Applause filled Musselman High School’s auditorium as students and staff from across the Eastern Panhandle gathered for the regional thespian festival, where six area high schools each presented a one-act play and competed in technical theater categories.
The event included performances and competitions in areas such as costume construction, scenic design, sound, marketing, and short film. Top projects and shows will move on to the state festival scheduled for March.
“It’s mostly a celebration of what they share and their love for theater and all the hard work that they put into it,” said Martha Louden, chapter director for West Virginia Thesbians. “The kids compete, but they don’t compete. They celebrate each other and they all support each other.”
Louden has led the chapter for 13 years. She explained that the state-level festival began in the late 1980s as the State High School Drama Festival before evolving into its current format with regional divisions across West Virginia.
Preparation for the February event starts months ahead of time. Students often begin rehearsing their productions in late fall, working around holidays and winter weather before presenting at the local festival. The state competition follows in March.
Hedgesville High School is among those advancing to states this year. Its director, Kelli Cooper, noted her students started preparing as early as September. Their one-act show, “We are the Sea,” tells a story set during the Irish potato famine aboard a ship bound for America. The performance relies on ensemble movement to portray characters becoming part of the sea as events unfold.
“It’s a huge ensemble movement piece,” Cooper said. “As the characters pass, they become a part of the sea.”
Cooper described her reaction when results were announced: “I literally started crying and then I had to get it together because I had to go on stage,” she said. “I’m so proud of their work, and it truly shows.”
Spring Mills High School and Washington High School also advanced their productions to states; Musselman High School was named an alternate.
Technical excellence was recognized with awards in categories such as costume construction, costume design, makeup design, scenic design, sound design, stage management, puppetry, prop construction and theater marketing. Louden said between one to three projects per category can advance depending on scores and entries.
As winners were announced, cheers erupted not only for classmates but also for students from other schools—a display Louden described as characteristic of this event’s supportive atmosphere.
“You heard them cheering for other schools because they saw the talent that they were sharing,” Louden said. “That’s what they do here. That’s what we do at the state festival, appreciating everybody.”
Students who advanced will perform again at the state thespian festival on March 26 against top high school theater programs from around West Virginia.
Berkeley County Schools supports community engagement through events and resources while serving more than 19,000 students across 32 educational sites with over 3,400 staff members according to its official website. The district provides education from pre-kindergarten through high school in Martinsburg and promotes multiple pathways to success while maintaining a graduation rate of 98 percent.
