UIL Theater
Lively being a humanities focused school, has many electives. One of which being theater, a fun, tight-knit community. This time of year they’re working on UIL One Act, the yearly competition Lively theater participates in. But what is UIL? How does it work, and what are the challenges? Let’s find out.
The Audition
This year, Lively Middle School will be performing “The Audition” a short play by Don Zilidis about a group of kids auditioning for A Chorus Line. “I really wanted to do something light hearted that also had some depth to it; We have students that are really talented in the dramatic area, and others that are naturally comedic. I wanted to highlight that,” said Ms. Gang, the Lively theater teacher. Throughout the show we see many different characters auditioning, bringing a variety of different moods to each scene, perfectly capturing the madness of auditioning.
The Preparation
We know what The Audition is about, but what does it take to get to the final product? The weeks leading up to UIL are obviously the most stressful, with only two months to get lines memorized, scenes blocked, and roles casted. “Prepping for UIL is very rigorous. If you’re not off book then you can’t do it, which means that you have to get it perfect. Especially since the performance has to be within 40 minutes. So it’s something you’ve got to be very precise about”, Julianna Lotts, an 8th grader playing the role of Carrie in The Audition, said. But preparation for UIL One Act isn’t always as terrifying as it seems. With the fun atmosphere and friendly community in this year’s theater program it’s easy to have a great time in the weeks leading up to the contest.
The History
To understand the history of UIL, we have to know what it is. UIL stands for University Interscholastic League, UIL is an organization that provides contests for various scholastic activities such as math, band, sports, and of course, theater. UIL was founded by the University Of Texas in 1910. It was originally called the Debating League Of Texas, and was exclusive to debate. Since then, it has grown into a huge organization, the largest of its kind in the world.
The Conclusion
All in all, UIL is a fun, exciting, and all together nerve racking experience for every student in Lively theater. We can’t wait to see what the future holds!
