The theatre and film & animation department recently won 2nd place in state UIL for best theatre team. This award is the result of points earned in the theatre’s One Act Play (Area) and the winners (1st, 2nd, and 5th) of animation UIL. Teachers from both departments were quite surprised by this victory.
“It’s something that doesn’t get really talked about much—that they have an actual championship for a theater team,” technical theatre director and teacher Austin Oliver said. “So it was something really awesome whenever it came in, realizing that … we were actually doing that well as a whole school.”
Although the theatre and film & animation departments haven’t officially worked together for UIL, some theatre students have helped out in some animation and film projects.
“I love that bridge that we built,” Mr. Oliver said. “[Film] is such a different medium in some of those regards compared to what we do with live theater, but there’s so many … parallel things that we can truly appreciate [in] that art and style.”
The theatre department’s support towards the animation/film department is reciprocal.
“Every time I went to a theater production, I’ve been impressed,” UIL film & animation teacher Jay Kolkman said. “It’s been awesome, not not only in the acting, but also in the set design, and the sound, and all aspects of it.”
Last year, the theatre company Studio VII performed their one act play of Girls in the Boat and made it to the area contest. Although Mr. Kolkman didn’t watch the UIL production, he has watched some previous theatre plays.
“If I don’t know any of the students who are in any of the productions, sometimes I’ll go, sometimes I won’t,” Mr. Kolkman said. “But if I know a student who’s in the production, then I’ll definitely go.”
Moreover, Mr. Oliver also believes in the proficiency of animation and film students at school.
“I would love to see more of their stuff featured throughout our school and their campus,” Mr. Oliver said. “I was really happy to see last year how well they did at state and being able to watch those films was great.”
Seven Lakes is known for its competitive academics as well as diverse clubs and organisations within the school.
“I thought [the award] was a fantastic display of not only that we have great academics here at 7 lakes, but we have great arts as well,” Mr. Oliver said.
