Last Saturday, theatre and speech students competed at a theatre festival in Van. The festival was introduced to director Robin Fuqua by her former high school teacher Larry Wisdom.

“Every year Mr. Wisdom hosts this festival,” Fuqua said. “It’s a really cool event because there’s so many different things for the students to compete in like prose, poetry, and improv.”

In addition to prose, poetry and improv there was an assortment of other events including DI, HI, miniature set building, cold auditions and a technical quiz.

“I competed in DI which stands for Dramatic Interpretation,” junior Bailey Chase said. “It lasts for ten minutes and it’s really intense; everyone was so good I was a little intimidated.”

In DI and HI, students are required to memorize their pieces. In prose and poetry they don’t have to.

“This is my first ever year to compete in poetry interpretation,” junior Nishit Tailor said. “I went into it feeling okay knowing it didn’t have to be memorized.”

Miniature set building is building a complete set by the dimensions of an inch and a half.

“Competing in miniature set building was a really cool experience,” freshman Omar Almeida said. “I created the set of The Outsiders; it was very elaborate.”

Junior Andrea Daniel competed in poetry interpretation. Daniel used a piece that Fuqua provided her. It was based on one of her former students in Wyoming.

“The piece was about the death of her student,” Daniel said. “It was really inspiring because he died in such a brutal way.”

Her student identified as gay. He went to a bar one night and was beaten to death. The piece was based off of his life and death.

“It was so satisfying to tell such an intense story,” Daniel said. “I got super emotional during it and the judges did as well.”

The team received several awards, including fifth place overall sweepstakes.

“Overall I’d say it was a very successful day,” Fuqua said. “The students gave it their all and did their absolute best.”