WMBB News 13 - The Panhandle's News LeaderArnold High School Theatre students are in need of $10,000 to compete and perform at elite State Theatre Festival in March

Arnold High School Theatre students are in need of $10,000 to compete and perform at elite State Theatre Festival in March

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Panama City Beach, FL -

Arnold Theatre students are advancing to state with numerous accolades and need to raise $10,000 to be able to afford to attend their state festival and competition March 12th through the 18th. Arnold's encore performance of the stage adaptation of Lois Lowry's novel The Giver, will mark the first time a Bay District School has been selected to perform a prestigious "Mainstage" production at the Florida State International Thespian Society Festival. In addition Arnold's completely self-funded theatre students will compete with their district first place One Act Honk!, in individual and small group performance and technical theatre categories, and will audition for colleges and college scholarships at the festival. Arnold theatre does not receive funding from the district or state and students have already raised over $30,000 this year through fundraisers, sponsorships, and family contributions towards travel expenses, competitions, and for their productions, but are still in need of more community sponsorships in order to make it through the spring competition and performance season. Those interested in sponsoring Arnold Theatre or an individual student should visit www.arnoldtheatre.com or contact the school for more information.

Arnold Theatre will also be presenting local encore performances of both The Giver, March 2nd 7:30pm, and Honk! along with select musical numbers, technical pieces, and scenes from their competition season, March 9th 7:00pm in the Helen Blackburn Auditorium on the Campus of Arnold High School, 550 Alf Coleman Road, Panama City Beach, FL 32407 and will be accepting donations at the door of both events to help reach their goal of attending the state competition.

Last fall when Arnold Theatre presented The Giver in their own auditorium, judges from across the state visited to critique the performance for consideration for Mainstage, and students dreamed big as they hoped to be chosen as among the top high school theatre performances in the state of Florida. Competing against performing arts schools, private high schools, and program's with significantly more funding, Arnold's humble theatre program succeeded beyond expectations and was selected to perform The Giver as a Mainstage production at the State Festival. With the cost of travel rising, students then had to begin the long and difficult process of budgeting and fundraising to cover the costly expense of taking the show on the road to Tampa. This award is only given to a handful of high school's across the state and the hard working students feel there is no way they can let money get in the way of sharing their art with their peers and potential colleges and future employers who also attend the festival.

Beyond their wildest dreams, after their successful performance of The Giver, Arnold Theatre hit big for the second time in one school year. In January the International Thespian Society District One, which covers from Pensacola to Tallahassee, held their annual district theatre competition, and Arnold again came out on top winning not only first place for their one act version of the ugly duckling musical Honk!, but numerous best overall awards in individual and small group technical and performance event categories. With these wins came more expenses as now even more students qualified to perform and compete at the state festival.

Now the students are in a pinch and need to raise $10,000 in the next month to cover the expense of transportation for themselves and the sets for their two shows to travel to Tampa, hotel accommodations, festival costs, costume and set maintenance, makeup, and other necessities for theatre success. They are asking the community, business owners, and generous patrons of the arts to find it in their hearts to support the dreams, learning opportunities, and growth this experience will afford them.

Please contact Shannon Taylor or Kathleen McNulty at (850) 767-3700 or visit www.arnoldtheatre.com for more information about sponsorships and upcoming performances.

Press Release Provided by Arnold High School Theatre