MFHS theater design students qualify for state UIL

The Marble Falls High School (MFHS) Technical Design Team delivered seven state qualifiers during the spring University Interscholastic League (UIL) Technical Theatre Design Contest.

The challenge for contestants this year was to start with Macbeth by William Shakespeare, and change the play’s typical location, Scotland, or the typical time period, the 1500s, or both. The team was tasked with creating a unified design for the show using the new setting.

“The competition produced only one other state qualifier (Cedar Park) in Marble Falls’ UIL district,” said Jonathan Clark, MFHS theatre director. “We have the third most State qualifiers in the Division 2 category of 5-A and 6-A schools.”

This year was the first time MFHS entered the Group Design category and the team earned a spot among the top 11 groups in the state.

Groups are comprised of four students to complete a unified design for costume, set, hair/makeup and marketing. Not only are the students required to create renderings, drafts and budgets, but they are asked to write justification essays for each component designed. Achieving this feat for the MFHS Group Design team were Corey Bogue, Katie Kirkpatrick, Laura Fischer and Christine Ashbaugh. Garnering individual spots were Taylor Wimbish in Set Design, Morgan Schmidt in Costume Design and Holden Fox in Marketing Design.

“I’ve been trying to submit a group design for all four years of my high school career, and we’ve never completed every component before, said Senior Corey Bogue, a two- time state qualifier in theatrical design. “This year, however, I managed to find the perfect group, and through sheer force of will, we managed to put together a cohesive, interesting program."