Bringing home the gold

SOUTHAVEN — DeSoto Central High School theater students returned home this week with the school’s first-ever state win in drama.

Students Ben Bickley, Lexi Gabel, Victoria Metts and Sydney Hudspeth were named top winners of the Mississippi Thespian Conference in Gulfport this past weekend for their performances in “Two Rooms,” a dramatic one-act play about an American hostage being held by Arab terrorists and his wife back home in America. The play was written by Tony Award and Pulitzer Prize nominee Lee Blessing.

The students performed at the state competition under the direction of DCHS drama teacher David Boone as part of Troupe 7261, a group of nearly 60 DCHS students committed to excellence in theater. “I was extremely pleased with their performances,” Boone said of his students. “I thought it was great. It is our first state championship in drama. We performed the play at previous competitions this year and listened to what the judges had to say and went back and reworked it.

“And I think our play was stronger."

The students were eligible to compete in the state competition this year as members of the International Thespian Society, an organization of young actors that emphasize excellence in the fine arts and, in particular, theater.

The students will go on to represent the State of Mississippi at this year’s International Thespian Festival June 22–27 at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The competition will feature more than 50 productions presented by schools from throughout North America and abroad.

There, the students will also have the opportunity to engage in workshops presented by theatre professionals, individual performance events, a student playwriting program, audition for college and university representatives and for thespian scholarships, and hang out with about 2,000 other thespians.

Boone said sponsorships to send the students to the summer festival are now being accepted.