Every year, thespians throughout the state of Missouri gather for a weekend convention known as Thespian State Conference. From workshops on circus tricks and play writing to participating in Improv Olympics, theater kids bond with one another through their passion of producing plays and musicals.

Last Thursday January 12th , thirty nine of our students traveled to the St. Louis Marriott Hotel, all looking forward to a fun weekend. However, due to the severe weather forecast of ice on Friday morning, the theater troupe had to return home. According to senior Hunter Rodgers, returning home early was a major disappointment.

“I was bummed out. I think everyone was bummed out. You know, you’re ready for it all year, and it finally gets here, and then it’s canceled. But it was just a matter of safety,” Rodgers said. “As much as I wanted to be there, it was for the best of everybody. While it did kinda suck to lose the money, I think safety is super important. I can see why people were super upset, but personally I got it.”

For junior Jay Orr, cutting the conference short was not an option.

“I was really not happy about it, and as soon as I got back home, we had already planned on going back by ourselves.”

With Orr’s mom attending as a chaperone, eleven thespians returned to the conference the following Friday.

“We didn’t want to get gypped. We didn’t want to get cheated out of our experience that we paid for. Anyway, so a bunch of us, whose parents said we could go back went back up there and got our own hotel rooms, and just stayed.”

The group was split in between two hotel rooms, with seven thespians in one room. According to freshmen Annalise Davis, rooming with six other thespians was a memorable experience.

“I thought it was really fun. I’m a freshman, and the only other freshmen on the trip was Isaiah Henry and Max Orr , and I just felt like I got to know the upperclassmen a lot better,” Davis said. “A lot of us were out of the hotel room at some point. All of us weren’t really in the hotel room together at the same time. We were all separated, but I would say it was a lot of fun.”

According to Davis, after returning on Friday morning, the rest of the conference exceeded her expectations.

“I got to know a lot of people. I came out of my comfort zone. Going there, I think I was really that good at acting, but by just going to the workshops and watching other people, I realize I’m not as bad as I think,” Davis said. “I had a bunch of fun with different people I didn’t know, and I got to learn new skills. I got to dance, I got to do improv. I got to learn a lot of stuff that I didn’t know I could do. It was a great experience.”

While excited about returning to the conference, Orr was disappointed that he and Mackenzie Morris were not able to perform their scene from “Almost Maine.”

“We were not able to perform at the state conference our scene from ‘Almost Maine.’ It made me feel sad. We did all of this and we went this far, but we ended up not being able to do it because we were brought back on an ice storm that never happened at the level of intensity that was expected,” Orr said.