The Nebraska State Thespian Festival. While these words may not mean much to the normal reader, they send waves of excitement down the spines of theater students.
“This was my third year at State Theater, and I love it! It is my favorite weekend of the year,” Junior Lydia Meyer said.
State Theater is a two-day gathering of Nebraska thespian troupes that happens early in January. It takes place on the University of Nebraska Lincoln campus, mostly in the Kimball Theater.
At State Theater the attending students see several one-acts and one full length show performed by the other schools, a special guest speaker, and a professional improv show. The shows this year ranged from the musical “Pippin”, about a young prince trying to find his place, to “Show and Tell”, a one-act written by a local director about the gravity of school shootings.
“The shows this year were great. There was a good mix of laughing and crying, and I think the schools all did a great job,” Meyer said.
The students also have a chance to compete and show off their theater related skills in various ways. They can compete in an Individual Event, which is where they perform a song, duet, monologue, mime scene, or a duet acting piece for a group of judges who rank them and give them scores. Freshman Hailey Mazour competed in Individual Events with a few monologues she prepared.
“It was nerve wracking mostly. I was the only person competing in an individual event, so that was scary, but I also felt like I had a lot of support from my peers,” Mazour said.
Another event is the Tech Competition, where tech teams from the different schools complete several challenges such as Sew a Button, Set a Light, and Move a Set. They are judged on their performance and ranked against other schools, with the best teams moving on to a final competition. Hastings High sent a team, Let’s Get Technical, and they did very well, getting perfect scores in half of the events.
The last event students can compete in is the Improv Challenge. This challenge happens on Saturday morning, with 15 teams competing in the preliminaries. During the preliminaries each team will play three different improv games for different judges, the judges score them based the different rules and techniques of improv. The four teams with the top scores then compete in the finals. This year Hastings High’s team, The Aloha-has, made it to finals and placed fourth overall.
“I feel amazing about how we did as a team. This competition was the most evenly matched across the board. Everyone was really working at the same high level, and it was really fun to see other schools do well,” Improv team coach and advisor Mrs. Funkey said.
Whether they were competing or not, State Theater was an exciting weekend for everyone who attended. From the shows, to the formal dinner, to the dance, there was truly fun for all.
