This past Saturday, December 7th, the students from the Varsity Theatre Department at Lively MS went to the Junior Thespian Regional Festival. The Junior Thespian Regional Festival is both an exciting and eventful day where 6-8th grade theatre students get to meet other theatre-loving students as well as participate in a variety of workshops. Some of those workshops include playwriting, choreography, improv, voice acting and more! Other than participating in these workshops, students also have the opportunity to be adjudicated in performance and technical events.
Recently, the Varsity Theatre Department won 1st place at UIL Zone 2 AND 1st place at UIL District Championships. Unsurprisingly, their victories didn’t stop there; as they once again dominated at the Junior Thespians Regional Festival in not only winning Outstanding Troupe of the Day, but also taking 1st place for 5/6 possible technical events, and an abundance of nationally qualifying for the performance events!
Aside from having to arrive at school at 3am and drive 3 hours to attend the festival, what was the experience like? “Junior Thespians was really fun! It was nice going to all the workshops and learning new things about Theatre. I did the Chorophobia workshop which was useful because I did not know how to do any sort of choreography or dancing,” Ian Ozvural, an 8th grader who won 1st for poster design along with his partner Sam Nash, said.
How did the Varsity Theatre Department prepare for Thespians with only 3 weeks to do so and after just returning from competing in UIL? “We worked throughout the weeks leading up to the event, we stayed after school and worked during lunches to make sure that we were ready for the event. At times it was very time consuming and thorough but it was definitely worth it in the end,” said Knox Kinsey, an 8th grader who won first place for scenic design along with his partner Avery Knox-Broyles.
Last but not least, what does it mean to win Outstanding Troupe of the Day? “This year has been all about supporting the students and helping them support each other, just creating a really uplifting, kind and supportive community where everyone feels safe and appreciated. When they won, that was just a reflection to me of how all that work to create this type of community is really paying off,” said Ms. Gang, the director of the Theatre Program.
Overall, although the preparation leading up to the Junior Thespians Regional Festival was very tedious, the thespians’ efforts did not go in vain and they seemed to have a lot of fun competing as well as going to the workshops.
Official List of all Awards won Saturday:
Outstanding Troupe of the Day
Technical (State Categories):
1st Place Scenic Design: Knox Kinsey & Avery Knox-Broyles
1st Place Costume: Izzy Ader & June Ligon
1st Place Hair & Makeup: Team (Aly Aleman-Chapa, Angie Perez, Dilaana Rouin & Ellie Rhatigan)
1st Place Poster Design: Sam Nash & Ian Ozvural
1st Place Mask Design: TIED between Lucas Larson and Izaiah Gongora
Performance (National Qualifiers):
Solo Musical Theater: Juliana Lotz
Monologue: Violet Sanchez
Group Acting: Izzy Ader, Alpha Diallo, Jayus Fain-Lindsay, Ben Galindo, Ellie Rhatigan, Lili Griffiths, Emmett Hollinsworth, June Ligon, Ceci McArthur, Sam Nash, Ian Ozvural, Dilaana Rouin & Demetrios Tangaroa.
Duet Acting: Wesley McCollum & Ori Collins-Robertson
Duel Musical: Chella Pfeifle & Izzy Reed
Duet Musical Dance: Dot McColgin & Zella Pryor
Duet Musical Dance: Shanell Cervantes & Larke Sorensen
Duet Musical Dance: Bea Snodgrass & Samantha Kan
