About the Conference
The period of time between the day after Thanksgiving and the end of December is often referred to as the "holiday season" and includes events and celebrations related to Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa. However, in the world of Colorado Thespians, this time of year also brings about a different reason to celebrate: ThesCon, an annual conference hosted by the Colorado State Thespian Society!
According to ThesCon Chapter Director, Tami LoSasso, the 2023 conference this past December saw 5,723 participants. Our students took the initiative to be among this group!
Learning Through Dance and Community
Emma Bernard ('24), a veteran ThesCon attendee, took advantage of dance-related workshops, and participated in an intro to tap class, a jazz class where she learned a routine corresponding with the musical, "Hairspray," and a hip hop class (think: Michael Jackson's "Beat It"). "It was a lot spending time with friends; a lot of learning WITH and FROM others," Emma said.
Expanding Your Skillset and Perception
Bri Martin ('25) attended ThesCon for the first time this year, focused on workshops in dancing, acting and singing, and came away a fan. "It was pretty cool to be part of something so big!" she said. Sessions at ThesCon are led by experts in the field and Bri was impressed in their ability to, for example, get a large group to pick up choreography in 30 minutes time and continue to run with it until the session ended an hour later.
ThesCon also expanded the way she thought about different aspects of theatre, helping her understand that elements such as acting and dancing are a profession in which people can get professionally trained, not just things pursued as hobbies. "They (the workshop leaders) said that this wasn't a starving artist thing and that we should consider broadening our abilities by going to school before trying to pursue this (acting, dancing) as a career."
Making Connections Between the Classroom and the World
Colin Palmer ('26) was also a first-time ThesCon participant and attended workshops that taught him about the fundamentals of stage combat, dance choreography, using sound and perspective to create a convincing performance, and how to interact with space on stage. He also attended two shows at the conference -- "Noises Off" and "Mean Girls."
"There are a lot of skills you learn from classes (in school) that you can apply to theatre, and lot of skills from theatre that you can apply in everyday life," Colin reflected. He went on to say that understanding elements of art such as line, shape, color, form and texture can translate into better expressing the way a character moves on stage (e.g. stiffly, freely, in a straight line, wandering across the stage, etc.); and that learning about argumentation in English class can affect the extent to which an actor can emphasize words or actions in order to make them pop in a performance. Attending ThesCon provided him with the opportunity to expand these connections even further.
"I'm sold!" he exclaimed of the conference. "I’m going again next year!"
Go, Eagles!
*Photo Credit: Creek Theatre historian, Courtney Morgan ('25).
