About Us

Our History

Our beginnings...

Franklin Township Junior Thespians started during the 2017-2018 school year at both Franklin Township Middle Schools West & East. 

West chartered a troupe, and became Junior Thespian Troupe #89470 in Fall of 2017. They put on their first showcase, Shattered Shakespeare and competed at their first Indiana Thespians Regionals competition in November of 2017, finishing 2nd (when competing exclusively against High School Troupes).  Their second place finish meant they went on to compete at the Indiana State Thespian Conference in January 2018. They ended their first year by visiting the Purdue Theatre Department in April and hosting a talent show in May.

East started it's official Junior Thespian journey by first becoming the East Drama Club in January of 2018. During Drama Club meetings the members would participate in improv activities and different theatre games. East put on it's first showcase in May of 2018.

Our First Collaboration

In the summer of 2018 the East & West directors decided to collaborate on the musical Bye Bye Birdie (Youth Edition). In August 2018 we had over 100 6-8 graders from both East & West audition and over 50 students apply to be in crew!

We rehearsed all through August-the beginning of November with the show being November 16-17, 2018. 

We took a cut down version of Bye Bye Birdie to the 2018 Junior Thespian Regional competition where it won awards for Best Actor & Actress as well as placed 1st!

Our 1st place finish meant another trip to the State Conference, where we finished top 10 in the state (when competing ONLY against high school troupes).

Two Troupes, One Theatre Family

After attending State with West's troupe, East chartered its own troupe and became Junior Thespian Troupe #89650 in February 2019. 

For the spring 2019 semester, the East & West troupes chose to host a join Spring Showcase of 3 one-act shows on May 4-5, 2019.

Also during the Spring Semester, both Troupes went on a joint field trip to the IU Theatre department where they saw the student production of Wonderful Town.

During the Fall Semester of 2019 East and West both put on Fall Showcases and participated in the Junior Thespian Regional One-Act Competition and each Troupe won different awards for their competition pieces:

Both Troupes participated in the 2020 Indiana Thespians State Conference where they we able to celebrate 90 years of the International Thespian Society!

Becoming FC Junior Thespians

When Franklin Township reorganized the district, the East & West Troupes merged to create the Franklin Central Junior Thespians Troupe #89752.

For the 2020 Spring Semester the new Troupe planned to perform Schoolhouse Rock Live! Jr, as it's first production, but it was unfortunately cancelled due to the outbreak of the Coronavirus Pandemic.

Instead the first production, as a unified troupe, was the parody of a famous fictional wizard in training called Puffs or Seven Increasingly Eventful Years at a Certain School of Magic & Magic.

Past Seasons

Throughout the years the separate East & West Troupes as well as the combined FC Junior Thespian troupe have put on several productions, participated in numerous conferences, and went on multiple college trips to visit collegial Theatre departments. 

Click the links below to explore all of our past productions & adventures!