Temple High School Theatre students — we will have Thespian workdays on Thursday, August 24 and Friday, August 25. We will be cleaning and organizing to get everything ready for the 2017-2018 school year. All theatre students are encouraged to attend.

Following the Friday workday, we'll have a pool party at 5 p.m. at the home of Seth Little.

Carlen Gilseth is joining the Temple High Theatre Department Staff in the Fall of 2017. He will serve as Temple's Technical Director and Assistant Director. He holds a master of fine arts degree in directing and theatrical production from the University of Texas at Austin. Most recently, he taught at Minot State University in North Dakota. Previously, Carlen taught many years at The Woodlands High School (near Houston), where he was named Texas Educator of the Year by the Texas Educational Theatre Association. He has taken several plays to the UIL State One-Act Play contest and was State Champion in 2000 for The Shadow Box. He served as State Chapter Director of the Texas Thespians from 2007 through 2011.

Under his direction The Woodlands won the International Thespian Society Outstanding School Award in 2000 and 2007. Carlen's wife, Connie, will teach theatre at Lamar Middle School.

Temple's former Technical Director Brad LaMotte has joined the Baylor University theatre department.

Auditions for the first show of the 2017-2018 school year will be Tuesday and Wednesday, September 5 and 6, at 4:15 p.m. in the auditorium. The show is William Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Any Temple High student may audition. You do not have to be in a theatre class.

There are a wide variety of roles in this show. Performances will be October 26-29. You may also sign-up for crew positions at auditions.

CLICK HERE for a PDF Audition Form that you can print and fill out and then bring it to auditions. We will also have forms at the auditions.

Eleven Temple Thespians are attending the International Thespian Society Convention in Lincoln, Nebraska. Students are competing in duet musical, group musical, lighting design and for college scholarships. Below are photos from their first day on the road to Lincoln.

LEFT: Temple Thespians at the Nebraska State Capitol.  RIGHT: "Don't Tell Mama" competitors.

Photo posted by the International Thespian Society in one of their photo albums showing some of the Temple students.

Temple's Ashlyn Medina won the Division 2 State Championship in individual hair and make-up design during UIL state finals in Round Rock April 14, 2017. Division 2 includes 5A and 6A schools. Her designs for Into the Woods were based on a Bollywood theme.

Temple's group entry won 5th place in Texas. It was focused on a film noir theme with an homage to German expressionism. Group members included Bianca Gutierrez (set design), James Equels (costumes), Bailee Poelker (hair and make-up) and Emma Tolleson (marketing).

Temple High School's production of Hedda Gabler advanced in the District 18-5A one-act play contest on March 21, 2017 at College Station High School. This means that Temple has been district co-champion for 25 years in a row. The other two schools advancing with Temple were College Station High (After the Fall) and Bryan High (Twelve Dreams). The next level of competition will be the Bi-District Contest, March 25, 2017 at Waco University High.

Temple's Emma Tolleson was named Best Actress in the district. Benjamin Clardy was selected for the All-Star Cast. Adara Felix was named to the Honorable Mention All-Star Cast, and Callie Ortega was named Best Technician.

CLICK HERE to see a Facebook album of photos from the play.

Performance Order on Saturday, March 25 at Waco University High:
   10 a.m. Lindale High, Medea
   11 a.m. College Station High, After the Fall
   12 noon Bryan High, Twelve Dreams
   1 p.m. Whitehouse High, The Caucasian Chalk Circle
   2 p.m. Temple High, Hedda Gabler
   3 p.m. Corsicana High, The Scottish Tragedy

Times are approximate as the performances run back-to-back. Plan to arrive early in case they are running ahead of schedule. Wendy Barrett will serve as judge. Three of the six schools will advance to the Area Contest on Monday, April 3, at Waco University High.

Temple High students are busy preparing for the musical Oklahoma!, which performs February 2-5. Oklahoma! was the first musical written by the team of Rodgers and Hammerstein.

Set in the Oklahoma Territory in 1906, it tells the story of cowboy Curly McLain (Benjamin Clardy) and his romance with farm girl Laurey Williams (Emma Tolleson). A secondary romance concerns cowboy Will Parker (Andrew Tye) and his flirtatious fiancée, Ado Annie (Adara Felix). The musical also features Laurey's Aunt Eller (Kaiya Fowler and Andylyn Schmidt), hired-hand Jud Fry (Nickolas Winkler) and peddler Ali Hakim (Gabriel Salazar).

Updated Sunday, February 5: Online ticket sales have ended. General admission and reserved seating tickets will be available at the door while they last.

CLICK HERE for the information page about Oklahoma! with cast and production staff members.

Below are articles by Melany Cox that appeared in the Temple Daily Telegram on February 2 and 5, 2017.