Director of Operations / Programs
First of all I want you all to make sure that you register and get your hotel rooms ASAP because you will not want to miss any of these fabulous workshop presenters! Deadline for early discounted registration and special TETA hotel rate is December 1. Our hotel rate is the same per room for 1 to 4 and it is lower than last year! A full list of workshop presenters and sessions will appear on the TETA website as soon as possible. Watch for the posting on FACEBOOK. Until then, here’s a quick preview of some of our Featured Artists and their workshops.
Rod Caspers – Currently Rod serves as Director of University Events at The University of Texas at Austin – creating and producing large-scale, special events. Prior to that he served as the Executive Director of Creative Services for The University of Texas System where he and his colleagues received five Lone Star Emmy Awards for creating and producing the PBS series, State of Tomorrow. He has taught and directed at the University of Wisconsin and The University of Texas at Austin. He has adjudicated the University of Texas Interscholastic League’s One-Act Play Contest for over twenty years, including the State Contests. He has directed numerous productions, receiving a variety of nominations and awards. He has designed four different workshops especially for TheatreFest. 
Michael G. Chin Professional actor (AEA, AFTRA, SAG) as well as a sanctioned Master instructor and choreographer with the Society of American Fight Directors. He'll be doing 2 different workshops which will repeat during the event: “What You Need to Know to Choreograph Fights,” a lecture/demo designed for directors and “Acting the Violence,” designed for students to learn the basics. 
Shannon Koger is a wardrobe professional working in New York. Her experience includes over 25 Broadway shows, 50 productions at the Metropolitan Opera, over 4 years on ABC’s All My Children, She recently left War Horse to serve as secretary of local 764. She’ll be doing workshops on both “Wardrobe as a Career” and “The Union and the Young Worker.” 
Cathy Madden is a specialist in the application of the Alexander Technique to the Performing Arts. She is a Senior Lecturer for the University of Washington's Professional Actor Training Program, Director of the Alexander Technique Training and Performance Institute in Seattle, Associate Director of BodyChance in Tokyo and Kyoto and a frequent Master Teacher for Alexander Technique and Performing organizations worldwide. She'll be doing workshops for both teachers and students. 
Timothy Mooney author of the acting textbook Acting at the Speed of Life; Conquering Theatrical Style. Tim will entertain us with his award-winning one-man shows and educate us with workshops.
Dr. David Stevens will be our Keynote speaker for TheatreFest 2013. Last year’s Founders’ Award recipient, Dr. Stevens has done it all. He will refer to himself often as the “small town boy” from Rotan in west Texas. For 20 years this small town boy has continued to inspire and provoke students, colleagues, and audiences to feel a valuable part of theatre as well as the world. David’s undying love for the fine arts pushed him to share his talents and knowledge with his teachers at Keller ISD for ten years and now he serves as the Director of Academics for the University Interscholastic League.
We will also be featuring workshops on the new Media/Technology course in Fine Arts that will pilot next fall. These will be presented by Kris Andrews and Tom Waggoner of CEDFA.
Other returnees to TheatreFest include MaMa YeYe who will give us a taste of the language of movement and dance found throughout the African Diaspora and Demond Wilson who will emcee the Awards Reception and teach a few workshops.
There will be workshops on Auditioning, Acting, Booster Clubs, Directing, Choreography, Commedia, Dialect, Dinner Theatre, Drama Game File, Fight Choreography, Fosse, Improv, Lesson Plans, Lighting, Make-up, Mime, Musical Theatre, Playwriting, Sketch-Up, Sound Design, Stage Management, Tap dance, Theatre Safety, UIL, Yoga and Zumba. Workshops for Administrators, Elementary, Middle School, High School and College/University Teachers as well as High School and College Students.
Students wishing to audition for colleges and universities at TheatreFest should get their applications in early! Adjudicators who need to re-certify or get certified to judge the UIL One-Act Play will find workshops on Friday and Sunday.
An exciting new event during TheatreFest: TETA’s Got Talent! Categories for both students and adults. Have you watched America’s Got Talent and thought, I’m better than that? Well, now you will have the opportunity to show us! Want to practice your audition material before auditions? Try it out the night before here. Maybe you’re just looking for something fun to watch on Friday night to unwind from a long day of workshops. This is your ticket! The very best talent from your peers and students will make you laugh, make you cry, but mostly entertain you! (more details on the website)
We had a bumper crop of PlayFest Entries and hope to produce six new plays at TheatreFest this year. DesignFest will be on the Exhibit floor where we will have over 80 theatre-related companies showing their wares. In all, there will be over 350 activities from Thursday evening to Sunday afternoon. You don’t want to miss out on this year’s TheatreFest! Go to the FORMS page of the TETA website (www.tetatx.com) and get your registration form! The fastest way to make your hotel reservation is to use this link: https://resweb.passkey.com/Resweb.do?mode=welcome_ei_new&eventID=9599140
We’ll see you there!