Trumbauer is a thespian student’s dream. It is a musical theater festival and competition aimed at high school students. Students compete with their school, or they can participate in individual competitions. They even have competitions specifically for stage technicians. No matter how niche the interest is, Trumbauer has something for it.
After months of practice and preparation, on October 31, Sparkman’s Thespian Society will compete in this year’s Trumbauer competition. The competition is being held at James Clemons High School. If they win that competition, they will compete at The University of Alabama in Birmingham(UAB).
“Our students have been working incredibly hard both in and outside of class. We’ve focused on building strong character work, refining our pacing, and finding emotional depth in the story,” theatre teacher Emily Allred said. “The cast has rehearsed almost daily; running scenes, analyzing motivation, and tightening transitions to make sure every moment lands clearly for the audience and judges.”
As a collective, they are competing with a historical piece called “Dark Road” by Laura Lundgren Smith. The story follows the life of a girl named Greta as she navigates a shaky path in Nazi Germany. Greta is just a young girl who needs to provide for her sister, Lise, and herself, but the job she gets sends her spiraling down a dark road of bad decisions.
“I think it conveys a message. It tells her story while reminding people to look at themselves critically. When you put aside your morals for money or power, you can end up giving away what makes you human,” Thespian Society Vice President Shelby Law said. “It reminds you that the people running those camps at one time were actually normal people like us, and if they could go off the deep end like that, who is to say we won’t?”
But that’s not all there is to see. As mentioned before, there are competitions for every area of theater, including tech, singing and acting. For the musical theater portion, competitions are broken down into solos and duets.
“I am competing individually. I am doing two solo singing performances,” Law said. “One is ‘Lady of the Underground’ from the musical Hadestown and my second is ‘Maybe This Time,’ from the musical Cabaret!”
Then there’s the tech category. They’re in charge of set design and lighting in the group competition setting. They are tasked with creating a set that could be assembled and disassembled quickly.
“Our tech students have been just as dedicated. They’re responsible for creating a compact, competition-ready version of our set that can be assembled and struck in ten minutes or less. They’ve practiced timing, lighting cues, sound design and prop organization so that everything runs seamlessly behind the scenes,” Allred said.
With the set design behind them, tech is ready for the competition. However, the Thespian Society was not without hardship in the preparation for the competition.
“Time management is always a challenge when balancing rehearsals, schoolwork, and other activities. We’ve also had to be creative with our set and technical elements since competition shows have strict space and timing rules. But those limitations have pushed us to be more resourceful and intentional with every design and performance choice.” Allred said.
In light of the troubles they faced in preparation, they persevered and have grown through the process. Good luck to our Thespian Senators and break a leg!
“I’m so proud of them. Their growth since the beginning of this process has been remarkable. They’ve taken ownership of the production, supported one another, and built something truly powerful together. Watching their teamwork and confidence grow has been one of the best parts of the process,” Allred said.
