Stages and spotlights. Ribbons and trophies. After a competitive conference at Dreher High School, the theater department has brought back numerous awards and prestigious recognitions.
The conference itself was the Palmetto Dramatic Association,, at the South Carolina Thespian Festival. At PDA, Wando thespians performed a one act play and then dove into various individual competitions.
Senior Jack Hipp was one of the many that traveled to Dreher to compete and he won a superior for their one act play performance of PUFFS.
“It was a really good experience,” Hipp said, “It felt very engaging and I really liked seeing everybody else, like what other schools have to offer… I thought we did really well.”
However, according to Hipp, him and his fellow thespians began preparing for this conference months in advance.
“We took a show that we’ve done before in the fall, and we just kind of added on to it,” Hipp said, “I had already had this character developed, so it was just recalling what I had already worked on in the fall.”
Although the theater community and atmosphere is often competitive, Hipp has fallen in love with it.
“It’s aggressive but I love it,” Hipp said, “There’s only like a certain number of parts for everybody, and everybody wants to be the lead… but everybody’s supportive when maybe you’re not the lead.”
Similarly to Hipp, sophomore Ender Kellner has realized that theater is not only about the roles that he is cast in.
“There’s no small parts, only small actors, and I feel like that’s something that can be applied to life,” Kellner said, “Everyone has to give something and it… taught me to work well with others.”
However, Kellner has also noticed a difference between the turnout of last year’s conference compared to recently.
“I was in theater last year…I think our school only one like four awards, and then this year we came and won like nineteen,” Kellner said, “It gives me hope for the awards in the future, and that we can… make a name for Wando theater.”