For fifty years, the Illinois theatre festival has hosted shows from multiple groups. One group is the All-State Production Company, a well-known entity among those involved in theater. The production offers a unique opportunity for high school theater students to participate in a big-budget production with students from all across the state. The All-State production is an annual part of the Illinois Theatre Festival that has featured multiple talented students from Herrin High School. Recently, in their 2026 production, our own student junior Imogen Coop was a costume designer in the show.
To become a part of the show, students first had to apply online and then audition in person, and then, if chosen, they would spend one weekend a month preparing for the show until the final performance. Throughout the time All-State has gone on, only three Herrin students have had the honor of being a part of it. This year, they chose the musical Newsies. Newsies tells the story of a newsboys’ strike led by Jack Kelly in their stand against newspaper publisher Joseph Pulitzer after he drastically raised the price of papers for the newsboys. The story is full of resilience with very real emotions from kids facing their Goliath.
The most recent Herrin student to be a part of the show was Junior, Imogen Coop (11); she was a member of the All-State crew and worked behind the scenes. Imogen helped in designing the costumes and wigs, even designing a few costumes completely on her own. “The workload at All-State was by far the most intense workload I’ve experienced in my life.” Imogen’s workload included twelve-hour rehearsals daily with “little to no breaks,” and even days involving physical labor. She said that her favorite part was all the people she got the opportunity to meet, and “being able to relate to them theatrically and personally” was something she shared as a personal highlight. Imogen hopes to continue her theatre career with the knowledge and experience she has gained from her time and hard work in the All-State production.
Imogen’s costume design stands out on the wig worn by the female lead in Newsies. Herrin has had more All-State members than just Imogen, such as Senior Holdyn Westberry (12) last year, and Angie Fisher in 2009. Between 2009 and 2025, no Herrin members were selected to take part in the All-State cast, showing just how big an honor this is for Herrin students. Just to audition, these students had to travel far north to Chicago and compete with hundreds of kids from throughout the entire state for their parts.
Last year, Holdyn Westberry (12) played the lead role in the musical “The Prom.” Holdyn described All-State as being a very refreshing experience due to the large number of new faces, but also very competitive as “a lot more competition in it because hundreds of kids audition and they picked 40.” Holdyn also said that despite the different backgrounds everyone comes from, “we all became like instantly best friends and everybody is insanely friendly,” as a result of their common love for theatre.
Now with the 2026 All-State production ending, Imogen has learned skills she hopes to continue using in her future and has made friends she will keep in touch with for years to come. The 2027 All-State musical will be Something Rotten, which may hopefully feature even more talented students from Herrin High School.
