Because of COVID, this year's District 12-6A UIL one-act play competition on Saturday, March 13, will be different from previous years. There wasn't a need for zone contests this year since we only have eight schools. Performances will begin at noon. Each school will receive a live critique immediately following their show. That way, each school has a choice to leave or stay after their critique.

There will be NO audience. Competing schools and school officials may watch if social distancing is maintained. Everyone will wear masks the entire time. There will be NO concession stand.

Performance order and play titles includes:
   (1) Killeen High, The Mice Have Been Drinking Again
   (2) Temple High, Student Body
   (3) Belton High, Proof
   (4) Copperas Cove High, Steel Magnolias
   (5) Bryan High, 12 Angry Jurors
   (6) Killeen Shoemaker High, Lord of the Flies
   (7) Killeen Ellison High, Antigone Now
   (8) Harker Heights (Killeen ISD) High, A Christmas Carol

Adjudicators include Rod Caspers, Susan Loughran and Karla Schumann. Contest Manager is Jerry Blake. Three of the eight schools will advance to the bi-district contest, which is scheduled for Thursday, March 25, at the Waxahachie Performing Arts Center.

     Scenes from Student Body, by Frank Winters, has been selected as Temple High School's entry in the 2021 UIL One-Act Play Contest. The cast and production staff list is posted on the show's Information Page.
     As a winter storm approaches, nine high school students find themselves summoned into a darkened theatre at midnight. None of them knows what they are doing there or for what reason they, specifically, have been asked to come. Not until the tenth student arrives to ask them all for their advice. What happens next will test the strength of their character and the bonds of their friendship in ways they could never have imagined when the evening began and the storm rolled in.
     The first round of competition is the district contest on Saturday, March 13, at Temple High School. Eight schools will compete and three of those schools will advance to bi-district.
     The UIL announced they will skip the area level of competition for this year. Two schools from the bi-district contest (March 25) will advance directly to the region contest.
     Last year, Temple was named District Champion for the 28th year in a row. The UIL then suspended competition because of COVID. Some schools never got to compete at all last year.

Shown above is the Temple High School 2021 UIL One-Act Play company, pictured after completing a very successful festival with Adjudicator Ezekiel Morgan at Waxahachie. Temple's first contest is the district competition on Saturday, March 13, at Temple High School. This year's entry is Student Body by Frank Winters.    

     Two of Temple High's UIL Film entries have advanced to the next level. Results were posted February 24.
     "The Incident at Tarver Dr." (directed by Daniel Salazar) advanced to the semi-finals level of the contest. The next level is the virtual State Festival on March 12 where the Top 6 films in each category will be named.
     "Dean" (directed by Sereniti Patterson) was nominated for the Nobelity Social Impact Award. The award celebrates student films promoting social change. Given during the UIL Young Filmmaker's Festival, this award honors short films which inform and inspire audiences about issues that the teams care about.

     Three Temple High entries in the annual UIL film contest have advanced from the preliminary round to a second qualifying round. Selected second round films will advance to a state semi-final round. Entries chosen to advance to state in each category will be screened and ranked first through sixth at the virtual State Festival March 12.
     Temple's advancing entries include "The Incident at Tarver Dr." (Director Daniel Salazar, Division Two, Narrative), "Intrusive Thought" (Director Genevieve Myers, Division Two, Narrative) and "Dean" (Director Sereniti Patterson, Division Two, Documentary). Division Two includes only 5A and 6A schools. Films must be 3-7 minutes in length. Crew members for the three films included Terry Austin, Colin Fowler, Caleb Gommert, Penelope Gonzalez, Natalie Greenfield, Connor Harty, Jillian Knox, Julia Prather, Kylie Burke, Hanna Prince, Phoebe Gonzales, Shane Godfrey, and Kelsi Seiter.
     Narrative films are generally accepted as possessing two components: the story presented and the process of its telling, or narration, often referred to as narrative discourse. Documentary films deals with actual and factual (and usually contemporary) issues, institutions, and people; whose purpose is to educate, inform, communicate, persuade, raise consciousness, or satisfy curiosity.

Click below to view each film.

THE INCIDENT AT TARVER DR.  YouTube Link

INTRUSIVE THOUGHT  YouTube Link

DEAN  YouTube Link

Because of COVID, performances of Chicago: High School Edition will be postponed until June 24-27. 2021. We will post more information as it becomes available. The company is pictured above.

This story by Joel Valley appeared on the front page of the Temple Daily Telegram on Sunday, December 13, 2020.

     Eighteen Temple High Thespians received superior ratings in the Texas Thespian Annual Competition and qualified to advance to the National Competition. Other area schools qualifying included Belton (3 students), Copperas Cove (2), Midway (2) and Waco High (4).
     The International Thespian Excellence Awards, or Thespys™ for short, recognize the highest level of achievement in school theatre performance and technical theatre. Because of COVID, the competition was virtual this year. Students submitted performance entries via video.
     One group performed "My Strongest Suit" from Broadway's Aida. The group included Michelle Boyles, Kylie Burke, Ashli Hauersperger, Alivea Johnson, Genevieve Myers, Melody Oradesky, Julia Prather, Hanna Prince, and Mimansha Shrestha.
     Temple's other group performed "The Oldest Established (Permanent Floating Crap Game in New York)" from Guys and Dolls. The group included Terry Austin, Liam Bro, Shane Godfrey, Dylan Harty, Cameron Hooper, Thomas Painter, Michael Rodriguez, Jackson Romans and Daniel Salazar.
     It was previously announced that one of Temple's Technical Design teams won the State Championship with their entry. That team included Terry Austin, Genevieve Myers, Julia Prather and Kelsi Seiter.