The theatre department’s Harvey Players left for Grapevine, Texas on Nov.15. The group was en route to the Thescon to attend workshops and get help to improve their theatre skills.

“A thespian is an actor and there are troops all over the state,” junior Francis Kim said. “They all gather once a year to learn from each other through workshops. Vandegrift is troupe 7613.”

Each year, Texas Thespians host a state-wide festival which includes over 7,000  delegates. Thescon is one of the largest annual Thespian festivals and takes place Nov.15- Nov.18.

“Thescon is an efficient way to train theatre students in the techniques of acting, singing, and dancing.” junior Greyson Weedman said. “They compete against other schools by performing anything from a monologue to a group musical number.”

“There are musical lessons,” senior Jack Rosenblatt said. “There are improv lessons, there are specific monologue lessons that you can get, all the classes that they offer are very varied.”

At Thescon, students were able to compete against other students. There were a few different theatre categories the students could compete in.

“There were a bunch of different types of theatre competitions,” junior Rusama Islam said. “Duet acting, solo acting and due musical performance were some types of competitions.”

Two students from Vandegrift competed at Thescon in addition to participating in workshops.

“I competed in duet acting which was a duet event,” Islam said. “We performed a scene from a play called Rabbit Hole. We advanced to the next round, but we didn’t qualify for nationals.”

The theatre troupe returned on Nov. 18 and recommenced rehearsals for Into the Woods.

“We always have a good time since we are with our whole theater squad,” Islam said. “It’s a very individual workshop and you can make your own choice if you want to attend a more fun workshop like dancing or a different one that works with acting.”