Jan. 7—A group of Permian High School theater students have punched their tickets to the National Thespian Festival June 22-27 at Indiana University in Bloomington, Ind.
Theatre Director Scott Windham said 11 students have qualified so far and another round of auditions will be held this month. He expects more to advance from that group.
State competition was held at the Texas Thespians State Festival in Corpus Christi in November.
“I think it was a testament to the talent we have here and the hard work that all the students put in, as well as the directors. This is the largest number of national qualifiers that Permian has had in recent memory,” Windham said.
If they want to go to nationals, he said, students will have to use the same pieces they performed at state and have to fundraise.
“We’ll just continue to work those (pieces from state) and take the judges’ notes that we received and really fine tune and try to make it a really strong performance,” Windham said.
Lily Windham, a 16-year-old junior, said it was a “really happy moment” when they found out they made nationals.
They found out the last night they were in Corpus Christi who would get to go to Indiana.
“We all ran out into the hallway, were jumping around, yelling. We were just all really excited,” Lily Windham said.
Sixteen-year-old junior Colton Lewis said people in the hotel who also made nationals and didn’t go to school with them were jumping with them.
“It was a very sweet moment,” 17-year-old senior Alexia Dubois said.
Lily Windham, who is Scott Windham’s daughter, said they hadn’t really started preparations yet for nationals.
They have been focused on their current plays.
Keira Andis, a 16-year-old junior, and Dubois said getting this far is pretty rewarding and exciting.
“I think all of us spent a lot of time on the pieces that we competed with, and getting to feel the effects of that is pretty nice,” Dubois said.
They didn’t have a lot of time to get ready for state because they had just wrapped up Mean Girls High School edition in October.
“We still had that motivation from Mean Girls,” Lewis said.
The students are excited about the chance to take classes at nationals as well so they can level up their skills.
They have also enjoyed being part of the PHS theatre program as it has helped them bond and feel more confident in their social skills and public speaking.
“It’s a comfortable space. Everyone’s pretty close to each other, ” Dubois said.
Scott Windham is thrilled at how his students’ work has paid off.
“I’m really proud of these students and the talent, hard work and effort that they’ve put into it really showed forth in the number that we had advance to nationals,” he added.