THE ECHO

By Sunny Smyth // Design Editor 

 What is your club in charge of? 

 Um, so our club handles, like, all of the thespian troop stuff that has relate with theater. We put on all of the musicals and plays that happen throughout the year, um, and were affiliated with the classes that are based on theater, but mostly the thespian troopers in charge of the after school plays and a musical. 

 
How many people participate in the thespians? 
 
Um, active participants, I’d say we have about 80 to 100. We have quite a few people in our Schoology group who aren’t as much active in participants, but we have lots of people who are connected to thespians and will participate throughout the year. 
 

 Does Thespians offer trip opportunities for students? 

Every semester, we go to see a show in Indianapolis, which is like a field trip. In past years, we have had a competition show that we would take to compete at different, regional areas. This year we’re not doing that. But in the past, we did have those regional opportunities. And then this year, we are in the running to be taken to our local Jimmy Awards, like off-shoot. 

 
Who is the club teacher representative? 

The Troupe Organizer is Caitlyn Steckbeck. 
 

Is your troupe recognized internationally? If so, does that have any benefit for your club? 

Yes, it’s just a part of, like, an interconnected group of thespian troupes. It’s nice to feel like part of that community. It is an international organization. And if you get a certain amount of thespian points, you become an international honor thespian, which is like, just the highest title that you can have, and it’s really good for students to show how much they care about theater and how involved they are. 
 

Who are your other officers? 

We have 2 vice presidents, Nassim Foudali and Grace Otey, and then our board members are Tanner Stahl, Kylo Lowe, Ryhann Garrett, Katie Sullivan, and Lily Hirsch. 
 

What other extracurriculars are you in? 

Outside of theater, I do show choir, Deca, student government, and I think that’s it. 
 

Um, what role of yours in the past has been your favorite?  

My favorite role to play has definitely been Percy in The Lighting Thief last year. It was super fun to have that experience as the lead, being on stage the whole time. It was really fun to build up my stamina and build up like my character work. Overall, I just had a great time doing Percy. 
 

What is your favorite part of being a part of the thespian troupe? 

My favorite part, like I said earlier, is just the community. It builds a really strong like sense of togetherness. Um, and you just have that connection with someone regardless of like, where you might come from. You just know that you both love theater. And it’s a really like, great way to connect with people. 
 

Um, do you have to be an actor to join thespians? 

You do not have to be an actor to join thespians. We tell lots of people who seem interested. There are so many places that you can be involved in theater outside of acting you can do, direction, student direction. We have that often. Um, you can do lighting and sound. You can build stuff, you can do stage management, and you can do costumes and hair. There are so many different, like, aspects of theater that we need everyone to be participating in, so we don’t need just actors. We need all people. So if you want to be involved in theater and you don’t want to act, that is perfectly fine. There are so many places for you to be part of.  

What got you into performing? 

What got me into theater was that my dad had done it. And he was like, “you should try this”. And I tried it at my local community theater, The Biz, and I had a great time, and I just kept doing it over and over.