Temple High School Theatre Arts has announced preliminary plans for the 2021-2022 school year. The first day of classes is Tuesday, August 24. (High school class times have changed for 2021-2022 and will be 7:30 a.m. to 3:10 p.m.)
     Blithe Spirit by Noël Coward will be the first show. Auditions are Monday and Tuesday, August 30 and 31. Performance dates are October 7-10. A skeptical novelist invites a self-proclaimed medium to his home for a séance, hoping to gather material for a new book. When the hapless psychic accidentally summons the spirit of his deceased first wife, his home and life are quickly turned into a shambles as his wife's ghost torments both himself and his new bride. Students not cast in Blithe Spirit may be offered a role in the Fall Footlights revue.
     Disney's The Lion King Jr. will be the school's district-wide musical in January and will be open to all Temple ISD students. On Friday, September 10, high school students will audition. On Saturday, September 11, middle school and older students will audition from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., with elementary students auditioning from 2 to 5 p.m. This will be a large time commitment for students involved with the production. Music rehearsals begin September 30, with choreography rehearsals beginning October 15. Blocking rehearsals begin November 29. Performances are January 27-30, 2022.
     Our Town by Thornton Wilder will be the second show of the school year. Auditions are Monday and Tuesday, October 11 and 12. Performance dates are November 11-14. This Pulitzer-winning play tells the story of a fictional American small town (Grover's Corners, NH) between 1901 and 1913 through the everyday lives of its citizens. It will be performed with the audience seated on the stage with the actors.
     Temple Thespians will compete in various group and individual contests at the annual Texas Thespians State Festival in Grapevine November 17-20. They will also host the annual Middle School UIL One-Act Play Contest on Saturday, December 4, at Meridith-Dunbar Auditorium for Bonham, Lamar and Travis.
     Auditions for Temple High's annual UIL One-Act Play will be Friday, January 7, 2022. Around 250 schools enter each year in the 6A classification, and Temple has advanced to the state finals at five of the last six state meets. Temple has been the UIL District Champion for the past 29 years in a row. Rehearsals begin January 31, with the first level of competition (district) on March 9.
     Brad LaMotte, former technical director, will be attending graduate school in Nebraska. The new technical director is Alicia Green, who comes to Temple from Goose Creek Memorial High School in Baytown. Ms. Green's biography is listed on the Faculty page.

 Live musical theatre returns to Temple in June! 

Temple High School will present the musical Chicago (High School Edition) June 24-27, 2021, in the Temple High School Auditorium, 415 North 31st Street. The musical was scheduled for earlier this school year, but was delayed until June because of COVID. Evening performances will be June 24-25-26 at 8 p.m. A Sunday matinee is scheduled on June 27 at 2 p.m. Specifically designed to be content-appropriate, this high-school edition has been adapted to remove overtly sexual references and adult language.
     Advance general admission tickets are $10, and are available from students involved with the show and online from www.CentralTexasTickets.com. Premium reserved seat tickets (first eight rows) are $20 and are available online or at the door. General admission tickets will be $15 at the door. Credit cards will be accepted at the door.
     Set in the legendary city during the roaring “jazz hot” 20s, Chicago tells the story of two rival vaudevillian murderesses locked up in the Cook County Jail. Nightclub star Velma Kelly (Genevieve Myers) is serving time for killing her husband and sister. Chorus girl Roxie Hart (Hanna Prince) has been tossed in the joint for bumping off her lover. Roxie had convinced her hapless husband, Amos (Michael Rodriguez), to take the rap — until he finds out he's been duped and turns on Roxie.
     Velma enlists the help of prison Matron "Mama" Morton (Sereniti Patterson) and slickster lawyer Billy Flynn (Cameron Hooper), who turn Velma’s incarceration into a murder-of-the-week media frenzy. When Roxie also winds up in prison, Billy takes on her case as well — turning her into a media circus of headlines by using sensationalist newspaper reporters and radio personality Sunshine (Terry Austin). Neither "Merry Murderess" will be outdone in her fight against the other, seeking fame, fortune and acquittal.

The movie adaptation won Best Picture and starred Renée Zellweger, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Richard Gere, Queen Latifah, John C. Reilly, Lucy Liu and Taye Diggs. Musical numbers include "And All That Jazz", "Cell Block Tango", "When You're Good to Mama", "All I Care About is Love", "Mister Cellophane", "Razzle Dazzle" and "Nowadays".

 has much more information about the cast and crew.

Did you realize — the last musical production at Temple High was Peter Pan in October 2018?

CLICK HERE to view our latest FREE email newsletter about Chicago.

CLICK HERE for a Facebook photo album of rehearsal photos.

Temple High School was named second runner-up in this year's UIL Theatre Team Champions competition. The award is determined by scores from UIL one-act play, theatrical design and film competitions held throughout the school year. Temple advanced to the one-act play state meet for the fifth time in the last six contests. The group also received 16 acting awards in the four one-act contests, won the bronze medal in the group theatrical design contest and had three film entries advance in the state film contest.

The UIL added this annual award in 2017. State champion was Northside Taft High, with Laredo Alexander as first runner-up. Tied with Temple were Humble Atascocita and Deer Park.

Temple's Theatrical Design Group Team was awarded the Bronze Medal (3rd Place) at the UIL State Theatrical Design Championship. Results were announced May 10, 2021. Temple's team included Genevieve Myers (set design), Sereniti Patterson (hair and make-up), Hanna Prince (costumes) and Daniel Salazar (marketing).

Students were required to create a design for the musical Man of La Mancha in a way that it had not been produced before. Temple's team competed in Division 2, which included 5A and 6A schools. Temple has competed in the annual UIL contest since it started in 2008, and was the first group state champion.

     Although Temple High's One-Act Play team was not ranked in the Top 3 at the 2021 State Finals, the team had a great showing and received many wonderful audience comments about their production of Student Body. It was a huge honor to be in the Elite Eight out of the 249 schools that began the 6A contest. The contest was held April 30 and May 1, 2021, at Waxahachie High School. This was the 5th time in the last six state finals that Temple has participated.
     Three Temple team members received individual acting awards. Named to the State All-Star Cast was Genevieve Myers (in the role of Liz). Selected for the State Honorable Mention All-Star Cast were Sereniti Patterson (in the role of April) and Cameron Hooper (in the role of Rob).
     There was a delay in announcing results when the online tabulating software came up with different results when used on different computers. The rankings had to be sent to the state UIL office for them to compute and verify. They also had a technology problem with the virtual Zoom awards presentation because they didn't purchase the large meeting add-on for $50 to allow up to 500 people to watch the ceremony. Some participating schools could not sign-in to view the ceremony. Tickets had been $10 per person for each of the eight individual plays.
     Selected as the state champion was San Antonio Northwest Taft High with The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time. First runner-up was Deer Park High with Moon Over Buffalo. Second runner-up was Midland High with The Old Man and the Old Moon.

Here is a photo of Temple High's One-Act Play Team on Thursday prior to boarding the bus for the State Finals. The team performs Saturday, May 1, at 3 p.m.

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