From Thursday, Dec. 3 through Saturday, Dec. 5, the Cypress Ranch Theatre went to Dallas for the State Thespian Festival and came back with an armful of awards. An amazing 41 students went to the event, which offered theatre competitions as well as classes for the young actors.

“It was honestly the best experience I think I’ve ever had, and that’s really special to me,” senior Brianna Hyman said.

Besides offering a great experience, the State Thespian Festival also gives out scholarships to graduating seniors. One Cy Ranch senior, José Mogollon, won a $2,500 scholarship from the group acting on the main stage.

At the festival, theatre students performed Black Snow for the Group Acting competition, a contest that allowed the thespians only five minutes to perform on the main stage. The group won first place with Black Snow and got two callbacks to the main stage. The students who performed included Melanie Anderson, Brett Bellamy, Jazzlyn Gonzalez, Emily Hayes, Brianna Hyman, Miranda Lara, Hayden Maples, Lexie Martin, José Mogollon, Brendan Morrow, Morgan Simon, Ross Strickland, Mark Waddell, Caleb Wyrick and Cole Yates.

“It was really fun because we only had five minutes and we didn’t even feel rushed,”  Hyman said.

One of our own students, senior Ryan Simon, wrote his own musical, called Chrysalis, and performed it at the festival. Simon won first place for Musical Works with Chrysalis, and was even complimented by the event’s guest speaker, former Glee actress Jenna Uskowitz, who said that it was great and she couldn’t wait to see the rest of it.

“It was a really interesting musical, I think everyone there really enjoyed it and the way it was performed,” Hyman said.

Seniors Hailey Hughes and Liam McGarity both won first place in Solo Musical, and senior Cole Andrews won first place in Sound Design. Seniors Ryan Simon, Grace Whaley, and Cole Yates won the All-Star Troupe Display award.

Wrapping up the festival, seniors Sarah Bartholomew, Brock Burnett, Jackie Casby, Emily Deragon, Grant Deyoe, Joshua Edwards, Mallory Fondren, Max Foster, Chance Jarvis, Corey Jennings, Taylor Jerding, Carson Leonard, Ryan Simon, Kendall Streets, Abby Weeks and Grace Whaley won first place for Group Musical.

Performing a ton of solos, group performances, and backstage competitions, the Cy Ranch Theatre was definitely productive at the State Festival, more so than any other year.

“That’s what we do, we make a difference,” Hyman said.