Thespian Troupe #1966
Temple High School, Temple TX

Temple High School graduate and former Thespian Eric Paslay, singer and songwriter, made his first appearance in February 2014 on Billboard's Top Country Albums chart with his self-titled debut album, which opened at No. 4. Eric's single, "Friday Night," was listed in Hot Country Songs. CLICK HERE for the YouTube video of Eric's single.

Eric graduated in 2000, and appeared in several Temple High School theatre productions, including The Wiz.

Beginning with the 2014-2015 school year, Temple High School will move to UIL District 17-5A. With the UIL addiing a 6A conference, Temple essentially is dropping a conference, even though the school is keeping the 5A designation.

After having the smallest enrollment in the district from 2012 through 2014, Temple will have the largest enrollment (2027 students) in the new district. Other schools in 17-5A will be Manor High (2008 students), Pflugerville Connally (1963), Waco High (1737), Hutto High (1547), Waco University (1538) and Elgin High (1286).

Temple High School's February musical, The Wiz, will be performed February 6-9 in the Temple High School Auditorium. Tickets are now on sale and are available through students involved with the show and online by clicking on the SeatYourself logo at the right. General admission tickets are $8 in advance and $10 at the door. Reserved seat tickets (first six rows of the two center sections) are $15 and only available online.

CLICK HERE for The Wiz information page that contains the listing of the cast and production staff as well as a rehearsal schedule. There are also Notes for Elementary and Middle-School Students involved with the show.

Kansas farm girl Dorothy (Brooklyn McDaris) is transported in a tornado to the magical land of Oz in this musical retelling of L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz. Dorothy's family includes her Aunt Em (Hannah Gilmore) and Uncle Henry (Matthew Caldwell).

In Oz, Addaperle (Jacqueline Lock), the Good Witch of the North, tells Dorothy that her house has fallen on the Wicked Witch of the East and killed her, freeing the Munchkins from her evil powers. In an effort to return home, Dorothy, accompanied by her dog Toto (Josh Mitchan), sets off to see the great and powerful Wizard of Oz.

On the way to the Emerald City, she meets a Scarecrow (Jared Smith), a rusted Tinman (Josh Petersen) and a cowardly Lion (Michael Guillen). After a great fight with fierce creatures known as Kalidahs, the group stops to rest and encounters the Poppies. The Lion is rescued from the Poppies by the Field Mice who police the area.

In the Emerald City, the group is met by the Royal Gatekeeper (Scott Searles) and escorted into the throne room when people notice Dorothy is wearing the Witch of the East's silver shoes. There they meet The Wiz (Spencer Mathesen) who says he will grant their wishes only if they kill Evillene, the Wicked Witch of the West.

Evillene (Avery Ling) rules over the Winkies, assisted by her Lord High Underling (Chris Kleypas). When a Messenger (Remy Kent) brings a report to Evillene, she sends her Winged Monkeys to bring Dorothy and her friends back to the castle. Angered when Evillene tortures the Lion, Dorothy picks up a bucket of water and throws it at Evillene, who melts away, lifting her spell on the Winkies.

Returning to the Emerald City, the group discovers The Wiz has decieved them. He offers to return Dorothy to Kansas in his hot-air balloon, but the balloon floats away without her. Addaperle appears and suggests that Dorothy ask Glinda (Bonnie Langthorn), the Good Witch of the South, for help. Glinda tells Dorothy that she has always had the power to go home, but like her friends, she just needed to believe that fact before it was possible. Dorothy bids goodbye to her friends as she thinks about what she a learned, gained and lost.

The cast includes students from Temple ISD middle and elementary schools. Singing Munchkins include choir students from six different elementary schools, with different schools appearing at each performance. The set and costumes have been created with recycled materials.

NEW! CLICK HERE for a YouTube video of the Flash Mob performed by the cast during lunch in the student center on Wednesday, February 5.

NEW! CLICK HERE for a Facebook Photo Album of photos from The Wiz, including rehearsals and behind the scenes. (You don't have to be a Facebook member to view this photo album.)

Below is an article by Susan Chandler, with photos by Michael Miller, that appeared in the Temple Daily Telegram on February 6, 2014.

Temple High School Thespians had more events qualify to advance to the 2014 International Thespian Competition than any other school at the 2013 Texas Thespian State Convention, held November 21-24 in Dallas.

Out of the 12 categories entered, 11 Temple events advanced to the international competition in Lincoln, Nebraska, in June 2014. Two other schools (Cinco Ranch and Flower Mound) each had 10 events advance, but neither of those schools was also performing a main stage show at convention.

Temple's entry in Group Musical was named one of the three Main Stage Finalists, and performed at a callback audition  Saturday morning at 8 a.m. CLICK HERE to see the YouTube video of the group's first-round performance for the judges.

Temple performed The Secret Garden musical twice on Saturday on the convention's main stage. Marsha Norman (shown at the right), who wrote the book and lyrics for The Secret Garden, recorded a special video message congratulating the students. The video was played for the students just before their first performance. (Click on her photo to view the video.) Temple's two performances were delayed because of technical problems with the host theatre (their lighting console would not maintain control of the lights in the auditorium). They tried three separate light boards, but couldn't get any of their boards to work properly. Temple ended up using the lighting console they brought (and had originally set-up backstage to operate just the moving lights) to run the lighting system for the entire theatre.

Several students auditioned for college and university representatives, and received many callback requests.

CLICK HERE for an album of photos from the convention.

Temple High School's production of The Secret Garden has been selected to perform during the 2013 Texas Thespian State Festival. The performances will be Saturday, November 23, in the Naomi Bruton Theatre, which is attached to the Dallas Convention Center and is the home of The Black Academy of Arts & Letters, Inc. The theatre seats 1747, so Temple students will be performing twice for the expected 3400 attendees. Performances will be at 2 p.m. and 7 p.m. The Dallas performances are sold out -- no tickets are available.

SEND-OFF PERFORMANCE: The group held a send-off performance in the Temple High School Auditorium on Sunday, November 17, at 2 p.m. Thank you to the folks that attended to help support these students and this great accomplishment for Temple High School.

CLICK HERE for more details about the Dallas performances (including cast, production staff, rehearsal schedule, etc.)

Below is an article that appeared in the Temple Daily Telegram on November 10, 2013.

Temple High theatre students wil participate in the annual Texas State Thespian Convention in Dallas November 21-23. The students will participate in various competitions, attend educational workshops and will perform The Secret Garden on the convention main stage.

CLICK HERE to see the YouTube video submitted by Temple's Jared Smith for competition in the "Short Film" category.

CLICK HERE for more detailed information about the state convention.

Register now to reserve your spot on a fabulous trip to New York City hosted by Temple Theatre Arts Teacher Natasha Tolleson. The 2014 trip will be Tuesday, June 10 through Sunday, June 15, 2014. The group's travel, hotel accommodations and airport transfers in New York City are being coordinated by School Tours of America. We will be flying out of Austin. There will also be a separate package of show and tour tickets (five Broadway shows and several tours). The total cost will be $1,945 per person (quad occupancy) or $2,395 per person (double occupancy). By using School Tours of America (STA), you will be able to register online, and make payments or partial payments through the company's website. You'll also be able to use a credit card for payments to STA. Final payment to STA will be due on or before March 15, 2014. Our trip number on the STA website is 6577

The registration fee is only $99.

CLICK HERE for the Information Sheet (PDF) about the trip.
CLICK HERE for the paper registration forms (PDF, large file).
STA website = www.SchoolToursOfAmerica.com

To contact Mrs. Tolleson when school is not in session, her personal email is This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it