Seniors Teresa Sollars and Caitlin Coble attended the Kansas Thespian Festival from Jan. 9 – 11, both receiving ‘superior scores’ – based on a scale of “Superior, Excellent, Good, Fair” from the judges. Through a superior rating, Sollars and Coble qualify to compete at the International Thespian Festival.

Each year, Kansas hosts the Kansas Thespian Festival (KTF) holding over 1,700 participants over the course of three days including opportunities ranging from acting workshops, dance classes and college auditions. Students can then advance to the International Thespian Festival (ITF) over the summer hosted on Indiana University Bloomington’s campus – showcasing student performances, awards, main stage shows, workshops and meeting industry professionals.

Students have the option to compete with a “thespy” which can be a song, monologue, dance, short film or tech portfolio. For competing, the student can then take a solo or group piece and are scored by three different judges on their performance. Upon receiving a rare perfect score, they get to compete in a showcase on Friday night in front of the entire festival. 

According to Sollars, the preparation process depends on what kind of piece the student would like to compete with. A student perform a group, duet or solo number from any musical, or they can bring a scene, monologue or self-choreographed dance to perform as well.

“I decided to sing a song for my thespy, which involved learning and practicing it with my voice teacher and acting coach for over a month,” Coble said.

According to Coble, they compete the thespys on Thursday, and the following Friday students can choose between countless masterclasses. Additionally, there is an opportunity for seniors to attend college auditions for admission and scholarships. 

“The masterclasses are often taught by theatre professionals and offer great learning experiences,” Sollars said. “Different schools are allowed to submit their school musicals or plays for consideration to perform at the festival, and if a production is selected, they perform their whole show in front of the festival.”

Coble expressed that this year’s process was more stressful as she had to prepare for her college auditions in addition to competing.

“I decided to attend KTF again because I got a lot out of the masterclasses I took the year before, and I wanted to participate in the senior auditions,” Coble said.

According to Coble, a highlight of this year was taking a partner dance class and learning various tricks and skills.

“A challenge of attending the conference is definitely the thespy,” Coble said. “It requires lots of preparation and it is very intimidating to compete on the day of.”

To receive a superior rating, a student needs to earn at least 18/20 points on their thespy. For songs specifically, students have to focus on scoring high enough in areas such as acting transitions, expression, singing technique and more. 

“During my performance, I was a little scared, but I also loved performing the song,” Coble said. “I was extremely proud once I got the score back.”

The competition has no first place and this year the festival broke the record for most superior ratings all around. All three judges’ scores averaged above an 18, with 20 being the highest score – with excellent, great and good scores below superior. 

Sollars is majoring in musical theatre next fall, and won a performance scholarship from her audition at KTF.

 “It was a great way to perform in front of 20+ colleges and earn a scholarship,” Sollars said. “My junior year at KTF, I didn’t really focus on talking to the colleges there, so it was awesome to be able to look into the future and talk to a lot of colleges.”