Panther Theatre Excels At Thespian Festival: Morgan Is Elected State Officer
Clarksville High School’s International Thespian Society Troupe 6789 attended the Arkansas State Thespian Festival, held at the Center for the Arts at Russellville High School Feb. 13-15, and brought home numerous awards.
More than 1,650 attendees from 55 high schools around the state attended this year’s festival. For over 40 years, the Arkansas Thespian Festival has taught acting and technical theater to high school students from all over the state. This year, the event offered over 120 workshops from 61 guest artists on topics such as acting, dancing, stage combat, puppetry, set design and directing, in addition to the workshops put on by theater professionals from around the country focused on auditioning and discovering careers in the theater and film business.
The Thespy competition, one of the festival’s main events, gives students the opportunity to compete in a variety of singing, acting and technical events for an opportunity to win a Thespy award (fashioned after Broadway’s Tony Awards). Students can compete as individuals, as duets and as a large group. Preliminary Thespy performances were submitted by video in early January and scored into four categories – superior, excellent, good and fair,
Several Panther Theatre students came home with superior rankings and as international competition qualifiers, including Carley Flurry in solo acting, Carleigh Morgan in solo musical, Danielle Dickerson in costume design and Daniel Cuevas with Analeise Fultz in duet musical.
B.J. Walton with Sansa Meadows received an excellent ranking in duet musical, as did a short film written and filmed by sophomores Carson East, Kenzie Hazelwood and Ava Dickerson. CHS’ tech challenge teams took home rankings in various events, including superior rankings for B.J. Walton and Kat Durning in cable coil relay as well as Zeke Jones, Sean Armstrong, B.J. Walton and Regann Harris in drop fold. Maximo Roman, Jaret Sandoval, Analeise Fultz and Carleigh Morgan took home the state championship in drop fold this year with a blistering time of 25 seconds.
Senior Carley Flurry directed a superior-ranked one-act play, “De Profundis,” last fall that was showcased as a feature performance at the festival, with Jocelyn Zapata and Elijah Reynolds taking home All-State Cast and All-State Crew awards, respectively. Flurry also secured a scholarship from Arkansas Tech University for the 2025-26 school year.
Junior Carleigh Morgan made Clarksville High School history as the first student elected as a State Thespian Officer. As a state officer for the 2025-26 school year, Morgan will work with her fellow student officers on arts advocacy across the state, sharing the benefits of arts education for all on behalf of her constituents.
When asked what this opportunity means for her, Carleigh said, “Being an STO means a lot to me. I get to advocate all around Arkansas the importance on theater education and how theater is for all, and I can’t wait to do so! It means so much to me that the Arkansas Thespian community chose me to have this opportunity. I will be forever grateful!”
Next up for Clarksville’s Panther Theatre is Roald Dahl’s “Matilda The Musical,” which will be performed March 6-9. Featuring close to 90 students ranging in age from kindergarten through 12th grade, this musical tells the story of an extraordinary little girl who dares to take a stand and change her own destiny.
Carleigh Morgan
THESPIAN TROUPE–Members of the Clarksville High School thespian troupe who attended the Arkansas State Thespian Festival included (front row, from left) Danielle Dickerson, Daniel Cuevas, Analeise Fultz, Maximo Roman, Carleigh Morgan, Carley Flurry, Kat Durning; (back row) Landon Blakely, Brooklyn Thomas, Jalen Floyd, Sansa Meadows, B.J. Walton, Zeke Jones, Bella Cuevas, Jaret Sandoval, Carson East, Kenzie Hazelwood, Regann Harris, Jocelyn Zapata and Hailey Westmoreland.
–Photo courtesy Jenava Harris
This story appears in the Feb. 26 edition of The Graphic, found online and in businesses throughout Johnson and Franklin counties.
