AISD's theater students won big at this year's Texas State Thespian Festival. At the annual event, theater students from across the state have the opportunity to attend workshops and watch their peers in staged productions in addition to competing in theatrical contests through the Texas Individual Events Competition. Students are also offered opportunities to attend workshops in acting, dancing, voice, and technical work with professional theatre artists from across the country. Austin, Crockett and LBJ/LASA high schools each attended the festival this year—returning home with high honors.
The Crockett High School Thespian Troupe #1924 competed in the Group Acting competition against 65 other schools. Crockett students performed a 5-minute scene from J. Michael Stracynski's "Snow White" and were scored based on their professionalism, character, voice, movement and overall presentations. For their performance, the Crockett student group earned a perfect score of 300, tying them for first place and qualifying the students to compete in the National Thespian Competition to be held this summer in Lincoln, Neb. Congratulations to Casey Calderon (09), Cheston Dorman (12), Eden Freeman (12), Jesse Hernandez (10), Alberto Martinez (12), Daylin Martinez (11), Sarah Newcomer (09), Megan Sweeney (12) and Crockett theatre instructor Christina Burkbank on a job well done.
Students from LASA/LBJ's theater program also made a name for themselves. Ronan Melomo (12) competed in the solo musical category, while Juan Vences Benitez (12) and Gabriel Penaloz (12) entered in the duet musical category. All students ranked high enough to qualify for the national competition and, as a result of their accomplished performances, received call-backs from numerous colleges. The theatre tech team also placed well, coming in 6th place from about 100 entries, with Gus Tucker (12) earning a $1000 prize for his achievements. Hats off to theater director Melissa Alexander and the all the LBJ and LASA thespians!
The Austin High School Theatre Department Troupe 1747 also attended the festival, where Layla Gilliland (12) qualified for Nationals in Solo Musical. The Tech Challenge Teach also ranked high enough to compete at Nationals; the team included Anne Marie Kolb (11), Liz Kolb (10), Danny Molstad (12), Connor Patterson (11), Wyatt Mailloux (11), and Daveon Snoddy (10). All of these students will represent their schools, AISD and Texas at the International Thespian Festival this summer.