Theatre provides exciting opportunities for all students, whether it be acting, singing, dancing, or working backstage on tech, theatre has a place for everyone.

Theatre is an art form that helps students in many different ways, it provides a safe community for students where they can be open, allows students to hone their skills and provides an environment filled with people that enjoy the art. The theatre program is led by Aimee Small and Steve Carpentier, as well as the LTTC, Lamar Texans Theatre Company, officers that help run club meetings every Wednesday. Theatre helps connect students with the same passion for performing arts.

“Theatre teaches you social skills, teamwork and leadership, and that can help you in the future,” freshman Graham Gillock said. “Everyone trashes all arts, and theatre gets most of the shade, but it’s just an environment where people can come together and it deserves to be highlighted.”

The largest upcoming theatre event is the United States premiere of the musical “The Crack of Doom or How I Learned to Love the Meteor”.  Auditions were the week of Oct. 17, and the cast immediately started working every day until 6:30 p.m. A musical requires a lot of work, which involves learning music, dances, and lines. The cast learned the full track in two weeks and then moved on to dancing and blocking.

“Crack of Doom, it’s so funny,” freshman Adele Maurer said. “The script, we read through it, it’s hilarious, and I think that we’re all going to try our best and hopefully we don’t burst into laughter onstage.”

A new program initiated by Carpentier is called Lunchbox Theatre. It is the performance of three or four short plays during lunch. The cast includes the audition-only production class and they work up until the day of the show to perfect their performances. The class pulls together these productions after only one to two weeks of work on costumes, lines, tech and blocking.

“We only had one week to memorize so I didn’t feel very ready onstage, and I wasn’t ready because I stood still for 10 seconds because I forgot my lines,” senior Gianmarco Pesquera said. “I expect more rehearsal time in the future.”

Students in the theatre department also worked from beginning of school to prepare for the Texas Thespians Convention in Dallas. The team will compete in all aspects of theatre including acting, music, tech and more. The event is three days long and provides workshops for all attendees to visit. Texas Thespians occurs annually and continues to National Thespians in the summer. If you want to involve yourself in the Lamar theatre department, LTTC has meetings every Wednesday in the black box and there are auditions for school productions that are open to the school. The theatre program is open to all students.

“Theatre teaches you how to express yourself, and you meet friends along the way, so that always helps you,” Gillock said. “I don’t know what the next productions are going to be. I’m just excited there are upcoming productions.”