You can't pronounce it, but you can enjoy it.

Ni-stee, ni-stee-uh, N-Y-S-T-E-A.

No matter how it’s pronounced, the New York State Theater Education Association annual student conference took place the weekend of January 8-10 at the Bella Roma Hotel and Resort in good old Calicoon, New York. NYSTEA is a conference that involves high schools with grades 10-12 and youth theater groups all over the state.

Members of Liverpool’s Theater Arts Club attended this conference with music teacher Cathy Osinski as our chaperone and Chris Spring as our sponsor. This conference allows those interested in all aspects of theater to take part in workshops of their choice over the course of a weekend. These workshops cover fields such as general acting and technique, dance, technical theater, design, directing, playwriting, and music. You can even take part in workshops on how to survive in show business and preparation for college auditions.

When you’re not taking part in these workshops, there are always plenty of things to do. The Bella Roma resort is tactfully placed in the Catskill Mountains; therefore, there are many things to do in the winter such as snow tubing. Other activities included bowling, rock climbing, swimming in the indoor pool, live performances from improvisation group Basement View Improv, karaoke, and dances among many other things.

NYSTEA is a great way to meet new people and there is an almost overwhelming friendliness from all of the attendees. I was lucky enough to go three times. The conference is designed for two-year students but they often allow third-year visitors after an application process.

Friday – Day 1

After intense anticipation for a year, the time finally arrived for us to depart. This year is especially special because we have a charter bus to take instead of a drafty, slow school bus. It was a scenic three hour drive from Liverpool to Calicoon.

Because this was my third year, I knew what to expect, but this year NYSTEA was held at a different location: the Bella Roma hotel. This was an exceptionally elaborate hotel compared to the past two years, but the atmosphere when you walk into the hustle-bustle of the lobby was familiar. Upon walking into the lobby, you are greeted by strangers from all across the state. Some you may recognize, some you may not.

My group and I were eager to go see our accommodations for the weekend and we were pleasantly surprised. My roommates for the weekend were senior Debbie Lewis and juniors Loren Matello and Molly Matott. Let’s just say, we were the dream team. We also had the best darn room out of everyone. However, that’s not what’s important.

Dinner time! From left: Deb Lewis, Molly Matott, Loren Matello

Shortly after we arrived it was time for dinner. The thing that I love the most about NYSTEA is the food, because I love the all-you-can-eat buffet, oh yeah!

After dinner was the opening ceremony in which everyone went to the forum and watched the slide show from last year’s conference. There was a great sense of pride in the schools, and most people cheered for the people they knew in the slideshow. The ladies and gentlemen who have organized the conference over the years spoke about the cause, saying “Theater transforms people, which transforms the world.”

After this ceremony, it was time for our first workshops. My first workshop was yoga for actors. In this workshop we did a series of breathing exercises and learned an extreme amount of yoga lingo. Yoga requires great concentration, but you can expect that concentration to be broken when someone breaks wind, which they did. However, it was still enjoyable all the same, though at some points it was so relaxing that I fell asleep.

Shortly after the workshop, I had to go to a third year meeting. This was extremely tedious and boring but it was nice to feel a sense of seniority, although I would have much rather liked to go spend free time with my friends. The days at NYSTEA are long and the nights are too short. Lights out time is at 12:45am but I was someone who went to sleep much earlier.

Fortunately, I found some time Friday night to play in the ballpit in Deb's PJs!

Saturday – Day 2

Saturday is by far the busiest day. Each person has three workshops; there are so many activities and showcases that there is never a dull moment on Saturdays. My first workshop of the day was voice for Shakespeare with Mike Barbour, the assistant director of theater at Le Moyne College. I’m going to Le Moyne in the fall for theater so I was especially excited to work with him.

In this workshop, you are given a monologue from a Shakespeare play and you are to perform it in front of the entire group. Barbour gives the students his two cents on the piece one performs, which is extremely helpful for growing as an actor. I performed a monologue by Helena from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, one of my favorite characters from Shakespeare. The group was full of some truly talented people but also with some less experienced actors.

It was refreshing to work with a group of people who would always offer contstructive criticism and applaud you, even if you weren’t at your best. NYSTEA is full of polite, talented young people who you can be your absolute self around. There is no shame at NYSTEA, which is why a group of us ran around in bunny footy pajamas in the hotel. Everyone loves your self-expression and confidence in yourself. No one considers you weird for being different, and that’s a special thing about this conference.

My second workshop of the day was capturing performance on video. This was a different workshop than the rest. The presenter showed us how to use video cameras with different lighting, how to make story boards, write scripts, and even showed us a bit of the movies he made himself. Self-promotion much?

The third and final workshop of the day was directing.

This was my second year doing this workshop because I have such a huge interest in directing, and it was fun last year. The students were put into groups of three, two were to act and one was to direct. It was fun to work with the scenes and make them something different just by playing with space and levels.

During the first activity time, I attended the festival of scenes where schools would perform scenes that they have been working on. A young man from Niagara Falls High School performed an array of songs that he would never be able to perform (because he was a boy, obviously) including songs from Wicked. Also, the most popular attraction at NYSTEA every year is the Basement View improv show. There are five guys who play improv games in front of an audience; the things they come up with are hilarious. Keep in mind that these men do this for a living, too!

The Basement View Improv Group

Satuday night is the Broadway Cares Equity Fights Aids event. The students get all dressed up, put on their red ribbons and attend a fancy dinner, then move to the student playwright showcase. This year, senior Morgan Naum wrote a play that was chosen to be performed by students who auditioned for the part. Each year there is a theme; this year, it was ‘Off The Hook’. How the writer would interpret this was purely up to them.

Eric Monsour and Deb Lewis anxiously await the showcase.

Eric Monsour and Deb Lewis anxiously await the showcase.

The night was time for normal dances. There are also swing dances that one can go to if they wish, but Shireen Ziaie, Eric Monsour and I decided that dancing to Lady Gaga would be more for us. The night also included watching Shireen do karaoke to Celine Dion and Loren (“Laren”) Matello perform a Jerry Lee Lewis classic ‘Great Balls of Fire’ with an 8 year old. The last night was entertaining to say the least.

Sunday – Day 3

Sunday is always a bittersweet day at NYSTEA. Everyone knows that the fun must come to an end, but this is just ridiculous! The last workshop – Preparing for Your College Audition – was in the morning. This workshop seemed pointless to me because I’ve been admitted to college already, but I think it was also helpful for hints with auditions in the future, not just for college. It was a lecture workshop, so I wouldn’t recommend it for those who are really tired in the morning.

After the workshop, it was time for us to meet back up and go to the closing ceremony. The closing ceremony is where they announced winners of raffles and played the slideshow for NYSTEA ’10. Lunch is the last hurrah before you go home, so everyone enjoys it a lot. After lunch, however, it’s time to leave, and that’s when the waterworks arrives. I was only emotional because I knew it was the last time I was ever going to be there, for it was one of the most rewarding experiences of my life.

“My favorite part was the lounge where we were able to sing karaoke in front of an audience,” says Ziaie. “I sang ‘Love Story’ by Taylor Swift, get at me.”

NYSTEA is a conference exclusively for Theater Arts Club members, so if you are interested in theater/performing/techie work, then I would strongly suggest that you go next year.

You will never regret it.