Senior Thespian featured in main stage performance at ThesCon

ThesCon is a theater convention held at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver that lasts for three days; this year’s was Dec. 12-14. During this time, there are many performances for the attendees in the evening and one of these performances was a musical number that consisted of students from all over the state of Colorado, including Leah Gilmore (12).

Gilmore had to audition to perform on the main stage at ThesCon. When she found out she was accepted to perform with other Colorado students, “My heart was already beating so fast from finding out about all-state like five minutes earlier,” Gilmore said. “I got the email from the person that ran it and I literally stood up from the couch and just stood there.” 

Gilmore has been doing theater since her freshman year with her debut being a role as one of the street urchins in the musical “Little Shop of Horrors.” As far as theater goes, what she has experienced has come as a surprise to her.

“I’ve been a singer my whole life, like I’ve known that I can sing…” Gilmore stated. “I didn’t even know I was gonna be a part of all this.”

This wasn’t the first time Gilmore has auditioned for the main stage performance. She has tried for the part in the past but was not given the role. 

“I originally found out about it my sophomore year of high school and I auditioned for it, and I did not get it that first year because I was young, and, like, inexperienced and wasn’t really sure what I was supposed to be doing,” Gilmore said. “I didn’t do it my junior year just because I assumed it would be kind of a similar situation, but my senior year, I was like, ‘why not?’”

Gilmore’s decision to audition landed her a spot on the stage. The next step was the preparation.

The preparation process was anything but relaxing. With meetings overlapping with show week, learning the song and practicing the dance, Gilmore was busy.

“Basically, we had like a Google Meeting in the beginning of November, right during tech week for ‘The Old Man and The Old Moon’ …where they just explained everything.”

In that Google Meeting, they obtained their sheet music and they were sent the divici — a music term that refers to the separation of one section of instruments, in this case voices, into multiple different sections — and learned what they would be singing. They then got their choreography a couple weeks later.

After Gilmore learned and memorized everything, she had to get together in person to practice.

“Well, we had a four-hour rehearsal Thursday morning, so I got there at like 8 in the morning in Denver,” Gilmore said. “That’s where we just went over the dance, where we went over where we were standing, so we felt prepared for that. The next day at 5 p.m., we got there, backstage of the Belco and we got into mics, we got mic checked, we did it on stage … before everybody got there.”

The students performed in front of the 5,000 theater attendees and earned a roar of cheers and a round of applause from the crowd. But, even with all of the main stage work, Gilmore also attended ThesCon for Individual Events.

“Very, very, very busy this year,” Gilmore said. “(During ThesCon) I did not go to a single workshop.” Most of her time was occupied with rehearsal and her two IEs.

Gilmore said she felt she was prepared for her performances this year, as she had practiced over the summer for her solo and had a practice schedule with her duet partner, Oliver Lodato (11).

Gilmore worked hard this ThesCon and others noticed. Her younger sister Elsa Gilmore (10) saw a lot of the work that Leah put into performing.

“I heard her sing through the walls every single day, like going over it, and I heard her, like, belting her heart out,” Elsa said. “She was really excited when she got in …she would practice the dance and her part in her room every single day.”

Even with her being gone most of the time, Elsa still got to see her sister on the trip. “I saw her quite a bit at ThesCon. It was just during the dinners she would have to be gone rehearsing.”

Along with her younger sister, Leah made her friends proud. Ryann Stroup (12) a friend and classmate of Gilmore, commented on her work. 

“I felt so proud to have a WHS student on the stage. It was really cool knowing someone that was performing,” Stroup said.

Gilmore works hard for her parts she receives and it shows to her peers; she doesn’t seem like the type to give up easily.

“I think she is someone who goes after what she wants and keeps working until she gets it,” Stroup stated. “In my choir class, she is always paying attention and making sure she knows the material.”

Leah’s experience has taught her a lot. Her advice to others looking to audition for a role is to “just put it all out there from the start, like, don’t be afraid to show as much emotion and be as silly and goofy and show your personality as possible,” Gilmore said. “You just gotta think to yourself, if I do get picked or if I don’t, I’m still worthy of doing this and if I’m willing to put myself out there, that’s what really matters.”