McKinney, Texas), Millard West High School (from Omaha, Nebraska), OCVTS Grunin Performing Arts Academy (from Toms River, New Jersey), Parker High School (from Jamesville, Wisconsin), and Rock Ridge Performing Arts (from Ashburn, Virginia).
“We are delighted to welcome these eight schools to ITF’s Main Stage, where students’ incredible artistry will take center stage,” wrote Educational Theater Association (the organization hosting the event) Executive director Dr. Jennifer Katona in a press release. “This moment is also a celebration of the dedicated educators who nurture their creativity and bring these productions to life.”
Eurydice’s Director, and Meadowdale High School Drama Instructor, Jacqueline Meyners applied for the festival for two reasons, she informed the Lynnwood Times—feedback, in order to improve her department’s performances, and just “to see what [will] happened.” The application process involved obtaining filming rights to the production, hiring a professional videographer, filming a Dress Rehearsal of the play, and submitting the video alongside a vision statement.
“I genuinely didn’t think anything would happen. I thought this was such a long shot, but I would just give it a try,” said Meyners. “But I also just knew that this show would be really good and successful and different. We had only upper class as cast and a really strong tech team. Every year the talent pool sort of ebbs and flows but I just knew that we had a really strong group this year.”
Meyners, who had previously disclosed to the Lynnwood Times that Eurydice is her all-time favorite play, added that she tried some more experimental approaches with her directing this time and mainly wanted the Educational Theater Association’s feedback to see if these decisions were effective. It turns out, this paid off.
Now the High School Drama Instructor is left with both shock and exuberant pride, explaining that in her six years of building the Meadowdale Drama Department she feels that in many ways this success is a “lifetime accomplishment.”
The Meadowdale Players will perform twice on Indiana University’s main stage—a professional-grade performing arts center, complete with a fly system and professional sound and lighting setups where traveling Broadway acts also perform—one matinee and one evening performance. Having the opportunity to perform on such a stage, in such a renown festival, is both a “killer add on to a resume,” Meyners said, but is also a “universal huge accomplishment.”
“So many schools that attend this festival, and perform on that stage, are performing arts schools or schools that have a ton of money, or a full-time theater director, or a full theater,” said Meyners. “I really feel like for being such underdogs in that sense, and that we were able to achieve this goal, with the very, very, limited resources we had is really huge and such a great life lesson that anybody in any town can do that – even little old Lynnwood.”
Meyners continued that Meadowdale High School students are often faced with various challenges and don’t get the opportunity to do things they can be truly proud of, at least compared to other schools or cities with more resources. Despite these setbacks, Meyners believes this achievement to be a true testament to the community of Lynnwood, and how proud she is to work at a school, and within a city, with so much diversity.
“It just feels really cool that with really hard work and really big hearts you can still accomplish big things. You don’t need to have a million dollars and a perfect life because some of our students face some really big struggles,” said Meyners.
The missing piece of the puzzle, and the next steps, are to secure the funding to support the students’ travel expenses this summer. The Drama Department plans to pool resources from the Edmonds Foundation, fundraisers through the school’s Booster Club, parent resource services, and even Drama Department reserves if needed.
The hope is to be able to pay for transportation, hotel, and festival registration at little cost to the students — as nearly half of the Meadowdale High School student body qualifies for the free, or reduced, lunch program.
More information about fundraiser events will come out at a later date. To keep updated on how you can support your high school local theater arts programs follow the Meadowdale Drama Department on Instagram at @meadowdale_players or visit their website at: meadowdaledrama.wixsite.com/players
Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice tells the tragic tale of Ovid’s classic Orpheus myth, but through the lens of his titular bride.
In Greek mythology, Orpheus—a Thracian bard, musician and prophet—embarks on a quest to retrieve the Golden Fleece, at one point even entering the underworld to retrieve his lost wife Eurydice who died shortly after their wedding. In Sarah Ruhl’s 2003 retelling, however, the story is told from the eyes of Eurydice and her ultimate choice of whether to return with Orpheus to Earth or remain with her father (a character penned up by Ruhl) in the underworld.
Those who follow Meadowdale’s performing arts productions might recognize the names of Lucy Knudson (who plays the lead of Eurydice and worked as light designer), Tyler Pennington (who plays Eurydice’s father), and Seda San Nicolas (who plays the role of Orpheus and also worked as prop manager), from their most recent roles in Meadowdale’s production of the musical Mama Mia last May. All three of these actors were also on the bill for Meadowdale’s performance of Disney’s Newsies in 2023.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
