My Experience With State

Going to state was already considered very fortunate. But preforming as an mainstage show at state? That was just pure luck.

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Day 1:

My news year day consisted of me going to be at exactly 12:30 in order to not be a complete grump when my alarm woke me up at 5:30.

I made sure to dress comfy for the long 3 hours on the bus to Wichita.

We arrived at the conference around noonish and we didn’t really plan on doing anything that first day because the Conference specifically asked our troupe to help judges keep time for the people who were getting judging for solos, monologues, etc.

At this point and time I was already exhausted from, I’m not sure yet. It was really inspiring to be in the room with the judges and seeing all the aspiring actresses and singers. They were all so talented and just filled with life. What made it even more special was that they shared the same passion that everyone in that room had.

The judging sessions ended around 5 o’clock and we were free to go back to the hotel room and relax for a while. As soon as I got to the room I literally took the longest shower of my life. I think it was because I knew that this would be the only time I would be able to since my room mates hadn’t come back yet.

During these conferences they have a main stage show that everyone is required to go see. Of course you already knew that because our show was selected as one of them.

This nights show was the classic “Bring it On” which was an all-state show, meaning that it wasn’t just one high school that produced this show, but people from all over Kansas. Fortunately for me, I saw this show over the summer because I had mutual friends that were involved in tech so I already knew how amazing the cast and crew was. Seeing it the second time was even better than the first!

Before the show started, someone thought it would be hilarious to “t-pose,” which started a movement. It was quite scary to be honest.

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Day 2:

Out of the 3 of my roommates I was the only one to wake up on time (6 am) to get breakfast. There were other schools staying at our hotel so I knew that there’d be a long line to get food if i waited any later.

Today was the only day we would be able to do workshops, because the next day we would spend the whole day one Eurydice. I was extremely excited.

The first workshop I attended was called “Acting through imagination and Empathy”. We basically learned how we can apply Empathy through our choices on stage, and did some activities to help us.

Me an my friends decided to watch “one act” plays which are student written plays preformed and directed by students. There was that really stuck out to me, I believe it was called “What goes around comes around” and it basically focused on how romantic relationships have some sort of cycle to it. It was really humorous and had an edgy twist to it.

The next session was the highlight of my day. It was a hip-hop choreography class. When I was little I used to do dance and hip-hop was sort of my thing. The session passed by so fast and was so fun. Let’s just say next year I will be attending a lot of hip-hop classes.

Now, our last class that we went to I was kinda let down by. It was “The Greatest Showman” choreography where, it obviously taught the moves from the iconic movie. It was so packed in the room. Me and my friends were towards the very back so we couldn’t see anything especially my 4'9 self. It was really disappointing.

The second mainstage show that we watched was called “Wait Until Dark,” and let me just tell you. This was hands down the best play I have seen in such a long time.

If we have not seen this play, I urge you to see it now. The plot is so suspenseful and the actors in this production were all so talented. The audience was extremely engaged in this performance, everyone was terrified just as much the main character was. It was just so good.

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Day 3:

Eurydice day. I woke up at 5:30, and thankfully all my roommates were awake as well. We were all prepared for a very long day.

We all met in the lobby of the hotel at 6 to get ready to unload the truck filled with pieces of our set that we would be building later.

This process was EXTREMELY stressful. We had practiced rebuilding the set and taking it down multiple times before we went on this trip, but as soon as we opened the truck we discovered that one of the ramps for our was broken. Luckily we were able to fix it.

A few hours later we had finished building the set and the process that came next was something that we were all familiar with. We got into costume and make up, did mic checks and warmed up. We went through spots that we had previously struggled with and that still didn’t calm down the rattling nerves that everyone was having.

I didn’t realize this at the time but this would be the last I would be preforming this show. I had been doing this show for half a year and this whole experience has been filled with ups and downs but I am so proud to say that I was apart of it. After the final black out I remember doing curtain call and seeing all the people giving us standing ovations. It was so heart warming.

Our school is only 2 years old yet we still managed to get selected to go to state and preform for 1,000 people. I am so grateful for everyone apart of this production and being able to experience state with them.

Eurydice will always hold a special place in my heart.