A Competition of Dramatics

Maclay’s Senior Thespian Troupe Competes in the Thespian Districts Competition

Photo courtesy Millie Seckel

On Saturday, Oct. 4, Bay High hosted Senior Thespian Districts for the North Florida area. Districts is a theatre competition in which Thespian companies from Pensacola to Gainesville compete for the opportunity to advance to the state competition. Maclay’s Senior Thespian Troupe participated in the competition and gained a memorable experience in the arts.

The competition grants prospective performers the opportunity to compete against others and receive critiques from judges, giving theatre students a taste of the performance industry and an experience in teamwork and leadership.

“If they're going into this business, they need competition,” Maclay Thespian advisor Millie Seckel said. “You're going to hear ‘no’ more times than you're going to hear ‘yes.’”

Thespians have the opportunity to compete in several different categories. Maclay’s Troupe competed in solos, duets, small groups, large groups and tech projects. Each piece is classified as acting or musical. The tech projects differ from the rest as they allow the student to be the leader. They also allow for more freedom regarding classification.

“[For my tech] I did choreography,” junior Alexandra Holland said. “So I picked out a song [and] the dancers that I wanted to be in it. I had to create the whole piece on my own.”

The Thespians’ performances are scored with rankings of either a poor, good, excellent or superior. Out of 21 entries, Maclay took home 12 superiors and nine excellents, along with Critic’s Choice for their large group production. This qualifies the school to compete at the statewide level in March.

“I'm ecstatic,” Seckel said. “ I think the kids did a great job.”

Even though it’s months away, Maclay’s Thespians will begin preparing for the state competition soon. The students look forward to it as it not only offers an opportunity to compete once again, but also includes workshops and classes geared towards giving the Thespians greater exposure in the industry.

“[State] is just a super fun experience where you get to learn so much since you're competing,” Holland said. “You also get to take a lot of master classes about everything. It could be anything from costuming to lighting to acting.”