by Vienna Zerbe
The YS theater program is getting a facelift this year. The program will now take a transition from club to honor society. The theater inductions will be happening this month.
Theatre program director Shannon Metzler is preparing the induction. As this is the first year. Metzler said, “A student must be nominated and they have to be academically eligible.”
However, ITS (International Theater Society) strays from the norms of other honor societies. Along with the regular honor society requirements, the ITS policy follows a point system. “The requirements for induction are based on a point system that is universal for ITS. The essential point system is one point for every ten hours of work and they have a chart which estimates how many points a major role [or] a minor role, [whether] in a musical or a play, or a major role [or] minor role in a one act would be” Metzler said.
Each of the theater officers were given a responsibility, or a project for this school year. Senior Marisa Kouma, president of the theater club, took on the job of moving the club into ITS.
“Basically what I did is I researched the International Thespian Society and I looked through their webpage for what we needed to become the next chapter of ITS” Kouma said. She said that after reviewing the ITS’ requirements, the YS theater program will become the next chapter of the International Thespian society.
Metzler has been the director of the theater program for the past three years and is happy that this long-awaited project is finally taking off. Metzler believes that ITS “is something that students can take with them. It is not just something you can put on a resume, although you can for college and for a career, [but there are] leadership opportunities and there are festivals and opportunities at the state level. If a student is really serious about theater, this is something that should be on their resume. This is something that would go with them.”
Kouma also shares Metzler’s excitement for the program’s development.“I think the opportunities this will bring to the younger students who have not already applied to colleges. They will be able to say they were apart of this society, and it gives them more opportunities for scholarships.”