The Palo Alto High School Theatre department has begun to prepare for upcoming festivals after closing on the spring musical, “The Drowsy Chaperone.”

The first of these events was the the California Youth in Theatre event. Sophomore Joelle Dong, junior Sophie Swezey and seniors Cara Kienitz and Hannah Nguyen participated in this on March 16 and 17, traveling to the Capitol in Sacramento, Calif. to present to California legislators about the importance of the arts in high school.

Theater students also attended the California State Thespian Festival in Upland, Calif. in late March, from March 26 to 29.

“We have around 20 to 30 students traveling to Upland, Calif. for California State Thespian Festival, which is probably our biggest trip of the year,” Nguyen said. “It’s a three day conference where we perform, present technical work, attend workshops and work hands-on with theatre professionals.”

Students are also planning to attend the TheatreWorks Young Playwrights Project, which will be on April 15, as well as the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Ore. from April 23 to 26.
Locally, students are also preparing for One Acts auditions.

“One Acts consists of a series of short student-directed one act plays, which can be either student written or professionally written,” junior Ophir Sneh said. “Performances for this event will take place in early May.”

Auditions will be on March 30 and 31, with callbacks on April 1. The actual event will include performances on May 7-9, all starting at 7:30 p.m.
Showcases will wrap up the theater performances for the year, with the Theater 1 and 2 Showcase on May 19 and the Senior Showcase on May 16.