ABOUT THE UIL ONE ACT PLAY CONTEST

The UIL One-Act Play is a district-wide theatre competition where middle schools across Denton ISD perform a short play to showcase acting, teamwork, and stagecraft.

Each school has:

7 minutes to set up
Up to 40 minutes to perform
7 minutes to strike the set

We compete against eight other schools in two rounds: Zone and District. Schools advancing from Zone perform again at District, where judges rank the top three productions as 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place.

While it is a competition, the focus is educational — fostering appreciation for quality theatre, sportsmanship, creativity, and professionalism. Students also learn the process of “traveling a show,” performing in a new space with limited setup time.

The UIL One-Act Play contest encourages students to:

Appreciate and produce quality theatre
Compete with sportsmanship and creativity
Learn to win and lose graciously
Build lifelong interest in the arts
Experience teamwork, confidence, and real-world theatre practice while representing RMS with pride

ABOUT THE SHOW

In September of 1847, Edgar Allan Poe is reported to have boarded a steamer in Baltimore Harbor for an overnight voyage to New York City. He never arrived. Five days later, Poe was found delirious on a Baltimore street and died soon thereafter. What transpired over those five missing days has remained forever a mystery... until now. This imaginative play, utilizing the macabre stories and poems of one of America's most celebrated writers, ponders what might have happened to him on the dreary nightmare voyage at the end of his life. Filled with masterful illusions and disappearances. Nevermore! keeps audiences on the edge of their seats from the first curtain to the final denouement.

CONTENT CONSIDERATIONS

The darker elements of Nevermore! are purposeful and deeply literary. They serve a hopeful story of redemption and are never included for mere shock value. In this production, our educational focus centers on literary analysis: understanding symbolism, theme, character psychology, Gothic literature, and the author’s craft.

Please review how we plan to approach specific elements of the show:

Captain Nimrod as a Devil Figure: Captain Nimrod eventually reveals himself as a devil figure. In this production, he is treated strictly as a symbolic character, not as a promotion of occult themes. Nimrod represents Poe’s inner darkness—his grief, fear, self-doubt, and the consequences of his choices This follows a classic literary convention students already study where characters represent temptation or internal conflict—much like the White Witch in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, the witches in Macbeth, or even Ursula in The Little Mermaid.
Historical References to Alcohol: The script includes references to Poe’s drinking, which reflects the real historical context of Edgar Allan Poe's life. These moments will never be glamorized or played for humor. Instead, they will be handled carefully and seriously as a historical look at Poe’s struggles with grief, unhealthy coping mechanisms, and the consequences of his choices.
Gothic Imagery: The production includes iconic moments of Gothic imagery, such as the beating heart from The Tell-Tale Heart and a character writing with his own blood. Both connect directly to Poe’s literary world. These moments will be staged symbolically, not graphically. Our focus is on how Gothic literature uses dark imagery to explore fear, guilt, sacrifice, and inner conflict within a safe, structured theatrical setting.