Hello, my name is Eden Johnson and I am currently a full time junior in high school that is heavily involved in my school's theater department and a member of the International Thespian Society (ITS). I've had a passion for all things theater since I was young and I acted in school and community theater until I entered my freshman year of high school. But what changed? I realized as much as I liked theater, my previous joy of "acting" waned and I just didn't have the time for all the rehearsals. That's when I decided to make a switch into the technical or "behind the scenes" aspect of shows. I began working in the makeup and hair department and I fell in love with it. I was passionate about doing make-up, allowing me to be so creative and it brought my passion into a new light. It brought me so much joy, I can foresee this as a career. In my sophomore year, I was inducted into the International Thespian Society for my extensive work in theater since beginning high school. Since 1929, the International Thespian Society has inducted more than 2.5 million thespians who are passionate in theater to provide a more accessible theater education to students all over the world. One of these opportunities being the International Thespian Festival (ITF). ITF is a weeklong intensive festival that has to do with all things theater such as hosting workshops, playwriting, showing one act plays, and having full length musical productions put on by high school students from all over the nation. What does this have to do with me though? ITS hosts regional, state, and international competitions with students competing in different categories all having to do with theater, these competition pieces are known more commonly as Thespies. There all categories for all departments of theater such as performing like a monologue, performing a song from a musical, and even dance. They also have technical categories such as costume construction, lighting design, sound production, makeup design, and stage managing. For the past 2 years I have competed in the makeup design category where I have to pick a play or musical then completely create a unique and original makeup design for 5 different characters where I have to draw out a concept design for that character then apply the makeup on a model and take pictures of the makeup application and put it in a presentation and present it to judges for adjudication where I am then judged on a 4-level scale ranging from fair, good, excellent, superior (lowest to highest). Last year I made it qualified for Regionals and at States I had scored high enough to advance to Nationals and I had earned the title of "Critic's Choice" in my category. "Critics Choice" means you either had the highest score in your designated category or you were hand picked by the judges to then present your Thespy at closing ceremony on the stage in front of all the schools from all over the Nation. In 2024, I had the amazing opportunity to attend to ITF to present my Thespy, as well as, going to workshops. In March of 2025, I was awarded "Critics Choice" again for makeup design and I earned a perfect score from judges in all of my rubric blocks. Since this is such a huge accomplishment for me, I really would love to attend ITF again this year. It is being held from June 22-27 in Bloomington, Indiana. I would like to gain more knowledge in my field, as well as, meet distinguished people within the theater field that will be attending the Festival, see productions and musicals from all over the country. I feel it would also be beneficial and very important to my college resume because my hopes would be to attend college at University of North Carolina School of the Arts majoring in makeup and wigs for stage and screen.

Needless to say, North Carolina, my county and high school does not have any funding allocated for students to attend, nor are there any grants available. Because of this, I'm am left to my own devices to collect donations which will allow me to attend this Festival. Registration for the six (6) day festival, housing, food, transportation, events, shows total $1500.00.

I would greatly appreciate any financial donations that you can make and will be forever grateful of this opportunity.

Much love,

-Eden