I was down in Medford last Thursday and Friday to support my two brothers in their production of John and Jen which made it to the State Thespian Conference as a select showcase show.
Back in the summer my younger brother Nathan (who is a senior in high school) decided he wanted to put on his own two person musical. He solicited the help of another actor, Sophie Moshofsky, and had my older brother Zachary and another person JJ direct the show, with both families of the actors funding and producing the show. The show went really well, selling out every performance in the black box theater at Sunset High School.
After it was over they submitted the show to contend for the State Thespian Conference. Every year only three high school shows get selected to be performed at the conference. They are performed in front of around 800 fellow thespians. It’s quite an honor to have a show selected for the conference which makes me pretty proud of both my brothers.
On Friday morning my brother and Sophie performed before a packed house of 800+ thespians. At intermission almost everyone had tears in their eyes from the performance (even the men where dabbing their eyes). And at the end the audience gave the two actors a exuberant standing ovation. It was a pretty amazing experience to see my brother up on stage like that. I’m sure it won’t be the last. Everyone involved did an amazing job.
I believe my younger brother has himself a fan club of high school girls now after that performance. While waiting to get lunch after the performance he had a girl from the audience come up and profess her love for him. I’d imagine there’s a lot more girls in the audience that felt similarly.
Here are some photos from the trip.
Tags: black box theater, Ginger Rogers Theater, high school students, Isaac Lane Koval, JJ, John and Jen, Medford, musical, oregon, Sophie Moshofsky, Southern Oregon, State Thespians Conference, theater, thespians, two person musical, Zachary
