Performance Dates: February 12th and 13th

Important Dates
Script Submissions: December 20th
--Scripts must be emailed/mailed/handed to/delivered by carrier pigeon to Ms. Olson by December 20th AT THE LATEST. The sooner you get it in the sooner I can tell you if it's approved or not, giving you more time to pick something new if it's not.

Script Selection/Notification: Holiday Break
--Whilst you enjoy your two week school vacation, I'll review all the scripts I've received and choose which ones we'll be performing. Priority goes to senior directors (sorry underclassmen, thems the breaks), and original scripts.

Auditions: January 5th-6th, 3-5
--Auditions went quickly last year and we only needed one day, but we'll plan for two just in case.

Cast Lists: January 7th
--Directors will post their cast lists the morning of January 13

Rehearsals: January 14-February 5
Set, Prop, and Lighting Requests/Plans: January 22nd
--If you need any of the above, directors MUST communicate with the tech director. While this may change, plan on having all requests for props, lighting, sound cues, and so forth into the tech director by January 22nd.

Tech Week: February 8th-11th, 3pm-7pm
--This schedule is tentative. More info once shows are selected and cast, but typically tech week rules apply. Plan on being there.

In terms of content, my general guideline is "would you watch this with your parents?" If the answer is no, then they might want to reconsider. I'm all for letting them experiment with new scripts and stuff they wouldn't normally get to do, but they ARE still in high school.

I won't rule out a script for a lot of swearing, but I may ask them to change or eliminate a few words.

Original scripts are definitely encouraged. The same goes for for scripts adapted from books, novellas, etc. I loved that someone adapted The Yellow Wallpaper last year.

Length: MAXIMUM of 20 minutes; no minimum. I want to have as many kids direct as possible, so if someone submits a really long script, it might not get chosen simply to allow more kids to get involved.

No scripts we did last year will be done.

No scripts from TV episodes. They're too long, too many copyright issues, and, quite frankly, I'd like them to use their imaginations more!

Along those same lines, they were delighted when I told them they were free to cast girls in a 'boy's' role, and vice versa. (example: four boys doing a scene from Golden Girls, Romeo and Juliet where Romeo is a girl, Juliet a boy, etc.) Outside of giving them some ideas to think outside the box, it'll help if there aren't enough male actors!

If they want to do a scene from a full-length play I'm fine with that, too

It comes down to a balancing act. The kid's year in school, the length of the script, the balance between comedy and drama, other factors, etc. We discussed this at the meeting, but I just realized I'm not sure if this made it on to the announcements: directors may NOT pre-cast their shows.

I know that's a lot, so to quickly sum up....One-Acts can be anywhere from 1-20 minutes, can contain some swearing, and should stay in the PG-13 range. Last year I only outright nixed one script. All of the other 'borderline' scripts were easily and minimally adjusted for a high school stage:)