On September 18, auditions for Seminole’s Thespian Troupe 3266’s District Festival began, with the rest of the auditions occurring from September 21-23. Districts are November 19-21, and are weekdays that all participating students are activitied out for. The theatre group is hard at work even outside of school, placing first last year in the One Act category against all of the competing schools from Seminole, Lake, Volusia, and Flagler county. One Act is a short play, where the Thespians are able to display their skills.

Thespians are part of an internationally recognized honors society that is oriented towards students who are interested in theater production. Theater isn’t just about acting, however. It includes many other fields of work, such as in music, design, and technology- aspects that are just as important to theater as the acting is.

Junior Lara Olsen, a makeup director, says, “Maybe I’m biased, but I think tech is super important. Without tech, actors would be running around naked and without lights. Tech is what keeps the show running.”

At the district competition, Seminole participates in the One Act category. There are many other smaller competitions that  individuals can participate in, such as costume design and construction, monologues, makeup design, playwriting, and a myriad of musical categories. The main focus of the competition is One Act, as the district events devote two of the three days to the plays of all of the schools competing.

Districts is not the end goal of the Thespians, but a mere stepping stone to the statewide competition. This competition will only include the schools who were in the top three rankings from their area, as well as any student or group of students who received a rating of superior from their judges at the district competition.

“We’re really strong all around. There’s bumps here and there, but they all get fixed in the end,” says sophomore and member of Thespians Jackson Wise.

Unfortunately, Ms. Tiffany Ortiz, the Thespian director, can only send five of the superiors from districts to states. Last year, 29 of the 35 categories that students entered in for Seminole received superiors, which created challenging decisions for Ortiz to make.

“It’s extremely difficult because everyone has worked so very hard for this competition. I look at how consistently [students] worked, their grade level [because] seniority does play a part, or a group over a solo. However, the potential for the piece to be successful has the greatest weight as to whether they move on to state,” comments Ortiz.

The results are released on the last day of the competition, which will be November 21 for the 2015 districts. One Act can be seen at Seminole High on February 6, 2016 at 7:00 p.m. Tickets are $5 at the door.