Department History

A Historical Perspective  |  State Advancing UIL One Act Plays

A Historical Perspective

Since the opening of James Martin High School in the fall of 1982, the Martin Theatre department has proven to be a strong part of the overall success of the school's 23 year history. Consistently keeping up with Martin's growing and expanding population of almost 3500 students, the theatre program is one of the largest in the State of Texas. We house two full time theatre directors/instructors and one part time instructor who teach approximately 350 theatre students in various levels of instruction.

In Martin's first year of existence, only three classes of theatre were offered to a student population consisting mostly of sophomore level students. We only performed two plays that year. We preformed Neil Simon's THE GOOD DOCTOR and our UIL One Act Play entry that year was I NEVER SAW ANOTHER BUTTERFLY by Celeste Raspanti.

In the years following, the program began to increase in size thus began the need to create addition performance opportunities. The theatre season now includes a Fall Main Stage production, a Fall Little Theatre production, two Black Box Series of original student-written, student-produced plays, a Theatre I-II Winter Production, the UIL One Act Play, and a Spring Musical in May. The musical is done in association with the award-winning MHS Choir, Band, and Orchestra programs. Last year's GUYS AND DOLLS was our 21st Annual Spring Musical.

State Advancing UIL One Act Plays

1985 The Shadow Box

1986 Children of a Lesser God

1989 The Diary of Anne Frank

1990 After the Fall*

1992 The Rimers of Eldritch

1994 Holy Ghosts

1996 Our Country's Good**

1998 A View From the Bridge**

1999 The Hands of It's Enemy*

2002 The Voice of the Prairie

2003 The Late Henry Moss

2004 The Cripple of Inishman

*=Selected First Runner Up at a State Contest

**=Won the State Championship