Students from Spillane and Watkins middle schools participate in a costuming workshop facilitated by Cypress Park High School students at the annual CFISD Middle School Drama Con on Jan. 25 at the Berry Center. 

March 6, 2025—More than 400 students from all 20 CFISD middle schools participated in the annual CFISD Middle School Drama Con on Jan. 25 at the Berry Center.  

Led by CFISD high school theatre programs, including high school theatre directors and more than 100 high school student volunteers, the event offered a day of workshops, performances and hands-on experiences for young thespians. Drama Con also featured a live musical performance by the Cy-Fair High School theatre department.

Students from Sprague and Salyards middle schools discuss design choices during a workshop facilitated by Jersey Village High School students at the annual CFISD Middle School Drama Con on Jan. 25 at the Berry Center.

Drama Con traces back to the 1990s when Cheryl Bradford, Cypress Ranch High School head theatre director, started a Middle School Theatre Festival at Langham Creek High School for middle school campuses that have students attend Langham Creek.

“Cheryl Bradford started a Middle School Theatre Festival for our middle school students, offering an afternoon of theatre workshops and fun,” said C.J. Brock, Langham Creek head theatre director. “Cheryl took the idea to Cypress Ranch when it opened, and I continued it at Langham Creek until the COVID-19 pandemic. At that point, Cheryl and I both felt it was time that all middle school students had the opportunity to participate in this type of event and we worked to create a districtwide event at the Berry Center in 2021.”

Students from Spillane and Watkins middle schools participate in a musical theatre workshop facilitated by Cypress Ranch High School students at the annual CFISD Middle School Drama Con on Jan. 25 at the Berry Center.

Guin Bubier, Dean Middle School theatre director, expressed her gratitude for the event.

“As a first-year teacher, I was so impressed by Drama Con,” Bubier said. “The workshops and the show my students got to experience were incredibly informative and well thought out. It was of a caliber you would expect at a professional theatre conference. The hands-on experience my students were able to receive, especially with technical elements, was amazing. There are certain resources and supplies that some students don’t get to experience until they enter high school, but Drama Con gave my students an opportunity to actually explore those things and get to have practical experiences with them. My students came out of each workshop with new ideas and ways to view the world of theatre and already have begun to apply the knowledge they learned to our own plays and productions!”

Students from Hopper Middle School participate in a technical challenge facilitated by students from Cypress Falls and Langham Creek high schools at the annual CFISD Middle School Drama Con on Jan. 25 at the Berry Center.

Leading up to Drama Con, more than 200 middle school students submitted work into a virtual competition in various events including monologue, duet acting, group acting, solo musical theatre, duet musical theatre, group musical theatre, set design, costume design, hair and makeup design and marketing design. Competitors received educational feedback and a rating by a panel of judges, comprised of a majority of CFISD high school and middle school theatre directors. The top 15 performances received callbacks at the live event. From there, three entries were selected to perform live during the closing ceremony in front of their peers. The top three entries were Arnold Middle School students Noah Nguyen and Dihana Gonzalez (duet acting), Aragon Middle School student Jacen Nix (solo musical) and Sprague Middle School students Jacklyn Pitta and Brynn Hendrickson (duet musical).

“Both of my students selected to perform have grown so much just within this school year,” said Kelyn Lopez, Sprague theatre director. “Earlier this year, they experienced a lot of nerves when it was time to get on stage. Watching them let go of those nerves and perform so confidently and have fun with their characters made me incredibly proud.”