Thespian Troupe #1966
Temple High School, Temple TX

Temple High School's Thespian Troupe is headed to Lincoln, Nebraska, for the annual International Thespian Festival. The convention and competition is June 23-28, at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. The troupe will be competing in 11 different events as well as performing the school's 2014 one-act play entry, Never the Sinner, on Friday night in the Johnny Carson Theatre.

CLICK HERE to view a PDF of the Never the Sinner program.

Students competing in technical events included Carissa Breeding (scenic design), Hannah Avery (costume design), Joseph "JoJo" Salas (stage management), Emma Tolleson (theatre marketing) and Rosemary Winsor (lighting design). Jared Smith will compete in the short film category.

Students competing in performance events included Eliah Fihn (monologue), Abby Denman and Taylor Wilson (duet acting), Ben Clardy (solo musical), Bonnie Langthorn and Josh Petersen (duet musical) plus group musical participants Kassie Benner, Alex Clardy, Hannah Gilmore, Michael Guillen, Dana Lauchner, Avery Ling, Jackie Lock, Remy Kent, Chris Kleypas, Spencer Mathesen, Zoe Mischtian, Marina Quintanilla, Scott Searles, Morgan Thomas and Nick Winkler.

Texas Thespians have posted a photo album from Temple High School's performances of The Secret Garden at the Texas State Convention in Dallas, November 23, 2013. The Flickr album contains 597 photos.

CLICK HERE to view the album.

The cast and production staff for the first production of the 2014-15 school year, The Addams Family, have been announced. The musical will be performed October 9-12, 2014.

CLICK HERE to view the Information Page about the show.

UIL Theatrical Design award-winning students, pictured with Dramatic Design Teacher Natasha Tolleson, include (from left) Alyssa Kerr, Mickey Copple, Bri Rodriguez, Taylor Bookout, Jonathan Nabours and Dana Lauchner.

Temple High School students won the 2014 UIL State Championship in Group Theatrical Design, as well as two individual design awards. The awards were announced during ceremonies Wednesday, May 21, 2014, on the campus of the University of Texas at Austin. The group design award is the highest honor given during the evening, and was awarded last. Theatrical designs by 10 Temple students had been on display in Bass Concert Hall for three days.

There is only one State Championship awarded in this UIL contest. All school classifications (A through 5A) compete equally against each other.

Temple's four-person group entry included Dana Lauchner (costume design), Mickey Copple (make-up design), Bri Rodriguez (set design) and Taylor Bookout (marketing design). Alyssa Kerr won 2nd in Texas in individual set design and Jonathan Nabours won 4th in Texas is individual marketing design.

Other students who were state finalists for individual design entries included Mikayla Craig (costume design), Priscilla Guillen (make-up design), Emma Wenkert (make-up design) and Hannah Gilmore (set design).

CLICK HERE to see a photo album with pictures from Austin.
CLICK HERE for a YouTube video of the announcement.

Temple winning the 2014 UIL STATE CHAMPIONSHIP in Group Theatrical Design

Temple High School advanced 10 students (out of 12 entries) to the finals of the UIL 2014 Theatrical Design State Contest. Only one other school in the entire state (Pharr-San Juan-Alamo North High) had more students qualify for the state meet. The student designs will be on display May 19-21 at the Bass Concert Hall in Austin during the UIL one-act play state meet and are based on Tartuffe.

Temple students who advanced with individual design entries included Mikayla Craig (costume design), Priscilla Guillen (make-up design), Emma Wenkert (make-up design), Alyssa Kerr (set design), Hannah Gilmore (set design) and Jonathan Nabours (marketing design).

Temple students who were part of the four-person group entry included Dana Lauchner (costume design), Mickey Copple (make-up design), Bri Rodriguez (set design) and Taylor Bookout (marketing design).

In the UIL Theatrical Design contest, schools are NOT divided into classifications. All schools (Class A through 5A) compete equally against each other. Each school may enter a maximum of eight individual entries and one four-person team entry. This is the ninth year of the contest. Temple won the group state championship during the first year (2006). Temple also won 4th place in the state in group design for three years in a row (2009, 2010 and 2011). Last year, Temple's Group Theatrical Design Team (Madeline Kleypas, Dana Lauchner, Eric Southerland and Spencer Tolleson) won 2nd place in Texas. Megan Foutz (theatrical make-up design) and Michael Guillen (theatre marketing design) both won 4th place in the state in individual competition. The UIL gives awards for 1st through 5th place in each category.

Temple High won the 2014 UIL Film State Championship in Division 2, Narrative. The results were announced Wednesday, April 16, during a screening of all the state finalist films at the Paramount Theatre in Austin. Temple's winning entry was VORTEX, and the film team included Jared Smith, Spencer Mathesen and Michael Guillen. Faculty sponsors were Natasha Tolleson and Richard Tolleson.

In the first year of this UIL contest, 495 films were entered. Division 2 consisted of 4A and 5A schools. The entries were screened by 123 volunteer judges who provided written critiques, ranked the films and advanced 143 of the 495 films to the state semi-finals. Next, 65 judges screened the semi-finalists, advancing 37 to the state finals. The categories for the competition included animation, documentary and narrative.

CLICK HERE for a YouTube video of the announcement.
CLICK HERE for a Photo Album from the event.

The Paramount Marquee and Temple's Film Team (from left): Jared Smith, Spencer Mathesen and Michael Guillen

Temple's state championship win made the FRONT PAGE of the Temple Daily Telegram on April 18, 2014, with an article by Susan Sharp and a courtesy photo furnished by Jody Donaldson:

For the 22nd year in a row, Temple High School (Never the Sinner) was named district co-champion and advanced to the area contest. Midway High (Sweet Nothing in My Ear) was the other advancing school. The district 8-5A contest was held Friday, March 28 at the Midway ISD performing arts center in Hewitt, Texas.

Temple won four of the eight all-star cast awards: Josh Petersen, Chris Kleypas, Jared Smith and Michael Guillen. Scott Searles was named to the honorable mention all-star cast. Rosemary Winsor was named best technician. 

After Critic Judge Kay Coleman told the company about dialogue that she thought needed to be added back to the cutting of the play, she said, "I had to be picky. Your play doesn't have much wrong with it."

CLICK HERE for a photo album from the district contest.

The area contest will be Saturday, April 12, at Waxahachie High School, 1000 North Highway 77, Waxahachie, TX 75165. Ezekiel Morgan of Houston will serve as critic judge for the area contest. The performances will begin at 1:45 p.m. and run back-to-back. Audience members may only enter or leave between plays.

The performance order, approximate time, school and play titles include:
   (1) 1:45 p.m., Arlington Martin, Holy Ghosts
   (2) 2:30 p.m., Mansfield Timberview High, Angelina Project
   (3) 3:15 p.m., Grand Prairie High, Rabbit Hole
   (4) 4:00 p.m., Midway High, Sweet Nothing in My Ear
   (5) 4:45 p.m., Arlington High, The Cripple of Inishmaan
   (6) 5:30 p.m., Temple High, Never the Sinner

Two of the six schools will advance from area to the regional contest, to be held Thursday, May 1, at Texas Tech University in Lubbock.

Below is a wonderful article by Susan Chandler from the March 30, 2014, Temple Daily Telegram with photos by Josh Quinn.

The final public performance of Temple High School's 2014 entry in the UIL one-act play contest, Never the Sinner, will be Thursday, May 8 at 7 p.m. in the Temple High School Auditorium. Admission is $5 per person.

The play finished in the Top 12 out of the 257 5A schools that began this year's contest.

Temple's entries in the first year of the UIL Film Contest will also be screened, including the State Champion Film in Division 2, Narrative, V O R T E X.

Set in Chicago in 1924, this is the story of Nathan Leopold and Richard Loeb and the murder trial in which they were defended by Clarence Darrow.

The cast of characters includes Nathan "Babe" Leopold, Jr. (Chris Kleypas), Richard "Dick" Loeb (Josh Petersen), Clarence Darrow, defense attorney (Michael Guillen), Robert Crowe, attorney for the state (Jared Smith), Reporter 1 (Matthew Caldwell), Reporter 2 (Kassie Benner), Reporter 3 (Remington Kent), Dr. William White, psychiatrist and defense expert (Scott Searles), Court Bailiff (Andrew Tye), Germaine Rheinhardt (Emma Tolleson), Dr. Hulbert (Zoe Mischtian), and Dr. Bowman (Eliah Fihn).

The UIL five-person crew includes Carissa Breeding, Alyssa Kerr, Joseph "JoJo" Salas, Morgan Thomas and Rosemary Winsor.