On Jan. 8-10, nine Pattonville thespian students traveled to Kansas City, Missouri, to participate in the 2015 Missouri State Thespian Conference.
The students left after school on Wednesday, Jan. 7, and took the long cross-state trip on a school bus. The conference events began the next morning.
“The conference included a number of different workshops that started at 9:00 sharp every morning,” sophomore Abby Schnable said. “My favorite workshop was one on stage managing because it gave me information that can actually help me in the future.”
Some of the other workshops included swordplay, circus, and dance, as well as college and audition help sessions.
After the daily workshops ended, all 2,000-conference attendees came together to watch performances of the Sound of Music and Tarzan on the main stage each night.
“The Tarzan production was easily one of the best high school shows I have ever seen,” senior Kalen Riley said. “There wasn’t one standout actor because they all stood out in their own ways.”
The shows were put on by two local Kansas City high schools: Lee’s Summit and Lee’s Summit North.
“The scenery was fantastic, the vocals were wonderful,” Riley said. “And even when they had audio problems, the performance went without halt.”
The planned events went all day long, and did not end until around 11:30 every night. The students did get a lunch break each day, during one of two sessions.
“We always went to the second lunch session so we had 45 minutes to spend before lunch,” Schnable said. “One day, we all went to a Starbucks in the area and got coffee before we ate.”
The students returned to school late Saturday night, but they are already looking forward to next year’s events.
“I am excited for the new main stage productions for next year,” junior Bryce Prichard said. “I am also very excited for the new, hopefully larger, group of Pattonville students to represent our school at the conference.”
These students as well as a number of other Pattonville thespians will perform in the 2015 musical Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory on Feb. 12-15.
