“Great theatre is about challenging how we think and encouraging us to fantasize about a world we aspire to,” said Willem Dafoe, an American actor.

A group of seven Lakeland students had the opportunity to attend drama state. 

The seven people were: Amelia Hamburger, Leeann Lohf, Sydney McDonald, Ciara McKinzie, Elizabeth Swan, Aspen Lawson and Kylie Scheib. 

Lawson and Scheib made it to the semi-finals, and Schieb moved on to place 8th in the entire state.

The two days of competition began when the group left school around 12:30 on Dec. 9, but the state competition began far before that. 

Once the district competition was over on Nov. 19, the state qualifiers worked hard to perfect their presentations. 

Participants were not allowed to change their projects during the time period between districts and state, so during their practices, they focused on memorizing scripts, practicing emotion portrayal, adjusting costumes and other fine-tuning finishing touches.

“We practiced Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from the end of school to around 4:30,” said Leeann Lohf. “Then, when state was getting closer, we stayed until around 6:00.”

After continuing their hard work, the day finally arrived. Once the Lakeland students arrived at the Couer d’ Alene High School, they found a spot to lay down their items and had an hour of free time before setting up for their event.

Elizabeth Swan, a co-president of the drama club, set up for the tech event.

Once she set up her presentation, there was a meeting with the school’s Drama teacher to discuss the rules of the school and the layout of the day.

After this, Swan got ready for and completed her events, costuming, makeup, prop and set. Each event was two hours long. 

A group of freshman students: Amelia Hamburger, Leeann Lohf and Sydney McDonald, also prepared and executed their events.

The four acting events were original serious, original humorous, ensemble serious and ensemble humorous.

“I think we did really well,” said Lohf.

Along with the great experience, friendships were created. Like any other team, the drama club worked together and formed lasting bonds.

“I made a lot of friends,” said Lohf.

Overall, the students from Lakeland are happy with their performance. Two people made it to the semi-finals, and one person made it to the finals.

“I’m really proud of everyone,” said Swan.

Allison Knoll, the teacher of the class, was very proud of her students and their performance. 

“I am so proud of everyone who participated in both districts and state,” said Allison Knoll, “We had a record number of freshmen perform at districts which will only make our team stronger for next year. State went really well. It is two really long days, but our girls performed really well.”