High school team scores with ‘Macbeth’ setting
The concept of “Macbeth” set in 1950’s Mexico could help a theater design team of four Lamar Consolidated High School students win a state championship in next week’s University Interscholastic League theatrical design contest.
Aaliyah Jenkins, Amanda Vignes, Carolin Wootres and Matthew Zarate, all seniors, will be critiqued and questioned by judges before the top five finishers receive awards at the May 23-25 state meet that includes one-act play competition.
“Matthew was inspired by a contestant on ‘Project Runway’ whose designs followed a 1950’s Mexican theme,” said their teacher, Claudia McCotter.
The contestant, Ashley Nell Tipton, won last season’s realityTV competition with a collection of plus-size circle skirts, candycolored lace dresses and floral headpieces.
Zarate “liked that aesthetic, and
the group agreed there was a correlation between political turmoil in Mexico in the ’50s and the struggle for power in the play,” said McCotter.
From their research, the group gleaned that Mexico in the 1950s moved away from military rule to political and economic reforms that better favored workers under the Institutional Revolutionary Party.
The quartet is one of 11 groups that qualified as state finalists in a division for larger schools. Each group member focused on either costumes, set design, publicity or hair and makeup for a hypothetical production of “Macbeth” with the time and/or setting changed from the 13th century Scotland of William Shakespeare’s original script.
Jenkins, 18. built a 3-dimensional model of a castle setting with card stock, transparent adhesive tape and a glue stick.
On one wall, she added “a disheveled mural” to underline how public sentiment was “chipping away at the country’s political figures.”
The daughter of Troy and Regina Jenkins of Rosenberg, she plans to major in biochemistry and graphic design at the University of Texas.
Zarate submitted sketches of costumes he designed for King Macbeth, Lady Macbeth and a witch. Using brown, gold and plum colors, Zarate decorated Macbeth’s vest with embroidery, dressed Lady Macbeth in a handpainted skirt and adorned the witch’s hair with flowers.
The 17-year-old son of Alex and Debi Zarate of Richmond will head to New York City after graduation and try to break into professional theater.
Vignes applied sharp lines of makeup on the faces of actors “to show power,” McCotter said.
“Last year’s project sparked something in Amanda, and she has grown tremendously in her art and how she portrays characters with hair and makeup,” McCotter said.
Vignes, 17, is the daughter of Alfred Vignes and Ann Cochrum. She plans to study theater at Fairleigh-Dickinson University in New Jersey.
Wootres, who designed a poster and produced a publicity campaign for the project, described herself as a theater “techie.”
“I like working behind the scenes,” she said.
The 18-year-old daughter of James and Leslie Wootres of Richmond plans to major in business and minor in marketing at Texas A&M University.
“Theater has given me a lot of opportunities to develop a bunch of leadership skills working on shows,” she said.
The same four students advanced to last year’s state contest with designs for the musical “Cats.” Those designs were inspired by Claude Monet and other French Impressionist painters, McCotter said.
Individual qualifiers
In addition to Lamar’s finalists, several Fort Bend ISD students qualified for the state meet as individual entrants.
Travis High School state finalists, both seniors, are Maddi Mays in costume design and Karina Medina for hair and makeup design.
Austin High students Chidera Azubike and Sarah Hakam advanced to the state in costume design.
One-act play results
More than 14,000 Texas high school students performed more than 1,000 plays in more than 300 contests en route to the state finals in one-act play competition.
Ridge Point’s cutting of “We Happy Few” and Elkins’ abridged version “Silent Sky” reached the finals in 5A Region II, with Elkins placing third as one of the top 12 5A plays in the state.
“All five of our actors medaled, which is rarified air in UIL one-act play competition,” said the play’s director, Scotty Fults. “Everyone in the cast won an award, including best actor Daniel Foucet as Peter Shaw.”
Needville High School’s production of scenes from “Mrs. Packard” was one of the top six one-act plays in 4A Region IV competition.