Theatre students traveled to Union Station in St. Louis each day from Jan. 20-22 to participate in the annual Thescon conference. 

“Thescon” is a Thespian convention where students around the state come together to do different workshops, meet colleges and hang out with other schools during the convention. 

“Thescon was easily the best theater experience of my entire life. I spent the entire time smiling,” senior Sean Bruce excitedly stated.

“My favorite part of Thescon was the dance workshops cause I got to dance a lot with my friends,” junior Anna Wright said.

Two of the theatre students here at Liberty won an IE (Individual Event). Junior Rhett Cunningham and Anna Wright both were recognized for their respective achievements. Cunningham’s IE was for Stage Management, while Wright’s IE was for Solo Musical Theatre Performance. 

“I had to film myself in under five minutes singing a song. I sang my song “Once More I Can See” from “Wonderland,” Wright explained about the process of getting an IE.

Sean Bruce also went for a Performance Scholarship. 

“I auditioned in front of around 25 schools to get into their theatre and acting programs and win scholarships. I’m happy to report that I was called back by 14 schools and received several scholarship offers including a scholarship offer from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy,” said Bruce.

These three students work hard to produce the shows you see here at Liberty.

“Rhett Cunningham, who has done a ton of stuff to our program to update it to help with management of our crews and the technical aspect of it, I think he is completely deserving of it,” Liberty theatre director Ms Gehrke said. “Anna Wright is a fantastic performer and she is a really great actress. So I think it is a really good opportunity to get feedback from the state level.” 

Thescon is an exciting way for students around Missouri to experience the joy of theater they all share together, while without it a lot of these students would never have met.

 “Thescon was a lot of fun. I’m happy I got to create fun memories at this super fun and unique conference,” Cunningham said.

With this being the first Thescon after not being able to go last year due to COVID-19, some things have changed.

“I went to Thescon my freshman year and I think the biggest change was the new environment and location,” Cunningham said.