Pittsburg High School’s Fall production of Les Misérables - The School Edition is headed for the mainstage at the Kansas State Thespian Festival! Students will travel to Wichita, KS in January to attend the festival and perform for 2,000 students which is a larger audience than most Broadway theatres.

PHS Theatre Director Breana Clark submitted the show for adjudication along with 14 other Schools. PHS is one of three chosen to perform.

“This show is the result of a lot of time and work from many different classes and teachers. Mrs. Laushman (Vocal) and I have been working with the actors in Musical Repertory Theatre since August, but the actors have had their music since May. Mr. Neil (Instrumental) has been working with his 2nd hour Jazz band in class, and Mr. Boyle (Tech) has been constructing sets and working with the tech crew during his classes,” Clark said. “We are so lucky to have the support of our school district and administrators who allow us to create these amazing classes that offer exceptional opportunities to our students.”

This will be the second time in three years that PHS Theatre has been chosen to perform at the state level.

“A lot of the students in this show traveled with us two years ago to State, so to bring them back is a very bittersweet experience,” Clark said. “Les Misérables is a very difficult show in so many ways: the vocals are difficult and demanding, the acting requires advanced maturity, and the technical aspects of the show require precise synchronization. Our students have grown throughout this process and risen to the high standards that we set for them.”

This production will come to life one more time for the Pittsburg Community on January 4th at Pittsburg’s Memorial Auditorium beginning at 7:00PM. Donations will be accepted at the door in lieu of ticket sales. 

“We're hosting a State Send Off Performance for two reasons: It's a great chance for the students to perform again for their home crowd! I know a lot of people won't be able to attend the Wichita performance, so it's exciting to perform again for our friends, family, and community before we travel to Wichita,” Clark said. “The second reason is that it gives us a good opportunity to practice the load in and load out at the theatre. When we travel, we do all of the tech work on the day of the show. We spend a lot of time practicing this so that the day of, our tech crew functions like a well oiled machine.”

The PHS Theatre department was overwhelmed with how much the Pittsburg Community embraced this show in the original performances and would love to see a large crowd for their send-off performance.