Four hundred drama students from around Arkansas went to Alma high school to participate the the annual Thespian Festival; around twenty of Searcy’s students went to this event.

“I came because I heard it was a really great experience. It was a lot of fun; there was a lot to do,” said sophomore Ann-Marie Temple. “I really wanted to see what it was like.”

The students participated in workshops in order to improve their acting. There were over a hundred workshops held during the week handling a variety of different skills that an actor would need.

“They were a lot of fun. I took a fencing class; I got to learn a couple poses for fencing and stuff. It was really cool,” said Freshman Cruz Bright.

“My favorite workshop would have to be the musical broadway theatre, because we ended up singing a broadway song and learning dance moves to it. It was really fun and upbeat,” said Temple.

Along with taking workshops, students could show off their talents by competing in a variety of events such as duet acting, improvisation, or solo musical.

“The competitions were really interesting because we got see people from different regions, not just the Searcy area,” said Temple. “They came from everywhere. They had a lot of cool unique ideas, the way they did their performances. We could finally see some different stuff go on between people.”

Colleges from all over the United States came out to scout out actors to enter into their drama programs by giving them scholarships.

“A lot of people got really cool scholarships, like Bradley Taylor got a scholarship to Oklahoma City and Davis got a call back from New York,” said Bright.

Temple said the scholarship opportunities were amazing.

“A lot of the colleges that I got to talk to were presenting; they actually had some really great scholarships,” said Temple. “And it’d be really great to get one.”

Bright said he can’t wait until next year’s state festival that will be at the University of Central Arkansas.

“I plan on going next year because it will be a whole lot of fun,” said Bright. “I’m hoping to get another part in the one act, maybe a little bigger part this time.”

Temple said it was a lot of fun and she made many friends from other schools.

“I got to do a lot of fun things,like workshops and see people do great things, and I want to do that too,” said Temple.

Searcy’s drama troupe of 34o brought home several awards, thanks to their hard work during the four day week.