“Thespians,” a documentary about high-school drama troupes produced in Jacksonville, will get a nationwide audience in November — including two airings on Thanksgiving Day — courtesy of Showtime.
The documentary — directed by Warren Skeels and produced by Brenda Egedy Kolb of Jacksonville’s TigerLily Media — had its world premiere last October at the Jacksonville Film Festival.
Since then, Skeels and company have shown the film at festivals across the country, including the Boston Film Festival last month and earlier this year at the Edmonton International Film Festival, Phoenix Film Festival and others.
Times-Union movie writer Matt Soergel wrote the following about Thespians in an advance to last year’s Jacksonville Film Festival screening:
“Thespians” is a flat-out triumph, a hugely enjoyable — and beautifully made — documentary that follows four Florida high-school acting troupes to the state finals in Tampa, including two groups from Jacksonville. One is a gutsy group of Stanton College Prep boys (self-described nerds) who sing and dance, amusingly.
The other is an ambitious staging by Douglas Anderson School of the Arts students of “Look Homeward, Angel.” They’re great. The highlight, though? An astounding performance by a couple of Orlando students that leaves onlookers in stunned silence.
Without making a fuss about it all, “Thespians” shows how vital the arts are to public schools, and how important good, compassionate teachers can be. Oh, and you really get to like all the students involved, so there will be some happy sniffles heard when this film ends.
Showtime has scheduled airings of Thespians across its family of networks on the following dates:
• Thursday, Nov. 10 — 7:30 p.m. on Showtime
• Friday, Nov. 11 — 7:25 p.m. on Sho 2
• Saturday, Nov. 12 — 5 p.m. on Showtime Showcase
• Sunday, Nov. 13 — 1 p.m. on Showtime
• Monday, Nov. 14 — 4:25 p.m. on Sho 2
• Tuesday, Nov. 15 — 3:35 p.m. on Showtime Showcase
• Sunday, Nov. 20 — 5:40 p.m. on Showtime Showcase
• Thursday, Nov. 24 — 11 a.m. and 6:25 p.m. on Showtime Showcase
• Friday, Nov. 25 — 10 a.m. on Showtime
Story posted on Jacksonville.com - http://jacksonville.com/opinion/blog/403251/gary-mills/2011-10-13/jacksonville-produced-documentary-thespians-air-showtime
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