"The group combined multiple story lines into a "turkey" of a play, called AVIAN INVASION," said Phillips. The basic plot was that turkeys from outer space land in the United States on Thanksgiving Day. All they know of us is what they saw in a broadcast of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. It was a comedy, if you can believe it. I am expecting it to hit Broadway anytime now."

The program, created by then NATF Executive Director Sue Zizza, was overseen by NATF staffer Mike Wilson. Zizza and Wilson worked together to design classes that worked in tandem with the larger workshop programs and performance, but gave newcomers an opportunity to work in a small group and create something uniquely their own. Wilson, along with mentored assistant Diane Cook, worked alongside the "freshman" as members of NATF's main campus faculty brought their skills to these classes.

Along with Phillips, the award winning 2007 Freshman Class included Lucus Keppel, Martin Hayden, Hugh Murphy, Eric Somers, and Evan Waters.

Keppel will be returning as this year's Workshop 101 Mentored Assistant to Butch D'Ambrosio who, along with Zizza, will design this year's program. D'Ambrosio and Keppel will work on site throughout the week to help this year's class create and produce their own short play.

According to Phillips, "The Freshman Class was a tremendous experience for someone whose only experience with audio theatre was listening on the radio. We were guided through the process of creating and performing an original audio theatre production by a variety of highly qualified guest speakers on the topics we were addressing. Since so many were available, it was something that could not be duplicated."

Phillips, who received his BA and MA in Speech and Theatre, and a PhD in Speech Communication, taught Speech at the University of Arkansas-Little Rock before moving to the Ozarks so his wife could establish a medical practice in her home town. Once the kids were in school, he returned to teaching.

Phillips said friends told him the NATF conference was a good one and he'd learn some things that would be useful in class.

"It was and I did," he said.

"I selected my conference sessions specifically to gather tools for my classrooms. In addition to what I learned, I have a whole new pool of stories to tell in class. The ability to make personal application of textual material is invaluable to the lecture. Though we can't focus on audio as a specialty here, we can reach into the area for experiences and connections to enrich the speech and theatre experience as a whole."

Will he be back?

"I am planning on it. In fact, we had a discussion last month about how to include classes in the NATF experience. We are working on some open forums for students in general, and some focused performances for specific classes. The cowboy poets and lit classes should make a good mix I think."

We asked Phillips how "The Freshman Class" worked as an introduction to NATF, and he said this:

"The process was a great introduction to NATF and the conference. We were writing a play, went to a session on writing plays, did some revision on the current draft, and took it back to rehearsal. I went to sessions on warm-up and preparation, sound effects, and production aspects. All of the information was easy to apply, because we were doing it there. It was a major commitment for someone who wanted a relaxing conference experience, but I highly recommend it for anyone coming to the conference the first time. My biggest complaint is that now that I have been, I can't do it again this year. Who knows, maybe the sophomore class will have to do something: Avian Return: Ham for Christmas!"

Say, now, Gary. That's not such a bad idea. We could call it Hamlet. No, Piglet. No.

Actually, Freshman Class graduates have the skills to move forward and join in everything that will be happening this year throughout the workshop week. This is also a good program for those interested in designing low-tech audio drama workshops for elementary school programs.