Directors

Updated November 10, 2009

10 Minute Play Festival

At the Region III conference in January, directing students are eligible for several different competitions. Six directors will be selected from the region to direct the ten-minute plays that compete in the 10 Minute Play Festival at the conference. These directors will compete for the 10 Minute Directing Award. The winning director will receive a book award and a certificate of recognition.

To participate in this competition, directors should complete a

DIRECTORS 10 MINUTE PLAY REGISTRATION FORM

Please complete by November 30, 2009, at 5:00 pm.

and

A detailed resume (CV)

A statement of directing philosophy and goals

Two letters of recommendation

While directing, these individuals are expected to keep a journal of their preparation before the festival and their work at the festival. The journals will be turned over to the judges at the beginning of the public showing of the 10 Minute plays.

All materials for directing a ten-minute play should be forwarded to:

Sandi Zielinski
Immediate Past Regional Co-Chair
Regional Officers

Participating Student Director Award

Student directors who are selected to bring their work to festival participating entries will compete for the Participating Student Director Award. The winning director of this competition will receive a book award and a certificate of recognition. All student-directed participating productions will be entered for this award. Directors are asked to provide a CV and a statement of your directing philosophy to:

Sandi Zielinski
Immediate Past Regional Co-Chair
Regional Officers

SDC Award

Updated March 24, 2010

SSD&C- the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers is now known as SDC- Stage Directors and Choreographers Society.

DIRECTORS SDC AWARD NOMINATION FORM

Please complete by November 30, 2009, at 5:00 pm.

Please send the SDC Nomination Form to:

Sandi Zielinski
Immediate Past Regional Co-Chair and Directing Co-ordinator
Regional Officers

Stage Directors & Choreographers Society (SDC) Regional Student Directing Event Guidelines 2011

One student director (either graduate or undergraduate) from each region will be selected to participate in the National Kennedy Center American College Theatre Festival in Washington DC each April. This award includes travel, lodging and per diem expenses, as well as attendance at KCACTF National Festival workshops and performances. Unique educational opportunities will be planned for the award recipients at the National Festival.

Candidates:	Nominated by the individual institutions, students who have demonstrated success in direction. The institution must have entered either an associate or participating production for the regional festival.
Event:	Preliminary and Final presentation of a rehearsed, nationally selected scene. The scene will include bona fide student actors, and will be rehearsed at the institution for presentation at the regional festival. On the first day of the regional festival the nominee will turn in a prepared prompt book and director’s statement that reflects their analysis of the scene. If an institution has more than one director, actors may not participate in more than two scenes. Directors may not act or be otherwise involved in the production of the scenes, and is required to be available to observe all of the presentations. Directors are required to observe all scenes and participate in responses as scheduled.
Scene:	All nominees will prepare one scene from a list to be selected at the national meetings in August under the guidance of the national member at large who oversees direction. The scenes will be announced to all of the regions at the end of the summer meeting.
Responses:	Both the preliminary and final rounds of the event will have respondents who respond to the work immediately following the presentation. The respondents are skilled directors who have a strong track record of responding to directing. The same individuals will respond to both rounds of presentations.
Judges:	Out of region colleagues or local professionals who are not affiliated with regional institutions. Judges will make the decisions on which student director will attend the National KCACTF in Washington DC. At least one member of the team must be a SDC member. The same individuals will judge both rounds of presentations.
Evaluation:	Directors will be evaluated through the preliminary scene presentation, interview process, written materials, and final presentation. Prompt Book: A Prompt Book including a Director’s Statement is required to be turned-in on the first day of the regional festival at a time and place to be determined. Preliminary Round of Scenes: Open to the public. All of the nominees (directors only) are required to attend all preliminary round presentations. Mentors are encouraged but not required to attend. After the presentation the respondents will react to the work in front of the closed gathering of directors. Interviews: Directors who are selected for the final round attend individual interviews with the respondents and adjudicators. At the interview the director's statement and approach will be discussed along with other directing experiences and goals. A current resume (required) and additional materials (optional) are requested for the interview. Final Round of Scenes: Open to the public. All of the nominees (directors only) are required to attend all final round presentations. Mentors are encouraged but not required to attend. After the presentation the respondents will react to the work in front of the closed gathering of directors. Directors are expected to incorporate feedback from the preliminary round into the final presentations. NOTE: Failure to read and adhere to the current published guidelines for the SDC Student Directing Event may result in disqualification of the student director.

SCENES

SDC Nationally Selected Scenes for Festival XLII (2011)

All regional student directing candidates must present a scene at festival from the following list:

SCENE LIST COMING SOON FOR 2011

Information and Evaluation of the SDC Event

At that time, candidates will provide respondents with a prepared written statement that reflects their analysis of the scene. The scene is presented in a preliminary round at the regional festival. After the scene presentation, respondents will give feedback to the director and his/her mentor/teacher. SDC candidates who are chosen for the final round will be interviewed by the respondents. The finalists who are interviewed will then present their scenes in a public showing with a public response session afterward. The purpose of redesigning the SDC Award competition is to highlight student directing in our region in a more distinguished manner. We are all excited about this new competition and we look forward to meeting more student directors.

Design Storm!

Updated November 4, 2009

Are you interested in collaboration? Design Storm is the at-festival option. Directors, designers, and dramaturgs will be teamed up to create the production of their dreams. Design Storm is a timed collaborative exercise that teams a director with a dramaturg, a lighting designer, a sound designer, a costume designer, a scenic designer, and a make-up designer to create an approach to a classic or contemporary text that is unlike all previous productions.

This year's shows are the same as those for the Design Projects.

Design Projects Allowed Plays

All you have to do is:

Register online through the Design & Technology registration form for the competition by November 16, 2009.
Sign up as a director, dramaturg, or designer.
Select your top three choices of plays.
Make sure you're available at the festival beginning on January 6 for the introductory meeting and ending at the final meeting at 10:00 a.m., Saturday, January 9, 2010.

DIRECTORS DESIGN STORM REGISTRATION FORM

Fill out the Design and Technology Registration Form.
Registrations are Due by 5 pm November 16, 2009.

You will need to be available to meet with your Design Storm Team for a total of six hours between January 6-9. You may also need to reserve some time on your own for conceiving of your own ideas, gathering research, or preparing your portion of the entry. Once you have registered, you will receive email notification of the script you have been selected to work on by December 14, 2009. You will not be informed of your team-mates until the introductory meeting. If you're looking for a serious challenge, look no further. Register for Design Storm! The winning team will receive a book award and a certificate of recognition.

If you have any questions regarding these competitions or eligibility, do not hesitate to contact the Directing Co-Coordinator or the Design & Technology Co-Chair.

MC Friedrich
Design & Technology Co-Chair
Regional Officers

Sandi Zielinski
Directing Co-Coordinator
Regional Officers

*Please note that the plays Design Storm is using are the same as the Design Area uses for its projects. If you are entering a Design Project, be sure to note that on your entry form so that we don't place you in a group working on that production.

Design Storm! Rules

NEW: Added November 4, 2009

Each team will be made up of as many of the following as the registration allows: a director, dramaturg, lighting designer, sound designer, scenic designer, costume designer, and make-up designer.
Individuals will register online. The Design Storm Coordinators will organize the applicants into teams.
By December 14, 2009 each individual will be informed by email the play he/she will be working on. He/she will not be informed of their teammates until the introductory meeting at the Festival.
The Design Storm commences after the introductory meeting where expectations will be delineated for participants and teams will be assigned.
Immediately following the introductory meeting, each team must meet for one hour to move the project forward.
After the introductory meeting, participants are allowed to meet for six hours over the course of two days. Any team meeting more than the allotted six hours will automatically be disqualified.*
The KC/ACTF Region III Design Storm honor code will be used.** Each team will need to sign a statement that they adhered to this policy prior to their presentation.
It is understood that individuals may continue to work on their own outside of the six allotted meeting hours.
After the third meeting hour, each director is required to turn in to the Design Storm co-ordinators a concept statement that is no longer than one page, typed, double spaced. A deadline for this statement will be announced at the introductory meeting.
It is understood and expected that students will do analytical and research work on the play prior to coming to festival.
For presentation, each team will be provided with a 4’wide x 8’high panel in the design exhibition hall to post their conceptual write-ups, drawings, swatches, images, or whatever the team deems appropriate to communicate the concept of the show. It is possible for a music stand to be provided to place a model on top.
Each team will draw for the presentation order at the time of the competition. The team can choose who and how their team will present the material. There will be 7 minutes for the team to present their idea and 7 minutes for discussion with the respondents.

*A meeting consists of any time two or more individuals are together discussing ideas about the project.

**The KC/ACTF Region III Design Storm Honor Code

The Honor Code is an undertaking of the students, individually and collectively:

that they will not give or receive unpermitted aid in the Design Storm Project;

that they will not exceed the maximum six hour meeting time designated for this competition;

and, that they will do their share and take an active part in seeing to it that others as well as themselves uphold the spirit and letter of the Honor Code.

The KC/ACTF Region III Design Storm judges on their part manifests their confidence in the honor of the students by refraining from proctoring collaborative meetings and from taking unusual and unreasonable precautions to prevent the forms of dishonesty mentioned above.

While the KC/ACTF Region III Selection Committee alone has the right and obligation to set rules and requirements for the competition, the students, committee, and judges will work together to establish optimal conditions for honorable collaborative work for this competition.

All team members will sign a statement prior to the presentation of their collaborative work to the panel of judges attesting to their adherence to the above expectations.

(This Honor Code is modeled from the Stanford University Honor Code and uses some of the same language used in their statement.)

Materials

Required Materials for all participants:

Research "morgue" that includes images, historical information, criticism, script analysis, etc.
Paper (including sketch pads, scratch paper, computer paper – as needed for your "job")
Writing utensils (colored pencils, markers, pens, pencils, – as needed for your "job")
Sound designers need to provide their own resources for collecting, creating and playing their design. A sound system will be provided with a line input and CD sound playback for presentation.

Recommended Materials for participants:

Laptop computer with wi-fi capabilities
Equipment necessary to record and present sound ideas

List of what will be provided by the festival site.

Color printer
Paper cutter
Wireless internet access
Printer paper
T-pins
Sundry supplemental art supplies

Assignments

Individual Assignments for Collaborative Teams:

Director:

You are the guest artist for a theatre company. The Producer has just hired you to stage a classic or contemporary text. You have total freedom as auteur director to develop the production intention/concept however you would like. Since you know the text and have a good idea what it is about, choose a new or different way of presenting it on stage than that of anything previous. Think of what message you would like to communicate to an audience and how you will use your production to "speak to" the global community in which we all reside. Reflect on and respond to:

What is the "spine" of the written text?
Given this, describe your directorial intention for the production.
With these two pieces of information, and working with your dramaturg, prepare remarks for your designers.

Dramaturg:

You have been assigned to assist the guest artist for a theatre company. The Producer has informed you that you will be working on a classic or contemporary text. Given the mission of the theatre to produce classical plays in innovative ways, focus your pre-directorial research on approaches that would make this production unlike any others previous. Having collected pertinent production history and socio-cultural context information, generate a "Letter to the Director"/ "Talking Points" that will push the director towards innovation.

Light Design:

As the resident lighting designer for a theatre company you have been assigned to work with the guest director for the next production. Prepare your own thoughts on mood, tone, and style before the first production meeting. Given the outcomes of this first meeting:

Consult with the other designers, dramaturg, and director to come up with a "key scene" in the play and prepare an initial series of images or a collage that articulates how you see the color and effect for that scene. Light sketches of the key scenes, hand-drawn or CAD generated (ie: Virtual Light Lab) for final looks should be part of the final presentation Be prepared to further discuss how your scene illustrates not only your ideas but also the production intention/concept.

Costume Design:

As the resident costume designer for a theatre company you have been assigned to work with the guest director for the next production. Prepare your own thoughts on mood, tone, and style before the first production meeting. Given the outcomes of this first meeting:

Consult with the other designers, dramaturg, and director to come up with a "key scene" in the play and prepare renderings for two main characters in that scene. Be sure to incorporate your ideas regarding color, fabrics, and movement into your presentation. Be prepared to further discuss how the design illustrates not only your ideas but also the production intention/concept.

Sound Design:

As the resident sound designer for a theatre company you have been assigned to work with the guest director for the next production. Prepare your own thoughts on mood, tone, and style before the first production meeting. Given the outcomes of this first meeting:

Consult with the other designers, dramaturg, and director to come up with a "key scene" in the play and prepare sound samples for that scene. Be sure to incorporate your ideas regarding environmental sounds, mood enhancement, speaker placement, amplification, and any ideas that you would need to work out with the director and designers. Be prepared to further discuss how the design illustrates not only your ideas for the sound, but also the production intention/concept.

Scenic Design:

As the resident scenic designer for a theatre company you have been assigned to work with the guest director for the next production. Prepare your own thoughts on mood, tone, and style before the first production meeting. Given the outcomes of this first meeting:

Consult with the other designers, dramaturg, and director to come up with a "key scene" in the play and prepare initial sketches then a basic ground plan and rendering or "found object" model of the set. Be prepared to further discuss how the design illustrates not only your ideas but also the production intention/concept.

Make-Up Design:

Consult with the other designers, dramaturg, and director to come up with a "key scene" in the play and prepare renderings for two main characters in that scene. Be sure to incorporate your ideas regarding color, form, and emphasis into your presentation. Be prepared to further discuss how the design illustrates not only your ideas but also the production intention/concept.

KCACTFRegion III