Behind the Scenes: CSHS Theatrical Design Students Advance to State Contest

Three Carroll Senior High School students have advanced to the UIL Theatrical Design State Contest, highlighting both the strength and creativity of the school’s theatre program. 10th graders Jolie Adams and Jo Gerrick, and senior Nikki Fiore qualified through a competitive statewide process and will represent Carroll in Austin this May. The UIL Theatrical Design Contest requires students to create original designs from a shared script, with categories including costume design, marketing, and hair and makeup.

This year, Carroll students qualified in three categories: Adams in Costume Design, Fiore in Hair and Makeup, and Gerrick in Marketing. Each student approached the same script - The King Stag - with a unique creative lens. Fiore’s work features bold, colorful makeup designs and stylized headpieces inspired by commedia dell’arte and modern artistic techniques, using a consistent color palette to represent magic and the supernatural . Adams’ costume designs focus on childhood imagination, incorporating everyday materials like blankets and cardboard to reflect how children create characters through play. Gerrick’s marketing campaign includes a full promotional strategy, from posters and programs to social media plans and themed visuals that connect to the script’s Italian roots and seasonal setting .

“I am certainly proud of each of them,” said Ryan Barbe, Carroll Senior High School Director of Theatre. “The UIL Theatrical Design Contest sends out a prompt every year, and each student designs from the same script. We qualified in three different categories, which is a great accomplishment for our program.” Barbe also highlighted Fiore’s consistency, noting, “It’s quite a feat for Nikki to have qualified three years in a row. That puts her in the top 17 in 6A each year. I’m very excited to see how all three of our qualifiers do this year.”