Sponsors and friends:
Good morning, I know we're all at various stages of getting ready to return to the classroom or we're already there in the thick of it trying to figure everything out. If you want something done, give it to a teacher - if you want something that's never been done before to be done creatively and way above expectations, then give it to a theatre teacher.
The previous letter (which should answer a lot of general festival questions) is still attached to my last message but I wanted to send a few other documents along to help with discussions and planning as we move into this unprecedented year.
Reminder: our Regional festival is scheduled for December 3-5.
There is a $50 troupe fee and students are $30 per person. There's a $5 per person per event charge and your students are allowed in up to three IEs (I suggest we maintain our Performance/Technical split just to keep as much consistency/normalcy as possible).
Your troupe is allowed up to 8 entries per IE. So that's 8 monologues, 8 solo's, 8 duet musicals, 8 publicity projects, 8 set designs. That's still not enough slots for everyone to try and do a monologue but I am happy that we get a few more slots allowed than our usual number.
If you secure a Superior at your Regional Festival then you are cleared to perform at the State festival. There is no limit on how many superiors your troupe may send - we want as much participation and excitement as possible this year. The Regional festival is still very much a work in progress and our Regional Manager will be Kristen Neander. I'm very pleased with our Regional Manager choice and think this will all go pretty smoothly.
If you have any ideas on how to capitalize on community and that sense of "us-ness" that we get from District Festivals then please feel free to send me any ideas and suggestions. There will be some Zoom Socials run by students (and supervised by adults) and maybe some workshops available but, as I said, it's still very much a live event that is trying to figure out who it wants to be when it grows up. It is important to note that there are NO SCORES associated with your film or editing skills (or lack thereof).
I will attach the rule addendums for Performance and Tech IEs - not a lot has changed but there is some language in there letting you know what is expected.
Students should slate on camera for all events (which sounds silly to ask for but I don't want any tech kids jumping the gun and going right into their presentation - let us see the speaker and connect the voice to that face), for performance IEs it should be one uninterrupted camera shot. This is not the time to make your art house film showcasing your wonderfully talented Elsa belting "Let It Go" from her beach front balcony as a crane shot ascends into the air and we get a sweeping shot of the Gulf and its beauty.
There should also be no tampering with the audio - you may mix voices together if you're doing a Zoom Duet but there should be no pitch correction or layering in of phantom voices to beef up your chorus. Even if it's just grandma holding out her Cricket phone and making a video of little Jimmy singing "Mr Cellophane" in their poorly lit den, it will be accepted and treated with the same artistic integrity and scoresheet as something professionally shot.
This is NOT a "gotcha" to try and suss out who has the best video equipment or the funds available to hire some professional camera crew. Students are encouraged to update and reshoot their videos between Regionals and State but are certainly not required to (we can pretend that all of our little angels work on their IEs diligently from District to State but we know that's not always the case) - there will be update deadlines for Regionals and State.
I don't have info on how we will register for Regionals or where you will send the checks yet (see previous note about current state of fledgling festival) but I will update you as soon as I do. I hope this answers some of your questions but I know we'll always have more questions than answers in situations like this, please let me know of any specific questions you might have and I'll direct them up to the ladder and try to suss out some answers. Please respond with a quick "got it" to let me know who all is still getting these messages and still onboard with us this year. Thanks, team. -JB