Twenty three Liberty thespians traveled to Kansas City to participate in the annual Thescon conference from Jan. 4-7 where they attended workshops for acting, dance, techniques, and tech. 

Theater director and teacher Ms. Gehrke sent out a recap detailing Liberty’s accomplishments at the conference: 

“Rhett Cunningham became the first LHS student to win the Missouri Thespian Technical Theatre Scholarship. He spent three hours on Friday being interviewed by judges and college representatives who then voted for the winner. It was a marathon of an afternoon (and weeks of preparation), and he did a phenomenal job.”

Madeline Claravall became the first LHS student to become a State Thespian Officer (STO). Claravall is one of four students statewide who will sit on the Missouri Thespian Board and will run the conference next year. She spent months going through the application and interview process. She was elected in September, spent this conference being trained and working with the current STOs, and is now taking over the reins for the next year. 

Four of our students (Anna Wright – Solo Musical; Payton Busselman, Morgan Feinstein, and Elaine Thimyan – Group Musical) performed individual events, and all earned overall excellent ratings. 

One of our students (Callahan Altheimer) was cast in a one-act and performed for hundreds of other delegates. 

Two of our students (Morgan Feinstein and Elaine Thimyan) learned and performed in an opening number that began the conference in front of all 2,300 delegates. 

The Liberty group also taught a workshop for the first time.

“It was called ‘Making it Work’ and Rhett Cunningham and I led a discussion about how students and directors can work together to make improvements within their troupe,” Gehrke said.