TEMPLE, Texas — Two Temple High School Theatre Arts students have earned to the right to compete for a state championship after qualifying for the UIL State Theatrical Design Contest.
Jai’lya Griffin and Shaylee Whiteley both advanced to compete in the 6A Hair and Makeup Design contest as part of the UIL’s State Theatrical Design Meet. The Temple High School duo will compete against 15 other students from across the state in that competition. Contestants had to submit renderings of their makeup and hair designs, photos of the executed designs, and a justification paper explaining their choices, themes, and designs. The designs were for characters from “The King Stag” adapted from Carlos Gozzi’s “il Re Cervo” by Eberle Thomas and Barbara Redmond. The two students spent several months working on and executing their designs and are thrilled to see that hard work pay off with a trip to the state contest.
“It is actually very exciting, I didn’t think I did that well,” said Whiteley, a junior at Temple High School. “So, to see that check mark saying that I qualified was really awesome and mind-blowing.”
“I am very happy because this is my first time to do makeup design,” added Griffin, a sophomore at THS. “To see that I did well enough to qualify for state is very exciting to me and I am very proud of myself.”
Now that both students have qualified for the state contest, the classmates will find themselves competing against each other, along with the 15 other state qualifiers. But they take pride in the accomplishment of advancing and are supportive of each other and all of the competitors.
“I am proud to make state and I am really proud of her, too,” Griffin said. “I realize how hard it is to execute my thoughts and designs. So, I am just really proud of everyone who made it to this point.”
“I am really proud of everybody, as well. It is cool that we have the chance to go up against each other and see how we do,” said Whiteley. “We both did awesome jobs on our makeup looks, so to be able to have the chance to go and compete is just awesome.”
The UIL State Theatrical Design Contest will be held May 15-16th at the Austin Performing Arts Center.