After braving the successful fall musical “Little Shop of Horrors” members of FHN’s Masque Players will have the opportunity to hone their skills. On Jan. 8-10 the Education Theatre Association will be sponsoring the Missouri Thespian Conference at the University of Missouri Saint Louis.

“They get to go to classes with professionals and have the chance to see and talk to people working in the field to see what it’s like,” Masque Players sponsor Kathy Carron said. “They also get the chance to audition for scholarships and get the chance to see main stage plays performed.”
The conference trip was extended exclusively to members of the Masque Players to give them a chance to feel what it would be like in various areas of a career in theatre
by taking classes ranging from stage combat to puppetry. Fifteen members are attending this year, much less than the usual 23. The trip costs $200 but those attending feel it’s well worth it.
“I love it. I’ve gone every year,” Masque Players president senior Rachel Dismukes said. “You learn a lot of new things and experience a lot of drama-oriented things.”
With the spring play on its way, this will serve the drama program as a whole in many ways.
“It gives us the chance to see what other schools are doing and shows that we can do it too,” Carron said. “By going we have gotten stronger as a whole because kids come back so fired up.”