THESPIAN CONFERENCE HELD
Nearly 600 California high-school students are expected to gather this weekend at Cypress College for the annual California State Thespian Conference. Participants will attend various workshops, perform monologues and improvised skits and listen to a keynote speech by actor-comedian Bob Newhart.
The conference, which began Friday afternoon, is sponsored by the California Thespian Society, an honor society for high-school theater students. (Thirty-seven schools from throughout the state are represented at the three-day program, which is based on the theme “A Tribute to Theater.”) More than 20 workshops--ranging from voice and diction to makeup design to auditioning techniques--will be conducted by an array of professional actors, directors, educators and technical experts.
One focus of the conference is the All State Show: a student production to be prepared this weekend. Students began trying out for roles Friday night. Auditions continue today. The show, to be supervised by four directors, will be performed Sunday morning.
The weekend’s activities are open only to students and professionals participating in the conference.
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