Edina High School Thespians Make History

The Edina High School Thespians are an absolutely tireless group. Having just wrapped up back-to-back performances of and , they are preparing to gear up for the school's spring musical, The Apple Tree, in April. 

But the big news right now is about a show that closed in November. The Edina High School Thespians have learned they will be taking their fall production, Anything Goes, to the International Thespian Festival in June. 

And this is big news. When Patch reported on the we wrote that the final performance of the show would be adjudicated, with the theater troupe hoping to take the show to the International Thespian Festival at the University of Nebraska. Adjudicated it was — and with the exact result the students had been hoping for. 

The Edina High School Thespians attend the Festival each year, where students audition for scholarships and colleges, attend shows and bring small shows to perform, among other things. But it’s been some 50 years since a Minnesota high school was asked to bring a show to the main stage, according to Edina High School director Tony Matthes.  

This is history in the making. Out of some 125 adjudicated shows, Matthes said the Edina High School theater group is one of only roughly 10 that will perform on the Festival’s main stage.

The students — mostly juniors and seniors in high school — clearly have other things they could be doing with their time. Yet none of them mind giving up their evenings, weekends and holidays to be a part of the Edina High School Thespians. 

"Hey, I’ve been with my friends all day — my friends are here. I’m going to come to every rehearsal because that’s where my friends are," said Ben Kaufman, who plays Moonface in Anything Goes.

"There’s the social aspect and then there’s the aspect of loving to do theater and work in shows," said Will Lidke, who plays Billy in Anything Goes.

Matthes and the group are excited to get back to work on Anything Goes and make what improvements they can before performing it in the 2,100 seat Lied Center at the International Thespian Festival. 

To prepare Anything Goes for the Festival, the Edina High School Thespians have made a commitment to meet at least one Saturday a month from now until June, meaning there will be times when the troupe will rehearse Anything Goes from 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. and then perform a different show later that night. In June, the group said they will "hit it hard."

"We know that in order for us to represent the kind of show we did here, we have to work hard on it," Matthes said.

There’s no rest for the theatrical, but the Edina High School Thespians seem to like it that way.