Eligibility

To be eligible, students must:

• Have stage managed a production that was produced at the student's home institution during the calendar year previous to the regional festival.
• Attend an institution that has entered either an associate or participating production during the year in which the nomination occurs; and
• Be a bona fide student at the time of the Regional Festival.

Event

Each student is required to bring his or her prompt script/production book(s) from the entered production.

The prompt script should be the genuine book the student used during the actual production. It should not be beautified or improved after closing night (though materials should NOT include personal cast/crew contact information. Such information must be expunged. A sample of contact paperwork will be accepted in lieu of the original).

The prompt script should consist of all of the production's paperwork; these should include, but are not limited to:

• The “Blocking Script” and the “Calling Script,” as one or more books, with blocking and cue-calling notation.

• Rehearsal and performance notes, as presented to the production/design team.

• Schedules, including rehearsals, tech rehearsals, etc.

• Pre-show/post-show checklists, shift schedules, scene breakdowns, etc.

• Forms, schedules, lists, and plots.

• Important/necessary emails and communications.

All the above materials should be the bona fide working versions, created and used during the actual production process.

Prompt scripts will be exhibited as part of the regional “Design Expo." Stage managers, unlike their design counterparts, do NOT prepare a display along with their prompt scripts. The prompt scripts will be available for examination by respondents and festival attendees.

If the production is an official “Invited Festival Production” at the regional festival, a photocopy of that production's prompt script may be substituted for the original along with an explanatory sign, at the stage manager's discretion.

How to Participate

Students must submit the following to the Regional Chair of Design, Technology, and Management, or to the Regional Stage Management Coordinator, as detailed at each region's individual web site. 

• A letter of intent, written solely by the student, including: a short commentary of the stage manager's "approach statement," a brief statement about why the student believes they may gain a positive experience by participating in the regional festival and their intention to practice stage management in the future.

• A one-page résumé.


The criteria for Regional Festival participation vary by region; check your Region's website for application details.

Stage Management Fellowship at the National Festival

One student in each region will be selected to attend the National Festival as a Stage Management Fellow. 

While at the National Festival, students will spend a week in hands-on workshops, meeting professionals in the field, and touring theatres in the D.C. area.