Every year, the Vista Ridge Drama Department participates in UIL Theatrical Design. Students are given a show, this year it was Hadestown, and are given four ways to approach it: Marketing Design, Set Design, Costume Design, and Hair and Makeup Design. This year, 30 students were submitted to go to state, but only one advanced: Carly Klein, a junior, for Hair and Makeup Design.
“I’m kind of surprised!” said Klein. “I didn’t expect it all.”
UIL Design is split into a few parts, called plates. For Hair and Makeup, Klein had to submit 7 plates, which were as follows: 1 inspiration board, 3 drawn designs, and 3 realized designs.
“My favorite plate to work on was the drawn one for Hermes. I really like the color palette because it’s the most different from the other two,” Klein said. “I think my least favorite was working on Persephone, but that still came out well. Honestly, the worst part was probably writing the essays.”
But what was the only design that won state at Vista Ridge like? While it was based on Hadestown, students are encouraged to interpret it in any way they like. A student could design Hadetown in Egypt, or even in the future. Klein’s design was based on a timeless look.
“My overall theme was taking the characters out of a specific time and place, and exposing their timeless struggles between gods and mortals,” said Klein. “I tried to highlight the parallels between Eurydice and Persephone, separated by their wealth gap and love, and Herme’s humanity.”
Art takes a lot of work, and the process is grueling. Students had from October 6 to February 12 to work on their design, if they were in the theatrical design class. However, Klein was not in the theatrical design class, so she was asked to participate with only one week left before the deadline to boost up participant numbers.
“I was staying up pretty late to work on it. It probably took, in total, like 30 hours,” said Klein. “After coming up with the theme and inspiration board, I started with face map drawings, then did all the makeup over the course of a few days. After that, I added everything to Google slides and turned it in.”
All in all, it was a tough process. After waiting a few weeks to hear back from the judges, Klein learned that she was the only one who advanced to State.
“I was super surprised. All the other students did so well like some of the costume designs were just terrific,” said Klein. “I definitely feel a little bit of responsibility to do as best I can at state, especially for Mr. Billeaudeaux for supporting me, and for all of theater and Vista.
Now Klein moves onto state, located at the AISD PAC on May 10 and 11. She has to give a small speech to judges to justify her design choices, then wait and see if she wins. Anyone is allowed to come to the AISD PAC to see what other designs advanced to state and to support Carly.
