There will be drama! Along with singing, dancing, and lots of jazz hands. With all this action going on, one might ask who this is? It is not one person but 32 people. The theater company is going to this year’s theater nationals in Nebraska, where they will compete in multiple competitions.

This festival is called the International Thespian Festival. These competitions can range from technical theater to performing arts. Senior Angie Hoffmann, one of the national qualifiers competed that competed in the technical theater competitions said, “I did stage management, scenic design, you can also do things like custom design.” Hoffmann is one of the many technical theater students who help make the productions run smoothly.

On the other side of the stage is the performers. Senior Nicholas Magel describes the festival as “a hangout of thespians, there is no competition per say, but a day full of individual events that get judged on the individual event and not a group.” Magel competed in the monologue competitions, theater marketing and the group musical competition.

Not all 32 students will be attending this event, about 20-25 students will be representing Perry’s theater company. Magel and Hoffmann are just two students who will be competing in this festival and creating a national portfolio to add to their theater experience.

Theater Studies teacher, Randy Duren, describes this year’s competition as “amazing, they blew us away.” Duren is one of two theater teachers, and believes that this is not a coincidence that we had this many students qualify, and they deserve this opportunity.

Even though some of the events that are competed in are individual, the theater department still treats everyone as one team. One successful event is a success for everyone. Duren is very proud of his students and believes that “there will be more superiors than ever before.” These competitions not only show the talent of the school, but give the competitors some experience in the acting world.

Many of these students participate in theater companies outside of Perry’s stage. The atmosphere of these competitions give the thespians, both acting and technical, some experience to fall on when auditioning in competitive organizations. Duren describes the teaching methods use as “a leg up,” in both the studies of theater and the acting industry. These students also get the advantage of putting these festivals into their portfolios.

The National Thespian Festival is one of many achievements that these 32 students will have in their performing careers.