The International Thespian Society of Lafayette is a group that focuses on sharing theater with the student body. They encourage students through outreach events to take theater classes and participate in the school plays. The Times interviewed sophomore class representative Logan Gwynn. He described Thespians as “A group of really good people who are friends and do activities like Clash of the Thespians.”
But what is Clash of the Thespians? Clash of the Thespians is a carnival-like event where students participate in water balloon toss competitions and cake walks. It took place on September 1st of this year and was the first event held by this year’s Thespians. Gwynn states, “[The president of Thespians], Abigayle Stokes, said in her speech that she wants to be more active and involved this year. That includes more events like this and associating ourselves with the community more.”
At Clash of the Thespians, there were booths and activities set up by members. The set-up started with a cup stack racing booth. This attraction started a fierce competition for who could get the fastest time stacking and unstacking the cups.
This table was closely followed up by a Dum-Dum ring toss booth where the winner got to take a Dum-Dum for a prize. This made the game even harder for following participants as they had fewer Dum-Dums to aim for. Behind that was a fortune-telling booth and an Ale-8 ring toss.
These attractions were big hits and often had several students gathered around them. Hidden in the corner behind the ga-ga ball pit was a cakewalk in which many students participated. Students walked around in a circle accompanied by the music from past SCAPA and Lafayette Theater productions. They won the game if, when the music stopped, they were standing on the number that matched the number drawn from a cup by the facilitator. The lucky winner of this game was awarded a treat from a table of goodies.
Later in the evening, before the group headed over to the football game, a water balloon toss contest was held. The fight quickly intensified, and many students were splashed with the balloons. They might have been the lucky ones since temperatures were high. Another fun factor of the Clash of the Thespians was the “white lie” t-shirts worn by many. “White lie” t-shirts have become a new trend propelled by the social media website TikTok. These t-shirts are usually white undershirts where a lie about the person wearing them is written on the front with a sharpie. These t-shirts made for a good laugh since many were obvious or silly lies.
Following the festivities, Gwynn shared some advice for people hoping to get involved with Thespians and the theater. He told prospective Thespians, “Come in willing to make new friends and put yourself out there. Theater can be intimidating with many strong personalities, but if you put yourself out there, you will be welcomed with open arms.”
Updated 9/26/23 to fix the spelling of the name of Abigayle Stokes.
