The sweat trickled down their faces, and their hearts were racing as they prepared to battle their rivals. Each wall shook with the screams of their excitement. From the intense challenges to the pride for their teams, Knight Theater has proven they have it all.

The Independence High School (IHS) theater department hosted the annual Knight Theater Games on May 14 to bring theater and a few other fine arts members together one last time before the academic year ends.

IHS theater teacher, Christine McClung, tech theater teacher, Stephanie Brownie, and the Knight Theater officers organized this event followed by the annual theater banquet.

A lot of efforts were put into the planning and structure of the games.

“Mainly it has been Mrs. Mac and Ms. Brownie who have been planning it,” said junior and Knight Theater officer, Lauren Lazar. “They organized all of the events, wrote down all the rules, and they even decided the captains by making a whole Kahoot over random Knight Theater questions making the top people the captains.”

Not every department has something quite like the Knight Theater Games, which combines theater with athletic events. 

“Some of these games consist of athletics, strategy, skill, acting, memorization, and knowledge,” said freshman, Abhishek Desai. “These are many different topics, compared to a standard fine arts event consisting of about only one component.”

For many, it is clearly enjoyable to participate as a fine arts community.

“Fine arts is kind of like a team and we support each other, so it’s nice to have people like that in the fine arts community,” said Desai. “Because of the variety present, I am able to know more about different events and different fine arts activities.”

Various activities such as dodgeball, water balloon fights, a choreography relay and more were played. 

“So far my favorite activity has been dodgeball because I was pretty good at it, and we got second place which is awesome,” said Lazar. “It’s just been fun because our team is pretty good at dodgeball in comparison to the others.”

This is truly a memorable event for many, especially seniors since they are departing from IHS soon. 

“Since theater is [the seniors’] main community, I feel like this event is nice for them to have closure with Independence.” said freshman and choir member, Aditya Nimbalagundi. 

Knight Theater is a community that continuously grows by the year, and this event helps expand the department in the tech and theater aspect. 

“This shows people that the fun events in theater are very beneficial and helpful in enhancing skills and learning new techniques, tactics, and abilities,” said Desai. “Only Knight Theater has this type of fun event which can really persuade people to join and have fun along with us.”

The Knight Theater Games has not gone in vain as the majority of participants were entertained. 

“The events that have happened in the past pertain to exclusive people, but with the Knight Theater Games, everyone comes and has a great time,” said Nimbalagundi. “This event has really wrapped up the year so nicely.