Dear KCACTF Region I Colleagues
August 25, 2006
Dear KCACTF Region I Colleagues:
This is my first attempt at composing a Region I Newsletter and I so hope you go easy on me and take some quality time to read through the entire letter carefully as there is much information enclosed that will be of benefit to you and your students. My next letter will be shorter, I promise. I first want to thank all of you for supporting the festival and especially the regional leadership of this past year who made hosting the festival here in Fitchburg an enjoyable success! Please share this letter with colleagues and your students.
2007 Festival Dates
January 30 to February 4, 2007
PLEASE REGISTER your shows now at www.kcactf.org Let the national site completely load and you will see to the left of your screen "Register your production." Click on that and you will see "Registration Form for all regions and click on that. Please fill out ALL areas of the form including writing, acting, and design areas for students, etc. This is a new process and allows us to better manage the information and organize it for all Chairs of the festival and national office. Please review your form carefully before submitting it.
REMINDER: Registration Increase Looming so register NOW!
Beginning Monday 10/2/2006, the registration fees for participating and associate entries will increase.
The new fees will be:
Participating entry: $300
Associate entry: $225
In order to ease the transition to the increased fees, college and universities may register all productions for the 2006-2007 academic year at the current rate of $250 (Participating) and $200 (Associate) provided that the registration procedure, including payment, is completed by Wednesday, September 27.
Those institutions not using institutional credit cards and requiring Kennedy Center invoices to process the registration fees need to take their own finance offices' procedures and deadlines into consideration if advantage is to be taken of this "Grandfather Clause."
Institutions using Kennedy Center invoices generated at the current $250/$200 rate but received on or after 10/2/06 will be assessed the fee increase or $50 or $25 per entry.
All online registration now occurs at www.kcactf.org
Fees have not been raised for 12 years and the new increases do NOT come back to the region. They are to serve the national office.
Your Contact Information
If you or any of your colleagues have not forwarded your complete contact information please do so ASAP. We would like to send a list out to all members so that it may be used for networking, sabbatical replacements, guest artist needs, new positions to be filled, etc. Please send to Sharon Bernard at and myself at .
If you know of someone who should be receiving this and other newsletters and updates please forward this to them and contact me with their email address!
Contact Information Needed
Name:
Area of Expertise:
College/university name and address:
Work phone:
Cell:
Email address:
Festival Evaluations
Many thanks to all that returned the evaluations for this past festival. Much of the feedback influenced the decision-making process that led to what you read below, especially changes in the festival week format for the Irene Ryans, Directing and Stage Management Award processes, format for workshops, new Technical Theater Expo and Development Day.
This feedback was crucial in evolving the type of festival that best serves the needs of those participating and is very much appreciated.
Website
We have made many changes to the website and are still in the process of updating information. You will notice that as you go to the REGION I FESTIVAL INFORMATION page there is a wealth of new information and forms to make your life and mine so much easier.
*Contact list of current leadership members (Please contact them directly and copy me on your correspondence.)
*Rules/processes
*Deadlines
*Forms for easier hotel registration and payment and contact information.
*Hotel floor plan
*Floor plans & Light plots for the 3 performing spaces will soon be posted!
AND MORE….
Booking Your Hotel Rooms and Hotel Information
The room rate was reduced for 2007! To take advantage of this we hope you will book your rooms well in advance. We have negotiated to have more rooms available to us at the hotel to reduce issues of transportation and a feeling of disengagement by those who stayed at other hotels.
We have added a hotel floor plan for you to download and review prior to your visit. This floor plan will be of great service to you once the hotel spaces are set for workshops, displays, Irene Ryans, etc.
PLEASE make sure you fill out ALL forms prior to attending the festival here at the Four Points Sheraton such as Hotel List Form and Credit Card Authorization Form. This will make checking in much smoother for all.
PLEASE also review the Hotel Cancellation Policy.
If you attended last year, you should also be receiving information directly from Sheilah Johnson at the Four Points Sheraton. If you did not attend last year please contact her and she can send you a helpful packet of information. Sheilah will be your direct contact at the hotel regarding any questions you may have about payment, reservations, accommodations, etc. Please contact her at 978-534-9000 Ext. 2541.
Festival Registration Form and Fees
We will NOT be raising fees this year for individuals/students/faculty attending the regional festival as some had inquired. PLEASE note that should your production be invited to the regional festival your school is still responsible for registering all participants and paying their fees for the entire duration of their stay. ONLY at the national festival will the national festival pay for all expenses. PLEASE register your students before the late fee deadline to make the most of your budget.
6 X10’s & Student Directing Awards (THIS IS NEW!)
Please go to the regional website for detailed information.
We are adding a ten-minute play to the former 5x10’s and now will have 6x10’s. This will allow more students who attend the festival to participate as writers, directors, stage managers and actors.
The 6x10 plays will be directed by students nominated for the Directing Award. We are trying this process as we wish to make the festival as student-centered as possible. All student directors will be evaluated on how well they fulfill the creative intent of the writer. Three faculty/guest artists will be selected to supervise two, student directors each. If you are interested in supervising please contact me ASAP. This is also a good opportunity for new faculty to our region.
DEVELOPMENT DAY (THIS IS NEW!)
On Saturday, February 3, the last, full day of the festival, we are excited to announce Development Day. In order to create more opportunities for all attending the festival, an exciting Technical Theater Exposition (See letter from Design Chair, Crystal Tiala below) and auditions/ interviews will take place.
From 9 a.m. to approximately 3 a.m. there will be opportunities for students to audition/interview for technical, acting, stage management and theater management positions at Summer and Professional Theater Companies and four-year and graduate schools.
All interested faculty, staff, students in design, dramaturgy, stage management and theater management who register for the festival will be eligible for this event. Portfolios required.
All faculty, staff, Irene Ryan semi-finalists and two-year community college students are eligible for acting auditions. Students who do not make it into the semi-finals will have an opportunity to go through screening auditions while at the festival to determine eligibility.
Eligible acting students will present two minutes from one of the two required scenes from their Ryan material with their partner. Students who attend the festival and are not involved with the Ryans but wish to audition must present a two-minute scene, with a partner who wishes to audition, to a screening panel to determine eligibility. Both members of the scene must be interested in seeking either academic advancement an/or summer/professional opportunities.
Faculty and staff wishing to audition may present a two-minute scene or one and a half-minute monologue. All who audition must adhere to time limits.
Musical scenes or songs may be done and an accompanist will be present.
Names of all colleges and companies attending for this Development Day will be made available as they accept our invitation and be posted on our website. IF you or any professional company that you are involved with would like to audition/interview KCACTF participants on this day, please contact me ASAP. There is NO fee for their attending on this day.
Ryan Finalists and students involved in the 6x10 Ten-Minute Play Festival will be accommodated in order to audition this day.
Headshots and resumes are required for those actors auditioning this day.
*We are considering having one or two professional photographers present during this day and perhaps on Friday to take headshots for any student, staff/faculty member. These will be scheduled on a first come first serve basis PRIOR to the festival. IF YOU BELIEVE YOU OR ANYONE IN YOUR DEPARTMENT IS INTERESTED, PLEASE CONTACT ME SO THAT I MAY NEGOTIATE WITH PHOTOGRAPHERS NOW. If we find interest is such that it makes this opportunity worthwhile we will post the photographers credentials on our website with fees, and directions of what to wear, make-up, etc.
More details regarding this day to come.
Design Entries/Technical Theater Expo (THIS IS NEW!)
Office Max has generously accepted our invitation to be a sponsor for this year's regional festival. PLEASE have your students purchase any materials needed while at the festival at Office Max and not Staples.
Below is a letter of information from Crystal Tiala, Regional Design Chair.
I am writing to inform you of the many new plans we have for the Design and Technical events at this year's KCACTF festival and to clarify some confusion about student design entries.
First, we are adding a faculty exhibit of design work. All New England Faculty and Staff Designers and Craftsman are welcome to display their best work from the past couple of years. If they want to exhibit they should send me an email of their intent to . They should also consider applying for the summer intensive grant (information to be found at www.kcactf.org under faculty opportunities). Their exhibit will go a long way in helping them get this prestigious honor.
Second, with the help of Charles Kirby at Lightbox, we are creating a lighting competition for faculty and students. At the festival lighting designers will have a chance to design lighting for a 5-minute piece of music in a model box supplied by Lightbox. Details will be forthcoming, but you have to attend the festival to compete.
Third, there has been a strong interest in companies coming to interview students on Saturday for internships, summer jobs and graduate schools. I already know that huge scenic company PRG will be talking about their production company and seeking interns for the summer. It is a great learning opportunity!
We are adding more workshops to our lighting, rigging, production management, costumes, model building, sound design and so much more in every field. Workshops are still being created!
Finally, I would like to make faculty aware of how entering their student designers and stage managers is done since there has been some confusion in the past. Whenever a show is entered either as a Participating or Associate entry, ALL student designers and the stage manager from that show are eligible to compete for national awards. The respondents who attend the show are only responsible for choosing the acting participants. The student designers must then register to attend the festival. The rules for the competition are found on our website at www.kcactf1.org. By registering early, students and faculty will save money. In addition, do not let the Regional Design entry form confuse anyone. That entry form is only for design students who are NOT national entries but who still want to exhibit for the regional prizes.
More exciting news will be coming in the near future. This is just a taste of what we have planned.
Your Chair of Design and Technology,
Crystal Tiala
Associate Professor of Design
Theatre Dept. Boston College
617-552-4334
Respondent Evaluations Instituted (THIS IS NEW!)
Staring this year we are instituting respondent evaluation forms. They will be available online at our Region 1 website. PLEASE fill out this form and return it within 3 days of the closing of your show. This process will help keep us informed as how we are serving you. Respondents are eager to receive feedback to hone their skills in this process.
Respondents Needed
Please contact Jim Murphy, our Respondent Chair and let him know you are more than willing to respond this year even if you have in the past, as we do not wish to assume that you will. PLEASE try to respond to productions, especially if you have entered shows. We need as much coverage as possible and Jim did a terrific job in the spring making sure coverage was provided! We also wish to have new faces and voices respond to new and different venues when possible.
Contact for Jim Murphy is: