Out of the hundreds of students that went to the National Texas Auditions to perform in front of several colleges, three of those students came from our theatre department.

    Once the auditions were over, there were 242 callbacks all across the country. Out of the 300 students who attended one of the three students who made it was junior Anne Claire Weaver, who is now preparing to perform in Nebraska over the summer.

     “Once the final national qualifiers list was released we felt proud to have made it so far,” Weaver said.

     Racey Ballard, the head director for the theatre department, granted several students in the district a chance to go and perform to show off their talents.

    “Thirty-six Plano students went to the festival and all of them performed gracefully and showed off all their hard work leading up until the auditions,” Ballard said.

    Throughout the trip everyone in the theatre department was able to learn from several college students from all across the country at Collin Community College.

    “During the Thespian Festival, we had the opportunity to attend classes that helped expand our knowledge on theatre,” Weaver said. 

   Senior Maci Dismuke was one of the students who performed and was able to rank high against 300 students placing at number 47.

    “It’s important to show your dedication to the craft and prove that you put in the effort it takes to become successful,” Dismuke said. “Auditions are emotionally and physically challenging.”

      The National Texas Auditions are the final test for several students to show that all their work from this semester meant something.

    “Over time the goal is to prove you are ready for it all,” said Dismuke. “You’re having to use all your years of performance that get summed up into ninety seconds of audition.”

     Once all the performances were over and all the students were ranked out of the 300, Plano left the auditions with a win.

      “Overall we are blessed to be able to have a multitude of audition experience at such a young age,” Dismuke said. “While it was stressful, it was a learning opportunity we’ll never forget.”