Horizon High School is honored to educate some of the most talented students involved in performing arts. Over 40 Horizon theatre students recently attended the annual Thespian Conference, ThesCon for short. Those who aren’t familiar with what it is should know that it is not only a competition, but also a way for students to showcase their talents and learn new skills from other talented students and professionals.

“Schools have thespian troupes who come from all over from Colorado. Students perform individual events, which could be a monologue or a song. There is also technical backstage stuff,” Katelyn Flynn, senior, said. “Judges come from all over the world, who are very certified. They watch your performance and they judge and give feedback to you.”

These competitions are taken very seriously to students. Not only is it a competition, but for some of them, this is an opportunity to audition for colleges and different programs in the performing arts.

“There is also something called the ‘Senior Audition’, which is what I did. It’s where you perform in front of college judicators to see if they want you in their theatre program,” Flynn stated.

For some students, performing in front of judges, or people, can be nerve-wracking. Sometimes, auditions don’t go as well as practices because of the nerves. This was obviously not a problem for Flynn.

“I got 20 different callbacks from colleges. It’s really exciting because I know I’m accepted into their programs, so I don’t have to go to on-campus auditions. For example, I got into the New York Conservatory of Liberal Arts– so I would have to go and audition in New York, but since they were at ThesCon, I only had to perform there.”

“More colleges are coming to [ThesCon] because they find such talented people there, and they offer you scholarships, and acceptances there.”

“You can do two i.e.s [individual events]: a song, and a one act. I did a one act that was student directed, and also did an improv team which received a superior ranking,” Flynn said. This was all on top of the senior audition, which is in a different category from the individual events.