Senior Alexis Renfro is the only person from Plano to advance to state UIL Theatrical Design for her marketing design based on the musical Into the Woods.

    “This is the first time I have entered the UIL competition, and I am grateful for the opportunity alone,” Renfro said.

    Into the Woods was the base concept for the competition categories, which includes marketing, hair and makeup, costume and scenic design. Renfro competed in marketing design, advertising her idea with several different products.

    “My technical theatre teacher received an email from the judges saying that I was chosen to advance,” Renfro said.

    About 150 students from across Texas advance to this level. That figure is then broken down into the separate categories.

    “If selected as a State Qualifier, students mount their designs at the UIL State One-Act Play competition. After mounting their designs, designers present and judges evaluate and critique each category in the presence of all designers and an audience,” Cassidy McQuiston, technical theatre teacher, said.

    Renfro took the theme Into the Woods and put a modern twist on it. She decided to focus on the school system.

    “Each student in Technical Theatre Production Honors is required to choose a category and execute a design,” McQuiston said.“My role in the process is to offer critique and guidance, but it is absolutely their design and their process.”

    Renfro’s design includes a poster for the musical and a paper explaining her design as well as the multiple parts that go with it. The poster’s dark colors and the location of an abandoned school are meant to represent the character’s mistakes and the judgement that is passed onto the younger generation.

    “We had to take the original show and put a different concept behind it. I put it in a corrupted education system where Generation X focuses on condemning the mistakes of the millennials,” Renfro said.

    Although Renfro did not place at state, however her effort has not gone unnoticed and it is considered a success to reach the state level.“She has put a lot of thought, time and attention to her design,” McQuiston said. “State is the ultimate goal. There is no greater achievement past this competition.”