Natasha Tolleson has announced that she will be retiring as a public-school teacher at the end of May 2022. This is Tolleson's 31st year as head of the Temple High School theatre arts department. She moved to Temple in 1989 when her husband, Richard, took a job as a TV weatherman at a local television station.
In UIL one-act play competitions, her teams have won state championships two times — "Ruthless!" in 2007 and "Bug" in 2016, and have been named a District Champion for the past 30 years in a row. No other UIL team at Temple High School holds such a record.
Her students have entered the UIL Theatrical Design competition every year, and won the state championship in group design the first year of the contest (2008) and again in 2014. In the first year of the UIL Film Contest, Tolleson's students won the state championship in division two, narrative (2014).
In 2018, she was selected as Educator of the Year by the Texas Educational Theatre Association. In 2011, she was named one of the Top 15 UIL Sponsors in Texas. In 2014, she was inducted into the Texas Thespians Hall of Fame.
She and her husband have three children (Alexandra, Spencer and Emma), and two granddaughters (Charlotte and Penelope).
Thespian Troupe #1966
Temple High School
Theatre Arts Department
415 South 31st Street
Temple, TX 76504
Director
Natasha Tolleson
Office 254-215-7278
natasha.tolleson@tisd.org
Theatre Instructor,
Lights & Sound
Kayla Stewart
kayla.stewart@tisd.org
YouTube (thespiansrus)
TWITTER Account
Temple's UIL One-Act Play Team has been a District Champion for 30 years in a row (as of March 2022). No other UIL team at Temple High holds such a record.
Temple High Thespians
EMAILED
NEWSLETTER
CLICK HERE to sign up
Texas Thespians:
18 Students Advance to
International Competition
State Champion:
Thespian Team Tech Design
Three Films Advance in
UIL Film Contest
Five State Qualifiers
in UIL Theatrical Design;
Group Wins Bronze Medal
District Speech: 10 of 15
Advancers were from Temple,
Two District Team Champs
UIL One-Act Play Student Body
Advances to State Meet
(5th Time in the last 6 Meets)
Final 8 out of 249 schools
State 2nd Runner-Up, UIL
Theatre Team Champions
Texas Thespian Convention
Six Events Advance to
International Competition
Named a Texas Thespian
Outstanding Troupe (1 of 6)
Named Texas Thespian
All-Star Troupe (1 of 23)
Second Place in Texas
Team Mask Making
Performed Marathon Play
Wilderness for 500 people
UIL One-Act Play Mac Beth
District Champion. Contests
after district were cancelled
Mrs. Tolleson Named a
TETA Educator of the Year
Texas Thespian Convention
All 8 Events Advance to
International Competition
STATE CHAMPION
Team Mask Making
STATE CHAMPION
Team Set Design
Nominee, Texas Thespian
Troupe of the Year (1 of 6)
5th Place
Baby with the Bathwater
Texas UIL 6A State Finals
One-Act Play Competition
(Out of 254 schools)
5th Place in Texas, Div. 2
UIL Dramatic Design Group
Texas Thespian Convention
All 10 Events Advance to
International Competition
(More than any other troupe)
Texas Thespian Performance
of Wonder of the World
Texas Thespian All-Star
Troupe (1 of 10 in Texas)
Nominee, Texas Thespian
Troupe of the Year (1 of 3)
4th Place On the Verge
Texas UIL 5A State Finals
One-Act Play Competition
(Out of over 250 schools)