Enlightening, rewarding and inspiring were just some of the terms members of the Emporia High School Thespian troupe used to describe their recent experience at the International Thespian Festival.
The troupe traveled to Bloomington, Indiana, this past week, taking with them their award-winning production of A Piece of My Heart as well as 15 Thespy award contenders. Thespys are the highest honor awarded to Thespians at ITF across multiple categories, including performance, design, technical development and others.
Heading into ITF, the high school had never earned a Thespy trophy, which requires a perfect score from three judges, that is until Klaire Cooper submitted her set design for the high school’s production of Cinderella last year.
When asked how it felt to be a history maker for the high school, Cooper stated the magnitude of the accomplishment was still sinking in during an appearance on KVOE’s Talk of Emporia Tuesday morning.
The department came close to having multiple Thespy trophy winners as CJ Elston, Kaylee Wellman and Atlyn Heffron all received superior ratings and were just a point and a half or less away from receiving perfect scores. Elston, who will be entering his junior year in the fall, says this was his first time performing at ITF and his finish this year has motivated him to make it back next year.
In addition to their individual events, Heffron, Wellman and Elston were also cast and crew members of A Piece of My Heart, the first Emporia High show to be featured on the mainstage at ITF. Heffron says it was a rewarding experience to be able to present the production to the thousands of thespians in attendance and to represent the founding city of Veterans Day.
Wellman, who played one of the six leads in the show, says the last year of the production has been a process that led to her maturing as an actress.
Running lights for the production and also making the trip to Indiana was freshman Ben Sokolab, who says the event was a great confidence builder for him in a role that he plans to pursue well into the future.
In total, Emporia High School had a total of 14 individuals receive recognition for their respective focuses, with the following individuals also receiving excellent ratings:
Maddie Tuttle
Lexie Eubanks
Linus Lingenfelter
Brady Crouch
Connolly Prouse
Emma Clair Turner
Luis Rascon
Vivi Baldwin
Kaylee Wellman
With their return from ITF Saturday, Emporia High School Theatre has hit the ground running with preparations currently underway for the 2026-27 theatre season, which will see the high school make history once again as it will be the first school in Kansas to perform the new musical Wild Heart in November. For more information, be sure to find Emporia High School Theatre on Facebook.
