by Catie Butcher

On Jan. 5-7, Wesley Rice, English, took ten of his students to the Kansas Thespian Conference where they not only learned about theater, but also watched performances by other high schools and attended educational workshops.

Kayla McLaughlin, 11, a student who has been to the conference before knows how beneficial it can be to people interested in learning more about theater.

“I strongly recommend it!” McLaughlin said. “It is beneficial to be around people who you have a lot in common with and you get to meet people and do things that you would have never done normally.”

This was the first time for most of the South students attending. Emi Kniffin, 11, a first time conference attendee, enjoyed going to the workshops offered.

“I really liked learning how to dance,” Kniffin said.

Over the past few months, four high schools have been chosen to present their productions for everyone attending the conference. They performed in the Century II Concert Hall and the Mary Jane Teall Theatre.  Andrew Horning, 11, appreciated watching the shows and felt that the different schools did well with the performances.

“My favorite show would be Fools because I liked the lines that made us all go ‘Aww’,” Horning said. “I enjoyed the cleverness and stupidity of the plotline.”