Never before had a high school theater troupe taken a play by William Shakespeare to the Kansas Thespian State Conference until Southwest’s own Troupe 7596, led by Director Dan Schmidt, performed its postmodern rendition of “Hamlet” at Wichita’s Century II Convention Center Concert Hall on Jan 10. The last time the Theater Department took the stage in Wichita, it was at the State Conference in 2012, when Troupe 7596 performed “The Laramie Project.” But this year, according to the actors, was unique.

“Taking a show to conference is a big deal,” junior and player of the title character Caleb Jenkins said. “And for Southwest, it’s the second show that we have taken in the last two years, which is a huge testament to the talent and amazing direction we have here. For me personally, it was a big deal because a lot of that show depends on me. So it was a huge compliment and relief for me to know the hard work paid off.”

Other cast members, such as senior Lauren Henke found the experience to be highly rewarding and agree with Jenkins’ positive view of the Troupe’s performance.

“Well, it is a big show, for one,” Henke said. “And Shakespeare has never been to state in the history of forever, so we were the very first. Also, the venue is fantastic. There are thousands of seats, all filled with really responsive & encouraging thespians who are genuinely excited to see a show. It had such a good vibe. We got to show off our school’s talent to all the theatre nerds of Kansas. And BVSW is very respected now.”

In addition to competing as a cast, senior members of the Troupe were allowed to compete for scholarships. Robert Hartfield and  Tori Loepp won money for their college education by receiving exemplary scores on individual pieces. These competitions were offered in the midst of classes, lectures, and new experience, all while the cast and crew had to rebuild the set for “Hamlet” before the performance.

According to senior Jake Louis, who played Polonius, the cast arrived in Wichita on Thursday, and after settling in, watched performances and individual events. Then the Troupe awoke the next morning at 5:30 a.m. to set up the set until 3 p.m., perform at 7 p.m., strike the set, and go to bed at 1 a.m.

“It went so great,” senior Meagan Holloway said. “Everyone really stepped it up a notch, and we were all feeding off of the audience’s energy and [we] really focused on the performance. We were worried about the movie scene not working because it had messed up on closing night, so there was a bit of anxiety there. But once we got through that scene and everything else was running smoothly, it was just all in all one of our best, if not the best, performances we’d done of the show.”