Acting, vocals, choreography, lighting, set design and props. These are just a handful of pieces that come together to create a good show. And while the award-winning OHS Theater Company teaches its students about all of these fundamental aspects of theater, there is always more room to learn and grow. One way that the troupe improves their skills is by attending the yearly Missouri Thespian Conference.
“ThesCon is a thespian convention for everyone in Missouri. This year it took place at Union Station in Saint Louis, but last year it was in Kansas City,” Teagan Crecelius (11) said. “You can go to all different kinds of workshops for theater ranging from acting to singing to tech.”
This January, the OHS Theater Company brought experienced students on a short trip to interact with other theater programs, see shows and learn from workshops.
“There are a lot of opportunities at ThesCon that we can’t necessarily offer individually to our students at OHS, so students are able to participate in a bunch of different workshops with different industry professionals,” director Isabelle Zurcher said. “They can talk to college recruiters and learn about different college theater programs. They also have a variety of competitive opportunities that students can get feedback from. They also get to see shows done by different theater programs in Missouri.”
Because of ThesCon, two students are now bound for Indiana to compete in the Thespy Awards after achieving a superior rating on their duet musical performance for a panel of judges. Experiences like these can prepare students for pursuing theater in the future.
“I feel like the most useful workshop was the college audition one. I want to go into theater as my job, professionally. So being able to know how to audition is important,” Stella Kolb (10) said.
During the evenings, students have the opportunity to view mainstage performances, shows put on by other schools.
“My favorite mainstage was definitely ‘Hadestown.’ I really liked it. I had never listened to the soundtrack all the way through before,” Crecelius said.
Overall, the trip provided valuable experience in theater that can be applied in future endeavors to those who attend.
“I’ve seen a lot of students go to different sessions for things that we don’t have classes about specifically,” assistant director Melissa Bradford said. “We do have stagecraft and acting courses, but when people go to workshops about lighting and sound design, I think that they bring that information back to our program.”
