After several months of working on her designs, freshman Ananya Kulkarni advanced to the state finals for her set designs in the Texas UIL Theatrical Design competition. 

“The UIL Design competition is a competition for those who are interested in design in the context of theatre,” she said. “It is a competition to test the creativity and love for theatre of those who have taken part in it. For set design, the participant had to submit one overall set design, two charade (scene) designs, and a ground plan.” 

She competed against thousands of students from all across Texas who entered the competition. She was one of 28 people in her division who advanced. 

“She was one of two set designs in all of Frisco who advanced to state finals, and doing it as a freshman is quite impossible, so that’s a feat in itself,” tech theatre teacher Laura Darce said. 

After being told she had advanced, Kulkarni had to revise her designs to go into the next part of the competition. 

“I was very excited when Ms. Darce told me that I had qualified for state, but I was also very nervous at the same time because it meant that I had to buckle up and work even harder if I wanted to win,” she said. 

One of the requirements for the applicants was to base their designs on a piece of artwork from the play Man of la Mancha. 

“I had to look up an artwork that would inspire me, and after a few minutes of looking, I had found a perfect painting by Gabriel Flores,” Kulkarni said. “This painting inspired me to set the location in an insane asylum which I then started designing.”

One of the most challenging parts of the process for her was justifying her artwork.

“It was hard for me to envision what an old insane asylum would look like, so I had to look at pictures,” Kulkarni said. “But the justification paper was probably the hardest part of the whole submission for me to complete because it was hard to justify emotions in just a few words.” 

Darce believes that Kulkarni’s creativity set her apart from the other candidates. 

“She set it in an insane asylum, so I love that she set it inside his head,” Darce said. “I thought that was twisted, and the artwork she chose was him with a bandage on his head with one eye open and one eye closed, so she talked about his sense of adventure and never having both eyes closed, so I thought that was really cool.”

Kulkarni also believes that her uniqueness helped her win but credits Darce and her family for her ultimate success. 

“I think my design stood out because the judges saw the potential I had and was very creative,” Kulkarni said. But I think my biggest strength when designing is the support I got from my family and peers and Ms. Darce’s guidance because it encouraged me to deliver my best.”