For most students, success at the UIL Academic State Meet comes down to months of preparation. For Tioga’s theatrical design competitors, it also meant late nights, creative collaboration and a shared passion for bringing stories to life through design.
The Bulldogs returned from Austin with multiple State honors this spring, highlighted by junior Kallin Henderson’s third-place finish in set design, freshman Chloe Neal’s fourth-place finish in set design, senior Ella Guerra’s sixth place finish in marketing and a third-place finish in the group design competition.
For Henderson, the State medal came as a surprise.
“I was doubly surprised when I found out I placed third in the State,” Henderson said. “Because I saw everyone else’s, because there’s a big expo hall that shows off everyone’s sets, and was like, ‘Wow, these are insane compared to mine.’ So I was really happy, and I was pleasantly surprised.”
The theatrical design competition challenges students to create professional-level concepts for a production based on a selected play. Students develop designs in areas such as set design, costume design, makeup design and marketing while incorporating specific themes and requirements into their work.
This year’s challenge was based on incorporating the elements “something old, something new, something borrowed and something blue” into their concepts.
Henderson approached his set design project with a stained-glass-inspired concept.
“This is my first year doing theatrical design, and I didn’t really know what I was doing most of the time,” he said with a laugh. “But the stuff that I did know what I was doing, I really liked a lot. It was a lot of fun for me.”
While he entered the competition unsure, seeing his design recognized among the state’s best validated the effort he had invested throughout the year.
Neal experienced a similar journey.
Having only competed in set design in middle school before, she viewed the project as an opportunity to be creative while refining her skills.
“I kind of just viewed it as a big arts and crafts project,” Neal said. “It was really fun.”
Students spent much of the first semester working on their designs before turning their attention to other activities and competitions. Then came the realization that they had advanced.
“All of a sudden, ‘Oh, you’re going to State,’” Neal said. “I was like, ‘Oh, that’s so cool.’”
The team’s success did not stop with the individual events.
Tioga’s group design team of Amelia Strittmatter, Marcello Torres, Isabella Lewter and Mackenzie Lewter earned third place in the state after months of planning and collaboration.
Unlike the individual contests, group design requires students to create multiple aspects of a production while maintaining a cohesive vision throughout the project.
The team’s concept centered on board games and the ways characters manipulate one another throughout the script.
“We did our theme of board games,” Strittmatter said. “It was the games people play with each other, because throughout the script, the characters have their own motives. They’re trying to undermine each other and play games. And so we connected that to board games.”
Because each student was responsible for a different design area, communication became essential.
“We had to work together and make sure that that theme really carried out all of our designs,” Strittmatter said.
The process required extensive planning before any actual design work began.
“We spent a lot of time planning what we were going to do before we actually designed anything,” Isabella said. “So we were planning which game goes to what person and how everyone’s going to incorporate that.”
Balancing schedules added another challenge.
“We definitely had to work around our schedules a lot to be able to work together,” Mackenzie said. “But it was a lot of fun getting to do our own individual things and making sure they all were cohesive and matched with each other in order to be the best they could be.”
For Strittmatter, the accomplishment represented years of growth.
This year’s State appearance marked her third consecutive trip to the UIL Academic State Meet in theatrical design. After helping previous Tioga teams place fifth and fourth, she helped land this year’s group in third place.
“Going into it with doing it in the past two years prior, I wanted to keep getting better with my designs,” Strittmatter said. “It felt really good being able to place higher than before, seeing all that hard work pay off.”
She also enjoyed working with a new group of teammates while continuing the program’s upward trajectory.
“It was really nice getting to do it with this whole new group of people,” Strittmatter said. “Getting to work together and meet our expectations that we set for ourselves of doing better than the years past was a really fun experience.”
The road to Austin included plenty of challenges, such as balancing competitions with other scholarly events.
“The day before we competed, I actually graduated with my associates from college,” Torres said. “So I had to go to Denison, and then I had to come all the way back down to Austin just after state one-act.”
The demanding schedule left little room for rest, but support from teammates made the experience manageable.
“I’m really proud of myself for being able to push through,” Torres said. “I’m really thankful that we had the whole group there to help me, encourage me and to know that they’re going to do their part and I can do my part.”
That support system became one of the defining aspects of the team’s success.
“I think the collaboration aspect of the group is one of the reasons it’s so much fun to do a group,” Isabella said. “You’re not stuck doing just your design, everyone else can help you with that too. You can still go on and change your designs and make them so much better with the help of everybody else.”
The collaborative environment extended beyond the official group competition.
Students regularly helped one another refine individual projects, share ideas and solve design problems.
“Even individually, we were all in the same classroom, so I was still able to lean on the more experienced people for ideas and things like that,” Neal said. “So it was just really nice to have that support.”
Their preparation included one particularly memorable late-night work session.
Because theatrical design submissions involve multiple deadlines, the team gathered in their classroom just days before a major deadline to complete projects.
“We had a night up here where I brought pizza, and we were up in my classroom for probably about six hours until almost midnight,” Tioga theater coordinator Haley Hertel said.
The evening featured a combination of construction, design work and last-minute problem solving.
“Lots of chaos ensued to make sure we hit that deadline all together,” Hertel said. “But it was just a lot of fun all being together and at least stressing together.”
Once in Austin, students were finally able to enjoy the rewards of their work.
One highlight came before the competition even began when the group attended the UIL State Track and Field Meet to support fellow Bulldogs.
“We got the opportunity the day before the contest to actually go to the State track meet and support some of the people from our school that were competing there, and they actually got first place,” Torres said.
The support was returned when Tioga’s track athletes came to view the theatrical design exhibits.
“I really felt really special to know that our school is so supportive of us,” Torres said.
Students also enjoyed watching state one-act play performances and spending time together between events.
“We got to hang out a whole bunch before we actually had to compete and do anything,” Mackenzie said. “So I think that was a lot of fun, because we were finally able to relax a little bit.”
The awards ceremony provided a fitting conclusion.
“Everyone who competed got a medal at the stage,” Henderson said. “I love that so much, that we were all able to get something from it. It really made us feel like all our work paid off so much and no one really got left out.”
The recognition served as validation for months of effort, creativity and teamwork.
Looking ahead, returning team members are already setting their sights higher.
“In the past years, the group placed fifth place, and then they got fourth place, and then third place,” Isabella said. “Second place would be really cool.”
After another successful season and continued improvement at the state level, Tioga’s theatrical design program appears well-positioned to continue its climb.
For the students, however, the memories will extend far beyond the medals.
Whether they were designing sets, brainstorming concepts, cheering for classmates at the track meet or working late into the night over pizza, they built something together. And brought home State honors to prove it.
