Lights, Camera, Action

“Places!” Every actor, technician, and crew member is running around backstage as quietly as possible, trying to prepare for a perfect show. From an outside observer’s point of view, it’s chaos, but to the Gainesville High School Theatre Department, it’s the magic of theatre. These students have used this magic to prove there’s nothing they can’t accomplish.

GHS Theatre is a student-led program; every member has input into the program. The program has eight student officers who all have unique roles in the troupe. In the 2021-2022 school year, the officers were able to collaborate together for GHS Theatre to earn recognition as an Honor Troupe. In order to receive this recognition, the officers had to complete a six-month Leadership Academy and submit monthly assignments to Texas Thespians.

GHS Theatre is also part of an internationally recognized honor society called the International Thespian Society. To be allowed into ITS, prospective members must devote 100 hours of work in theatre. To maintain membership status, thespians must complete community service, attend meetings, and maintain passing grades. The troupe has led many community service projects, including DASH – a food delivery service to homebound individuals – and helping at the Head Start Fall Festival.

Although historically very busy with activity, there is also a lot of ‘new’ in 2022. For the first time, GHS had one of its own students, Senior Jazlynna Bergeron, on the Texas Thespians State Thespian Officer Board. State Thespian Officers, or STOs, are a group of students from around the state who organize the State Festival in November, which is a three-day long event at the Gaylord filled with competitions and workshops.

At the 2022 State Festival, three Gainesville students advanced to the national level in various competitions. Qualification for the national competition

by Student contributor: Ava Blaskovich, GHS Junior

requires competitors to receive a ‘superior’ rating from a panel of three judges. Seniors Jayelynn Graham and Adrianna Galano advanced individually with a Solo Monologue entry, and Senior Jazlynna Bergeron advanced individually with a Solo Musical entry.

Also at the Festival, Texas Thespians created a new program called Honor Crew. Honor Crew is a group of hand-selected students who keep the technical side of the festival running. They help move sets and control sound and lights for shows and ceremonies at the festival. Senior Melaina Denison served on the first Texas Thespians Honor Crew Team.

In addition to attending the festival, the Fall is a busy time for the troupe as they always showcase their incredible talents in a musical. This year, the troupe performed Little Shop of Horrors. This show is quirky, scary, and interesting. The technical element of the show was exciting for students to tackle. Every company member made a miniature venus fly trap puppet to run out into the aisles during the finale. The acting part of the show was exciting, too. Senior Jayelynn Graham played the lead female role of Audrey. “I felt incredible the entire time I performed as Audrey,” Jayelynn said. “It has always been a dream role of mine. The entire process felt like climbing uphill, but when I walked out on stage and heard the applause, I could see the big picture.” Although the musical is for entertainment purposes only, the fall show keeps the

thespians in action on the stage and allows for a multitude of public performances for the community of Gainesville.

The close-knit family of the troupe continues to achieve great success, creating beautiful art, and grows year after year. In theatre director Morgan Sims’s words, students of Gainesville theatre are “reaching for the stars so that one day they will become one.”