LYNNWOOD—The Meadowdale Drama Department officially launched a fundraising effort on Monday, March 3 to help raise the $50,000 needed to send their students to the International Thespian Festival (ITF) this summer.
Though the opportunity to perform for an audience of over 1,500 could be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for these young actors, the cost of getting them there is steep, the Department said. Registration alone is $999 per student as well as about $500 per student for flights.
This is all in addition to the expense of transporting the Department’s set pieces, costumes, and tech needed to relocate the magic of their productions from the school’s Blackbox Theater to the main stage at Indiana University in Bloomington .
For a school who has nearly half of its student body on the free or reduced lunch program, donations like these are pivotal in supporting a student’s ability to participate in the festival.
Donors can select one of six options on the fundraiser’s website; a $1,000 legendary donation covers the cost of a single student’s registration, a $500 champion donation will cover the cost of one student’s airline ticket, or a $250 hero donation will help multiple students reach the performance opportunity of a lifetime. Donors can also select to donate either $100, $50, $35, or select a custom amount.
Other ways of helping is the spread the word of the fundraiser on social media.
So far, as of Tuesday, March 4, the Department has received donations from 92 supporters, raising a total of $9,773 out of its $50,000 goal. The fundraiser spans until the end of the month on March 31.
“The Meadowdale Players are honored to have been invited to present their fall play, Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl, at the International Thespian Festival this June. We will perform in front of over 1500 theatre students from around the world, on a professional stage. We are so thankful for all of your support in helping us achieve this dream. Thank you for supporting the Meadowdale Players,” wrote Jacqueline Meyner, Program Director for Meadowdale’s Drama Department.
If the Department is able to achieve its goal, the cast of Meadowdale High School’s production of Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice 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).
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.”
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.
To donate scan the QR code below.
Author: Kienan Briscoe
