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NORTH MISSISSIPPI HIGH SCHOOL DRAMA FESTIVAL

Dates: Friday and Saturday, December 2-3

Location: McComas Theatre, MSU Campus Deadline for Registration: Friday, November 4th

____________________________________ NEW THIS YEAR:

You can of course send your forms in by mail and email as usual but we are hoping to make this process easier by offering online submission as well.

Statement of Intent https://form.jotform.com/62214688897169 Registration Form https://form.jotform.com/62206243067146 Technical Questionnaire https://form.jotform.com/62204929338156 Declaration of Origin https://form.jotform.com/62215046892153

PDFs of all the documents can also be found on https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B4pymvi7WxwWazRQOVBOUVRINXc

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Fees: Performing School Fee: $75 Observing School Fee: $65 Teacher/Chaperones of Performing Schools: no fee Performing Student Fee: $8 Non-Performing Students/Observers: $8 A $75 performance entry fee is assessed for each play entered for performance in the festival. This fee must be sent with the registration form. In addition to the performance entry fee, performing students are assessed a fee of $8 each. Performing students include cast, crew and musicians. These fees may be paid on site or included with the registration form. A $65 observing fee is assessed to those schools attending the festival but not performing. In addition, an observer fee of $8 per person is assessed for all nonperforming students, parents, chaperones and other observers. One teacher or chaperone is admitted free for each five student performers. For instance, if a school has 20 students (cast or crew) performing in the festival, then that school is allowed four free teacher or chaperone admissions. Additional chaperones are assessed the $8 observer fee. Please keep in mind that the observer fee helps support festival expenses. Payment allows you to observe all of the performances should you wish to do so. Do not ask to be allowed into the performances for free. Door monitors shall confirm payment at the door.

2 School purchase orders are accepted, and billing follows the conclusion of the festival. Purchase order payment must include a copy of the approved purchase order with the registration form. All fees in excess of the approved purchase order amount must be paid at check-in. The purchase order amount cannot be altered without submitting an approved copy from the issuing school. All fees are nonrefundable; individual fees may be transferred to another individual, but no refunds will be issued. Registration for both participating and observing schools is the same, due Friday, November 4, or until all available slots are taken. We will only be able to host 17 schools and will accept participants on a first-come, first-served basis. Any registration forms/fees received from schools after the cap has been met will be returned to the initiating school. Technical sheets are due at registration. Rules/Guidelines: The North Mississippi High School Drama Festival abides by the Mississippi Theatre Association’s (MTA) guidelines but also retains the right to establish additional or modified guidelines for the North Mississippi Festival. The MTA Secondary division guidelines are online at www.mta-online.org. You are encouraged to familiarize yourself with these.

Notice: All members performing onstage (e.g. actors, singers, dancers, musicians) and all technical running crew must be students. This does not apply, however, to scenic or costume construction or any other technical preparations made prior to the performance.

Parking: On Friday, December 2, buses should arrive on campus and drop off students at McComas and then proceed to the parking lot at the Palmeiro Center. Cars must have a parking pass that must be obtained online prior to arrival. Go to msstate.edu and type “parking services” in the search tab. On Saturday, December 3, buses should arrive on campus and drop off students at McComas and proceed to the Palmeiro Center. There will be ample parking around the auditorium and throughout campus. Since it is Saturday, other vehicles parking on the campus will not need parking permits.

Please inform parents and guests that Cars without parking permits will be subject to ticketing on Friday!

Technical Specifics: Each school is assigned a 10' by 10' space backstage. All props, sets, and scenery must be contained within

that space. No one is allowed to be in the 10'-square space or to be touching any item within the space until the festival director signals the school to begin.

A schedule detailing load-in and tech walkthroughs will be made available to all performing groups. This

schedule will be emailed no later than November 29. The school may have assigned boosters or parents help during the load-in process only. This is a chaotic time so please only use those necessary to load in the needed materials. Schools are encouraged to rehearse their load-in as much as possible - for efficiency.

A 15-minute technical walkthrough will be scheduled. During this time, the Festival Technical Director will be on hand to answer any questions the group may have concerning the space. The groups may use this time in whatever way they deem fit in preparation for their performance (i.e. spiking scenery, checking light levels, etc.). No additional periods or breaks are allowed for load-in or to set technical cues. By the end of the 15-minute walkthrough all scenery and props must be back in the assigned box and all group members out of the control booth.

Only students, the teacher, and one optional teacher’s assistant are allowed in the theatre for the walkthrough. (Teachers: please inform all parents that this time is closed.)

3 The technical specifications and equipment available at MSU McComas Theatre as well as lighting

channels, areas, and colors are listed in detail on the TECHNICAL PACKAGE. These pages will be emailed to all registered schools and made available on the North HSDF Facebook page.

NOTE: Bring all items you might possibly need to the festival. Tools will not be provided for you. A

spotlight will not be available for use in MSU McComas Theatre. If you plan to use one, you must arrange to bring it with your load-in.

Show Selection, etc:

Performing schools may select from all types of plays, including traditional, avant-garde, realistic, expressionistic, comedy, tragedy and musical. Scripts may be professionally written or original works.

Production rights and rights to use copyrighted music must be secured and royalty fees must be paid. Noncompliance with this rule results in disqualification.

Learning and creativity should be considered when choosing scripts. The festival should be treated as a learning experience as opposed to a competition.

Each performing school is allowed a maximum of 45 minutes for setup, performance and strike. Exceeding the 45-minute time limit renders the school ineligible for the Best Production Award and for advancement to the state festival. An additional 15 minutes is allotted for critique. Setup, performance, strike and critique must be completed within a total of 60 minutes. Time begins when the festival director says “go” after the school’s response.

Each performing school is limited to one production. Only students may take part in the setup, performance and strike. Adults and other non-students may not

be on stage during the 45-minute time allotment. The festival will provide one page in the festival program. Individual school programs are allowed but the

festival respondents will only use festival programs. If a school brings their own programs they must provide two students to help clean up programs during the load out time of their block.

Any school that needs to perform on Saturday due to official state testing should contact Tim Matheny at t.matheny@msstate.edu and provide a letter from the school principal stating the date/name of the test. This letter from the school principal should accompany the request for the Saturday performance. HSDF cannot accept requests for specific Saturday performance times. All requests will be reviewed by the MTA High School Drama Festival committee.

The following plays or portions of plays were performed at the last three North Mississippi Festivals and are not eligible for the 2016 festival.

Also, you are not permitted to perform shows produced at the state festival over the past three years. You can find that list at: http://www.mtaonline.org/secondary-division.

2015 Balcony Scene Donald Elser Little Women 2: Wrath of the Undead Don Zolidis Arsenic and Old Lace Joseph Kesselring Haiku Katherine Snodgrass “Letters Home” Twila Bridges The Other Room Ariadne Blayde Antigone Sophocles – Adaptation by Emily Mann The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon Don Zolidis Numbers Kieron Barry A Piece of my Heart Shirley Lauro Anna and August Don Zolidis Eurydice Sarah Ruhl Disney’s Jungle Book Richard Sherman, Robert Sherman, and Terry Gilkyson Have You Heard Krista Boehnert The Great Pandemonium Pat Cook Sorry Wrong Number Lucille Fletcher

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2014 A Medieval Romance Jules Tasca Andromeda’s Galaxy Alan Haehnel The 10 Worst Breakups of All Ian McWethy High School for Dummies Bradley Hayward Love Story Stephen Clark Cagebirds David Campton Apostrophe’s Bradley Hayward Louder, I Can’t Hear You Bill Gleason And the Giants Fell Todd Ford The 9 Worst Breakups of All Ian McWethy Find Me Dennis Bush Actors Nightmare Ian McWethy Mr. Marmalade Noah Haidle The Voice of the Prairie John Olive

2013 The Glass in the Mirror Bruce Jacoby Tracks Peter Tarsi Disney’s Alice in Wonderland, Jr Disney Trifles Susan Glaspell 4 a.m. Jonathan Dorf Making Nice Alan Haehnal Aladdin and the Wonder Lamp Jack Neary The Truth About Dinosaurs Jim Knable Emotional Baggage Nina Shengold Crushed Don Zolidis Fighting Demons Angela Hill Stressed Alan Haehnal

Hotel Accommodations: Blocks of rooms have been reserved at the following local hotels. It is your responsibility to make arrangements with a hotel if you need overnight accommodations. We have simply placed the room on hold and arranged for a discounted price. The blocked rooms will remain at that price until Thursday, November 10 at which time the rooms will be released to the general public at the regular room rate. MSU will be hosting a high school football tournament on the same weekend, so we encourage you to make hotel reservations early; and remember to ask for the rate guaranteed for the HSDF. $99+tax $109+tax $109+tax La Quinta Inn & Suites Microtel Inn & Suites Comfort Inn 662-270-4100 662-615-0700 662-324-9595

Rooms must be booked by Thursday, November 10 to ensure the above-mentioned price. I am working on securing additional hotel space and will have that information posted on the

North Mississippi High School Drama Festival – Facebook page.

Festival Contact Information

Tim Matheny, Festival Coordinator t.matheny@msstate.edu 662-325-3203 (office) 601-325-6621 (cell)

Cody Stockstill, Technical Director

cstockstill@comm.msstate.edu

5 Registration Form (Registration deadline is Nov. 4, 2016)

PART ONE – For Performing and Observing Schools North Mississippi High School Drama Festival Dec. 2 – 3, 2016

Please type or print. Attach additional pages as needed. REGISTRATION FORM FOR BOTH PARTICIPATING AND NON-PARTICIPATING SCHOOLS.

School Name __________________________________________________________________________________ School Address ________________________________________________________________________________ School City, State and ZIP Code ___________________________________________________________________ School Phone (______) _____________________________ School Fax (______) ___________________________ Name of Primary Instructor/Sponsor (List one person. All correspondence will be sent to this person.) _______________________________________________________________________________________ Daytime Phone __________________________________________________________________________ E-mail Address (if used) ___________________________________________________________________ Alternate Contact (to be used ONLY if the primary instructor/sponsor cannot be reached) ______________________ Daytime Phone __________________________________________________________________________ E-mail Address (if used) ___________________________________________________________________ School Fees __________ Performing School Fee ($75) __________ Observing School Fee ($65) ..................................... ________ __________ # of Performing Students (Cast, Crew, muscicians) at $8 each .................................................... ________ __________ # of Teacher/Chaperones at no charge ......................................................................................... ________ __________ # of Nonperforming Students and Observers at $8 each ............................................................. ________ Total Amount Due .................................................................................................................................... $ ________ Less Amount Enclosed ......................................................................................................................... ________ Balance to be Paid on-site at Check-in .................................................................................................... $ ________ For each five performing students, one teacher or chaperone is admitted at no charge. Please provide a list of student/chaperone names on a separate sheet. Will your school attend part/entire festival (must check one)? _____ one (1) day _____ both days Method of Payment (Make checks payable to Mississippi State University.) [ ] Check [ ] Purchase Order

If paying by purchase order P.O. Number ____________________________________________________________________________ Issuing Organization ______________________________________________________________________ Billing Address __________________________________________________________________________ Billing Contact Person _____________________________________________________________________

LIABILITY DISCLAIMER: By my signature above, I understand and agree that the North Mississippi High School Drama Festival, its agents and employees shall not be responsible or liable in any way for any loss, death, injury or damage to persons or property incurred by any person in connection with this program or any portion thereof.

Return completed form with fee payment to

Mississippi State University -- Department of Communication ATTN: Tim Matheny

PO BOX PF Mississippi State University, MS 39762

On behalf of ______________________________ school and students attending the 2016 North Mississippi High

School Drama Festival, I, _______________________________, the primary instructor or sponsor, have read and do

agree to abide by the festival guidelines as described in this packet (combination of MTA and additional North MS

Festival guidelines). Primary Instructor/Sponsor Signature ________________________________ Date ___________

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PART TWO - For Performing Schools Only

A. Immediately email Tim Matheny at t.matheny@msstate.edu and state your intention to register as a performing school. Please include your name, phone number, physical address, email address, and the name of your school. B. Email a PDF or Microsoft Word Document to t.matheny@msstate.edu NO LATER THAN FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 4 that includes all of the information listed below. Handwritten submissions of this information will not be accepted -- failure to submit this information will lead to a generic page in the program that will not include your students’ names.

Title of Play to be Performed

Author of Play

Publisher/Royalty Agent

If your production must be edited to conform to festival production length requirements, you must obtain written permission from the publisher/royalty agent to perform in the festival. Attach proof of permission to your email as a pdf document.

In order to perform in the festival, you must include in your email a copy of PAID royalty.

Does this production contain adult material?

Approximate Setup Time

Approximate Playing Time

Approximate Strike Time

(No more than 45 minutes total)

Cast of Characters in Speaking Order o Include both the Character’s Name and Actor’s Name

Director(s), Crew and Other Support o Position and Name

Other Information to Be Printed in Festival Programs o Space allowing -- note all schools receive one page in the program. If you have

questions on this, contact Tim Matheny.

**THIS INFORMATION IS NEEDED FOR THE PROGRAM.** DOUBLE CHECK SPELLING – CHANGES WILL NOT BE POSSIBLE LATER.

UPDATED PROGRAM POLICY

After speaking with the various teachers throughout the state, we will once again allow individual schools to bring their own programs to the festival.

NORTH HSDF will continue to provide a festival program as well. In fairness to all schools involved, respondents will only use the festival programs and

not the individual schools.

If your school chooses to bring their own program, the school must provide two (2) students to help with cleanup during the load out time of the performance block. The students are to report

to the registration desk after the response time of the final show to receive instructions.

Make sure the information you submit is accurate and on time (Due date is November 4).