On Jan. 5, students left Washburn Rural High School traveling to Wichita, Kansas, for the Kansas Thespian Festival, an annual event with over 1700 participants. Focused on building theatre education, the Kansas Thespian Festival occurred at the Hyatt Regency and lasted three days, from the Jan. 6-8.  

At the festival, numerous workshops allowed participants to build their previous skills and gain new ones. They were greeted by a diverse collection of workshops from every aspect of theatre: makeup, state combat, acting for the camera, and set building were a few of the options.

Aside from the workshops, there were also many performances that occurred at the festival. Both main stage and one act performances are featured. Each is specifically chosen to be performed there. In 2022, Washburn Rural’s “Book of Will” was selected. In 2023, some of the shows seen were “Silent Sky”, “Big Fish”, and “A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder”.