By Amanda Kessler '03

After months of rehearsals and organization, the cast and crew of A Thurber Carnival, Deerfield's most recent theatre production, made their international debut.

In the spring of 2001, Director of Theatre John Reese held an informational meeting about a program to which Deerfield had been accepted, the American High School Theatre Festival (AHSTF) in Edinburgh, Scotland. Mr. Reese wanted to do a show that was "very American," and so he decided on James Thurber's A Thurber Carnival. Interest among students was high; and auditions, held last fall, attracted more than 40 students.

Twenty students were chosen for Thurber-16 actors and four technicians. Rehearsals began in late March and continued through graduation weekend when they completed five performances. Another performance was done for the Deerfield Club of New England in late July, when the group returned to campus to prepare for their trip.

On July 30, the twenty students, joined by Mr. Reese, Technical Director Paul Yager and costumer Patricia O'Neill, boarded a plane to London for the first part of their voyage.

In attempts to help them overcome jet-lag, AHSTF kept them busy: a half-day guided tour of London, a tour and workshop at Shakespeare's Globe Theatre and tickets to see The Complete Works of William Shakespeare Abridged in London's famous West End theatre district. The days passed quickly, and on their third morning the group boarded a train for a five-hour trip to Edinburgh, where they would spend the next week and a half.

Upon arrival in Edinburgh the students had a bus for a tour of Edinburgh and its suburbs. The final destination of the tour was the dorms of the University of Edinburgh, where all the high schools stayed.

The AHSTF officially began with an opening ceremony to introduce all the high schools involved. Eleven other high schools participated in the first session with Deerfield. The high schools came from across the country and had planned a varied selection of shows, from classic musicals like Guys and Dolls to an original variety show entitled Shenanigans.

All the high schools shared one theater for all the productions. Each group had five two-hour time slots in the theatre: one for a technical rehearsal and four for performances. In those two hours, casts and crews were expected to construct their set, perform, and clean up. The final project for each group within the two hours was to sweep the stage clean for the next group coming in.

The AHSTF is only a small section of a performing arts festival known as the Fringe Festival, which is held each August in Edinburgh. Hundreds of productions are performed and thousands of people pass through the city's streets each day.

Because of the enormity of this festival, Deerfield students had to, in the words of Mr. Reese, "aggressively promote A Thurber Carnival." In preparation. Mr. Reese had 2000 postcards and 500 programs printed up to hand out on Edinburgh's main street, The Royal Mile.

The AHSTF also provided each high school with three 20-minute blocks on the Family Stage on the Royal Mile. In these 20-minute periods, Deerfield performed Thurber's three fables to encourage people to come see A Thurber Carnival.

The cast and crew completed the four performances successfully and drew increasingly larger audiences on each occasion.