Woodmen theater puts students on an international stage for the first time in GHS history. 

The International Thespian State Conference was an event held on January 23-25 for theater students to attend clinics and watch shows.

“State conference is a mixture of competition and workshops. There’s also performances for people. For this year, there was an All State show, where students from all over the state audition and we rehearse and we perform this show at a conference.” Mrs. Amy Hayes, theater director, said. 

Junior Ruby Martin was an actor for one of the plays “Suffs” at the state conference. 

“There was an open call for the show towards the middle end of August of last year, and I applied for it, and I had to sing and do a monologue. Then, I had to write a resume and a head shot and a bunch of questions about why I want to be in the show. I received a callback one or two weeks after that,” Martin Said.

Martin had plenty to do on and off stage.

“I got to read as robin and sing a song from the show. Then I received an offer to play Phyllis Terrell. I accepted the offer and we had six rehearsals and each of them were 11 hours long to learn the show. I had to learn the lines and music entirely on my own and rehearse. The most time-consuming part was learning ASL for the show. During the show every time our characters feel we are not being heard, our characters begin using ASL,” Martin said.

She earned an invitation to the International Thespian Festival.

“The International Thespian State Conference has an entire three day weekend. I got to have a show on Friday and Sunday, compete, and do masterclasses. I was the only person in our school to be in the state production. We submitted Suffs to judgment from the Educational Theater Association and they run the International Thespian Society. They liked it and we are getting sent to the International Thespian Festival. This year it is at IU Blooming campus and it’s where the best troupes in the whole world go,” Martin said.

In addition to actors, tech people participated in competitions as well. 

“I did the costume construction for Elizabeth Proctor’s character in The Crucible. At the conference, there was a costume construction event where you get scored individually. At the awards, they told us the superior ratings, and then they told us the best to show. I got a superior rating, and my jaw dropped when I saw my name next to the superior,” junior Shyanne DeBoard, said.

Clinics taught skills that can be used outside of theater.

“I went to a clinic for animal work. We would try to mimic animals while keeping human values. My favorite one was this clinic I had about tech resumes about college and applying to jobs. The professor had a lot to display and was easy to work with, and it taught me how to access work in the future,” sophomore Ryan Morehead said.

Additionally, students are allowed to observe different productions.

“There was this one play that was a satire of The Crucible called Witches!? In Salem!? And while the acting was superb, what really drove me in was how well the actors were their characters and it was hard not to laugh. They also had a projector where they showed animations,” Morehead said.

Mrs. Hayes hopes for future opportunities for students at the International Thespian State Conference. 

“My goal for next year is to take more students to the state and give them that experience of performing in front of judges who are different from their friends and family and receive feedback that will help them grow in the future. I really want to have our play go to the International Thespian,” Mrs. Hayes said.