Theater has been a major part of American culture for several decades. Almost everyone has heard the famous productions of Phantom of the Opera, Romeo and Juliet, and Les Misérables. Recently, productions such as Hamilton and Wicked have brought even more attention to the theater community.
De Soto High School is fortunate enough to have such an incredible theater department with many talented student actors and technicians. This year, they were able to take their talent to Wichita to compete in a theater competition.
ThesCon, more formally known as the Kansas Thespian Festival, is a state-wide conference where schools from all over Kansas gather and compete with various theatrical acts.
Sara Bryant, drama teacher and director of the school’s theater department, talks about the vast opportunities provided to students who wish to showcase their talents.
“The cool thing about ThesCon is there’s lots of different types of performances you can take to it. We usually bring a one-act and try to get as many people involved in that as possible, but you can also take your own individual performance[s], which are called Thespys,” Bryant said.
De Soto High School brought a total of five acts with them to the competition: three solo performances, one group acting scene, and a one act.
Each performance, excluding the one-act, is graded and given a score: fair is the lowest, then good, excellent, and finally superior, which is the highest.
All De Soto entries received a score of excellent, except for Carson Hanley, who received a superior rating with his performance of the song “I Don’t Care” from Cabaret.
The one-act received second place out of the whole conference, which is a substantial improvement from the previous year’s placement of second to last.
Rose Rulifson, a senior at De Soto, reflects on the one-act and gives some insight into the aftermath of the high-scoring performance.
“We have had so much fun putting it together, but things really clicked when we performed it for everyone at ThesCon…We were very proud of ourselves afterward and our scores were way higher than any of us would have expected,” Rulifson said.
However, ThesCon is more than just competing against other schools. It is also a great opportunity to meet other people from across the state who share a common interest in theater.
In an interview, junior Savannah Hendry shares a fun aspect of ThesCon that allowed her to meet interesting people while attending the conference.
“ThesCon actually does this thing where you can buy [rubber] ducks and they have names on the bottom, like Romeo and Juliet…and you have to find the other person, so that is a really interesting way to meet people,” Hendry said.
Overall, ThesCon is an excellent opportunity to showcase the abundant theatrical talent that exists throughout the state of Kansas, while also creating opportunities for growth and building connections with others. Sara Bryant ended her interview by expressing her hopes to expand future ThesCon opportunities for anyone interested in attending.
“Anyone involved in the theater department is welcome to attend. If you’re reading this and want to attend next year, let me know,” Bryant said. You can contact her at [email protected].
