If you think that musicals are the biggest worries on a Theater student’s plate, you are dead wrong.

In January students from across the state congregate at local high schools to compete. This Saturday January 25^th, North sent 17 groups to speech contest. After braving Iowa wind chills students arrived at Valley High School. After tracking down their centers, spread out across the confusing halls of Valley, they meet up in the gym. Piles of coats, bags, scripts, and costumes mark their territory for the rest of the day. In the following hours students must manage time between readying themselves for their own performances and supporting other students.

Categories are a range of Improv, Radio Broadcasting, Ensemble Acting, Mime/Solo Mine, Musical Theater, One Act, Readers Theater, Short Film, and Choral Reading. Each one is performance demanding in its own way.

The entire building is one big ball of nervous energy. The hallways demand silence, but in every nook and cranny of the building you will find students practicing. This is only interrupted by the random bouts of cheering from where the scores are posted. It is a range of roman numerals one through four. Ones mean ‘on to state!’ twos mean ‘close, but not quiet up to par’ threes translate to ‘way off the mark’ and fours are a devastating disqualification.

11 of our 17 groups will be going to state in two weeks. So while you were in bed on Saturday morning, North students were out proving themselves as champions of the stage. So come out and support them February 8^th and pray for a trip to All State!