State High School Play Festival
November 16-17, 2023
Address:
Greensboro College
815 West Market Street
Greensboro, NC 27401
The Festival will take place in the Odell Building (Huggins Memorial Auditorium). Admission is free.
Information for Participating Schools
Festival Contacts:
Angie Hays, NCTC Executive Director (angelahays@nctc.org) Contact Angie about schedule, rules, and logistics.
Tiffany Albright, NCTC Director of Communications and Operations (tiffany@nctc.org) Contact Tiffany for questions about program pages, invoices, and payments.
Festival Technical Director: John Saari (saarij@greensboro.edu) Contact John with questions about the GC theatre space, lighting, and sound.
Monday, November 6 (5pm) – Program Page (optional revision) – We will use your program page from your regional Festival. If you have cast/crew changes and wish to submit a revision, email a PDF to tiffany@nctc.org.
Thursday, November 9 (5pm) – Light Cue Sheet – Email to angelahays@nctc.org.
Please note, this is a hard deadline. Failure to submit your light cue sheet on time will result in the Honorable Mention show from your regional site being invited to perform in your spot.
Friday, November 10 (5pm) – Design and Production Nomination Forms (Optional) – Each play may submit up to 2 nominations. Regional nominations do not carry forward, you will need to re-submit. See more details below. (Nominations are now closed).
State Festival Payment: The fee is the same as the fee for the Regional Festivals – $395 per show. You will receive an invoice via email from Tiffany at NCTC. You may pay with a credit card or check. You may submit a check by mail or bring it to the Festival, but you must submit payment at or before the State Festival, or your school will not be permitted to perform.
All buses, trucks and cars must be parked at the Reynolds Student Center – 1015 West Market Street (building at the corner of Tate Street and West Market). Buses and trucks should park in the back of the lot. Do not park in any other campus lots, or you will be ticketed and possibly towed. Buses may drop off students in front of the Odell Building, or students may walk (in groups) from the Reynolds Center to Odell.
To walk from Reynolds Center to the Odell Building: Walk in the same direction as the one-way traffic on Market St. Turn right at College Place, walk past parking lots and the Odell Building will be on your right. The walk is approximately 7 minutes.
To drop-off students at the Odell Building: Travel down West Market Street (it is a one-way street heading East) and turn right on College Place (you will see a white house and a Greensboro College sign). The Odell Building will be on your right at the brick cross-walk. College Place is a two-way street and no parking is allowed. After dropping off, buses should continue straight to the stop sign, turn right onto Odell Place, right onto Mendenhall, then a quick left onto Rankin Place. You will see the large Reynolds Student Center parking lot on your right.
Bus/Truck Parking for Load-in & Load-out: When it is time for your show to load-in (see schedule), head down West Market Street (it is a one-way street heading East), turn right onto College Place and turn right at the stop sign. Go past the parking lot on the right and then turn right into the loading dock driveway. Your bus/truck may stay in this lot until your load-out time (immediately following your show).
View the campus map at the top of the page for parking lot locations.
Start Line Location: Stage Left
Finish Line Location: Stage Right – all people and scenery must finish on stage right, and you may utilize crossover space to make this happen.
The upstage curtain will remain closed throughout the Festival, acting as a back wall. No traveler curtains may be moved or used during the Festival.
Size of Backstage Storage Area: 10’ x 10’
Stage Dimensions: 39’ 5” wide x 26’ 6” deep
Click here for the Stage Diagram with Lighting Areas
Load-In and Load-Out: Your truck should park at the Reynolds Center, and then move to the loading dock at your assigned load-in time (see directions above). Each school will have a maximum of 10 minutes for load-in. The loading dock door is 4’1” from the ground. The door opening is 10’W x 12’H. For load-out, your driver should be parked at the loading dock at your expected show end time. All vehicles must be turned off once they are moved into position at the loading dock.
Piano: No piano is available for use, you will need to bring a keyboard if needed. Keyboards may be set-up downstage right or in the stage right wing.
Booth Location: The light and sound board are in the same booth at the back of the house. One student can call light cues and run sound, or you may choose to have two students in the booth.
Lighting: Lighting cues will be programmed into the board. Please keep cues simple. If the Greensboro College team feels you have too many cues or they are too complex (given the time they have to prepare for your performance), you will be asked to simplify. Warm and cool (blue) washes are available. On your cue sheet, please specify levels (percentages) for warm and cool. For white light, use both warm and cool simultaneously. Two spotlights are available for use on the balcony level. You must provide your own operators.
Sound: Sound devices must have a standard headphone output to plug into the house system. Wireless microphones are not permitted, due to frequency issues.
Headsets: Headsets are available for use and are located in the Light/Sound booth and backstage, left and right.
Tours of the Space: Greensboro College will not be able to give tours of the space prior to the Festival. Your students will have the opportunity to walk the stage during your tech meeting and we ask that you be flexible and prepared to adapt.
Heating and Air Conditioning: Huggins Theatre can be very warm or very cold. We encourage participants to wear layers.
The same rules and preparation from the Regional High School Play Festivals will apply to the State Festival, and the same awards will be presented. All schools should plan to attend the full Festival, to be eligible for Cast Your Vote and Festival Spirit Awards. Please invite principals and other school administrators to attend and support your students.
We encourage you to bring a show poster to the State Festival, with the same guidelines as your regional poster, and celebration stars will be sold for $1.00.
Accessibility: NCTC works to ensure that our programs are available to all of the state’s citizens, including people with disabilities. If you wish to request assistance for yourself or a student, or have questions about accessibility for any of our event spaces, please contact NCTC Executive Director Angie Hays at angelahays@nctc.org.
Design and Production Awards/Scholarship Partners
NCTC is thrilled to announce our 2023 State High School Play Festival Scholarship Partners: Catawba College, Greensboro College and Lenoir-Rhyne University!
Scholarships for Actors – NCTC adjudicators will select 2 recipients of the Outstanding Achievement in Acting awards. These actors will each receive scholarship offers in the amounts of: $12,000 ($3,000/year) from Lenoir-Rhyne University, $28,000 ($7,000/year) from Greensboro College, and $60,000 ($15,000/year) from Catawba College.
Scholarships for Design and Production Students – Teachers from high schools advancing to the State Play Festival have the opportunity to nominate seniors for the Outstanding Achievement in Design and Production Awards, for scholarships to study non-acting areas which may include Design/Tech, Costuming, Theatre Education, and Stage Directing/Management. Up to 6 students will receive these awards – Catawba College will select up to 2 award winners and present scholarship offers of $60,000 ($15,000/year). Greensboro College will select up to 2 award winners and present scholarship offers of $28,000 ($7,000/year). Lenoir-Rhyne University will select up to 2 award winners and present scholarship offers of $12,000 ($3,000/year).
All of these scholarships are contingent upon meeting admissions requirements and enrollment in the respective schools. They will be spread over 4 years and are theatre-department specific. These substantial awards may also be enhanced with academic scholarships, if students meet those requirements.
Design and Production Award Nominations: Teachers may nominate up to 2 students (or small teams) per play. Students in grades 9-12 may be nominated, but only seniors can be nominated for the Outstanding/Scholarship awards. Nominations must be received by 5pm on November 10. (Nominations are now closed).
Festival participants are welcome to dine in the Greensboro College cafeteria. Because the cafeteria is small and will need to prepare to be able to host your group, please email Janice James to make a reservation: janice.james@greensboro.edu. Please note the hours, as they do not perfectly align with NCTC lunch and dinner breaks.
Hours and Prices:
Lunch (Thursday and Friday) – 11:00-1:30 – $9.86
Dinner:
Thursday: 5:00-8:00
Friday: 5:00-7:00 – $11.40
About the SETC Convention
If your show receives one of the Distinguished Play Awards at the State Festival, you will be invited to represent NC at the 2024 SETC (Southeastern Theatre Conference) High School Festival, which is part of the annual convention that will be held March 13-17, 2024 in Mobile, AL. The NCTC and SETC Festivals are very similar, but there are some differences in rules and procedures. If your show performs at SETC, you will have to obey all rules of that Festival, which may require changes to your production. Please also know that the cost to attend the SETC convention is significant. It is likely that your school will need to raise more than $10,000 to attend the Festival. More information can be found at www.setc.org.