Once Chantilly High student Stephanie Wilbur decided she wanted to attend this summer's Governor's School for Theater, she submitted her grades and then auditioned for the judges in January.
Just 50 theater students from the state were to be chosen, and those auditioning had to memorize and present a monologue, improvise a scene and interview with the judges.
Afterward, Wilbur, now 17 and a senior, was a bit downhearted. "I thought I bombed the audition," she said. "So when I got the acceptance letter in April, I was ecstatic."
The school was held, June 30-July 27, at the University of Richmond, and there were 400 students altogether — 200 humanities students and 200 in the visual and performing arts. Those in the latter category were broken down into groups of 50 each — drama, vocal, visual and performing arts (Wilbur's group) and orchestra and band.
The students stayed on campus and took several classes each day. In the mornings, Wilbur studied character development, comedy (delivering punchlines), stage combat and improvisation. Said Wilbur: "You learned a lot of techniques of getting into a character and making the most of a part."
In the afternoons, she took a film class. "We were taught to make movies and how to act, edit, direct and film," she said. "We learned all the different aspects of making a movie, and we also critiqued movies that were already made."
In addition — just for variety and for fun — the students also got to select classes to attend outside their fields. Wilbur's classes included cardio-kickboxing, karate, forensics and swing dancing. "It helped all the students mingle," she said. "We became like a family."
The evenings were also filled with guests who spoke and performed in a concert hall on campus. They included opera singers, authors, folk dancers and Shakespearean actors.
There were deaf dancers who performed to music vibrations, as well as a college professor who told the students how the English language has gotten sloppy over the years, with people slurring their words, instead of enunciating properly. The goal, said Wilbur, was to expose the students to as much culture as possible in the short time they were there.
She said the hardest thing was being away from her family (parents Mark and Barbara Wilbur and younger brother Michael of Chantilly's Sutton Oaks community) for so long. But she made lots of new friends — with whom she still keeps in touch — and she's looking forward to a Nov. 16 reunion with them.
The best part, said Wilbur, "aside from learning everything, was that everybody put all their stereotypes — both social and racial — behind them. For example, in the lunch hall, you'd sit down with eight strangers and come away with eight new friends. Regular high school isn't like that."
Wilbur plans to major in drama in college and, on Nov. 20, she'll play the eldest daughter in Chantilly High's production of "Fiddler on the Roof."