Spring ISD and Westfield High School are proud to host the 2021-22 UIL High School One-Act Play Contest Bi-District meet, where the Westfield High School Theatre Department will be competing with their entry for this year – playwright Dominique Morisseau’s “Paradise Blue” – during an official contest performance shortly after 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 24 in the Westfield Performing Arts Center.
All performances at the official bi-district meet are free and open to the public, and Westfield’s performance at the school during the March 24 competition event is the last chance for Spring ISD audiences to see the award-winning production locally as the UIL contest advances toward the state level. Attendees are encouraged to arrive no later than 2:30 p.m. in order to guarantee entry to the performance, since doors will be closed during each school’s one-act play, with no late entry allowed.
Westfield is the lone Spring ISD high school still in the running during this year’s UIL One-Act Play contest, after “Paradise Blue” was named an Advancing Play at the District 14-6A competition on March 10, just prior to Spring Break.
In addition to being selected to advance to the next round of competition, Westfield’s “Paradise Blue” also earned several other awards at the March 10 meet, including a Best Performer award for senior Fabian Potts, All-Star Cast awards for senior Brooke Branch and sophomore Mariah Simon, an All-Star Cast Honorable Mention for senior Devin Morgan, and a Best Technical Student award for junior Wendy Garcia, the production’s stage manager and lighting technician.
The play, set in Detroit in 1949, follows the story of trumpeter and jazz-club owner Blue and his difficult decision about whether to sell his beloved Paradise Club as Detroit’s Black Bottom neighborhood experiences the tumultuous impacts of gentrification and urban development.
If Westfield advances again in this year’s UIL High School One-Act Play Contest, their next performance would be at the April 2 Area meet in Magnolia.