The fall session of Drama Club at Mack Lyon Middle School started with a full day of learning about the technical aspects of theatre at the Nevada Thespian Tech Conference. This annual event took place Saturday, September 25 at Liberty High School in Las Vegas.
Six students took advantage of an entire day of workshops. In attendance were members of the drama troupe from last year, Joe Garber, Nephi Boren, and Phina Romero; along with new members, Autumn Boren, Dasia Floyd, and Randie Shipp.
All the classes were taught by professionals in their field such as artists from Cirque Du Soliel and the Las Vegas Shakespeare Company. One popular class instructed students on proper stage make-up techniques. Then a hands-on session followed where students acted as either “artist” or “model” for a make-up competition.
“I really enjoyed the make-up sessions because now I can do the actors’ make-up for our school plays!” said Mack Lyon eighth grader Phina Romero.
Other technical sessions included hair styling for stage, creating original puppets, and making props such as sugar glass.
A favorite workshop of the Lyon students was entitled, Masquerade, a class which let them design and take home a mask.
Afterward, when the students went out for ice cream, they received some stares. For even in the Las Vegas anything-goes atmosphere, they stood out. They were in glittering, feathered masks and wore outlandish make-up.
Maybe, though, it was their non-stop laughter that drew attention. Either way, they’ll get use to being the center of attention. The spotlight is where they are headed!
