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Play Regulations

2008-09 Class A & B Play Rules - Clinic Information

CLICK HERE for Printable Version (pdf) of Play Rules Clinic

Note to all competition/festival play directors:
This is an online rules clinic, there will be no site clinics offered. Once you have read and downloaded the information to your files, e-mail Brian.Bubach@sendit.nodak.edu prior to September 15th, 2008, informing me that you have covered the 2008-09 material. I will then have your e-mail address and may contact you with further information or interpretations if warranted.

2008-09 Rules Changes
Class A
1. Individual Play Rules will be in the rules book as well as on the web.
2. Online registration system for individual event need to be improved for coaches as well as for NDHSAA administrator. NDHSAA has taken this to Clearwired for improvements.
3. Set Design rule clarification was received too late for Speech Advisory and Fine Arts Review to act on proposal.
4. 2009 State A Play Festival Schedule Fargo South High School - April 6-7

The following is the agreed upon schedule from the South High Activities Director, Cory Lehman and is a result of the 2008 State A Play directors' meeting.

2007-08 Rules Changes
Class A
1. The State A Play Festival was moved to the Monday and Tuesday following the Saturday of Regional Speech Tournaments. The festival shall run all day Monday and end by Noon Tuesday.

Class B
2. Regional: Each of 10 regions will qualify 2 plays to state. Only 2 plays will qualify from a region as All ties must be broken.
3. State is always the Monday and Tuesday of Thanksgiving Week. The two preliminary rounds will be held on Monday and the top 4 plays from each preliminary site will perform at the finals on Tuesday. Preliminary rounds will begin at 8:00 a.m. and run in 45 minute increments.
4. State Awards: There shall be 10 Outstanding Performer awards given at each preliminary site. A trophy shall be given to each of the 8 finals play casts on Tuesday. The cast members of the final 8 plays shall also be awarded a key fob which will be ordered after the contest.
5. State Motel Rooms for a 2-day Contest: How should a school handle motel reservations when one doesn't know if Tuesday rooms will be needed? Suggestion: A. Have students attend the Tuesday finals regardless if they qualify or not. B. Reserve rooms for Sunday and Monday evening with the agreement that you may cancel the Monday night rooms by 5:30 p.m. on Monday.

2006-07 Rules Changes
1. Added a "Proof of Royalty" form and a "Proof of Permission to Alter Script" form that each school must submit to regional manager and NDHSAA.
2. Editorial changes on page 42, Rule 1 and page 43, rule 1, "A student can NOT be in a play of which he/she used a portion in a speech category..."

General Play Rules
1. Register on the web at www.ndhsaa.com. Everyone will be asked to submit a new login and password. Please contact Brian Bubach at Brian.Bubach@sendit.nodak.edu for help. If new school, make sure you enter your region number. Click on your form and you're ready to go. I'll automatically have a copy. Send check payable to Region Plays to the regional manager. Addresses are on first page when you go in to register.
2. Language Rule-Rules 8&9 on page 42: Play directors are reminded that when selecting a play, please choose one that will not offend the moral standards of the state or community, nor be in bad taste. It would be wise to remove all cursing, profane references to the deity, and immorally suggestive statements or scenes. A judge may give a lower ranking and/or rating for a play containing offensive or suggestive portions. The school administrator must approve the play when he/she signs the regional entry form.
3. Administrator and Director must Sign Regional Registration Form confirming both agree on language and content of play.
4. See Grievance Form on table at Registration Desk. Any one may file this form with manager.
5. Timing:

• Class A-Make sure you are not forcing overtime. You have 45 minutes to perform, set up, and take down. Penalty: when time has elapsed, lights will be turned off and curtain pulled.
• Class B-You must limit performance to 30 minutes, but 5 minutes is given for audience reaction. Technically, each play has 35 minutes. Please make sure you are not forcing the overtime penalty, which is the deduction of 1 ranking point.

Class A Royalty and Permission to Alter Script Forms
1. Each participating director must submit an eligibility form signed by a school administrator, "Proof of Royalty" form and a "Proof of Permission to Alter Script" form to the regional manager and NDHSAA two weeks prior to the regional contest. (Forms at bottom of this information")

Class A Individual Events
Class A Individual events are as follows: a) Dramatic Monologue, b) Duet Acting, c) Solo Musical Theater - Musical event - no carpet, d) Duet Musical Theater-Musical event-no carpet, e) Costume Design, f) Scene Design
1. Students are allowed to participate in only one individual play event.
2. Only one individual event entry per school will be allowed per category. To run an event there should be a minimum of four entries.
3. Students may introduce the selection. Time will not start until the conclusion of the introduction. Students must be warned of the impending 5 minute limit during the performance. Overtime equals disqualification.
4. Awards for 1st and 2nd place will be given in each category. (Medals Only)
5. No costumes or theatrical make up allowed. An example of inappropriate street clothes would be a contestant wearing 50's clothes all day and then performing a cutting from "GREASE".
6. Only integral hand props may be used. A hat is a prop only as a part of the dialogue or dance routine; otherwise, it is part of a costume and not permitted. All props are to be furnished by the participant.
7. Schools may enter the individual events even if they do not have a play entry.
8. All performance areas for acting and musical theatre events will be furnished with 3 folding chairs and a card table (if so requested).
9. Participants in Musical Theatre events may use a piano or taped accompaniment (must supply own tape player) and must indicate option on registration form.
10. Schools are not allowed to use any cutting from the play/musical entered in the play festival.
11. Participants may not use material/selections used in the NDHSAA regional/state speech tournaments or State Play Festival. Penalty: Disqualification.
12. Piano accompanist allowed in musical events - Piano will be provided & tuned.
13. Contracted judges will judge events

Monologue Rules
1. Participants must present 2 contrasting selections which may be from different time periods, styles or moods.
2. Material must be drawn from published plays written for the theatre. Poetry, prose, screenplays and lyrics will not be allowed. Penalty: Disqualification.
3. Both selections combined and including transition cannot exceed five minutes (excluding introduction).

Duet Acting Rules
1. Materials must be drawn from published plays written for the theatre. Poetry, prose, screenplays and lyrics will not be allowed. Penalty: Disqualification.
2. Both participants must be actively involved in the performance.
3. The maximum performance time is 5 minutes excluding the introduction.

Evaluation criteria for monologue and duet acting
1. Physicalization--Poise, use of space, body language, appropriateness of physical interpretation and characterization.
2. Vocal Delivery--Projection, articulation, expression, accuracy of vocal interpretation and characterization.
3. Characterization and Interpretation of Rules--Convincing, sustained.
4. Range--Breath and depth of skill as seen in the contrasting selections (monologue).
5. Ensemble Playing--Interaction, communication, support (duet).

Solo and Duet Musical Theater Rules
1. The selection must be drawn from published musical written for the theatre. No original works, medleys, or screenplays. The selection may contain dialogue.
2. Each participant must be actively involved in the scene (duet).
3. The performers have the option of using taped or live piano accompaniment.
4. No lip synching.
5. No entries used in music contest will be eligible.
6. No music or number from current show presented in the festival will be allowed.
7. The maximum performance time is 5 minutes plus introduction.
8. Penalty for breaking any rule is immediate disqualification.

Criteria for evaluating Musical Theatre
1. Characterization and interpretation of roles: Convincing, sustained.
2. Staging: Choreography and blocking.
3. Delivery: Vocal and/or dance, as applicable
4. Ensemble playing: Interaction, communication, balance (duet).

Costume Design Rules
1. The student must present five character renderings. These may represent five different characters and/or follow a single character through several appropriate changes.
2. Each design must be executed in full color on a 10"x15" white illustration board. All figures must be 10" tall. The base of the figure should be 3" from the lower edge of the board. Template or traced characters may be used as a base.
3. The board should be labeled in the following manner. Upper left hand corner: Name of the show and author. Upper right hand corner: Name of the character, act and scene. Lower right hand corner: Student's name. No other information should be given.
4. Only one student may be involved in the set of designs. No collaboration.

Criteria for Costume Design Evaluation
1. Interpretation: Does the design visually reinforce the mood, style, character and theme of the play?
2. Execution: Are the renderings executed with precision, clarity and attention to the human form?

Scene Design Rules (Choose own play, have script available)
1. The student must construct an original, three dimensional model OR a perspective rendering executed to the scale of ½"=1'0" showing the set and its relationship to theatrical space.
2. At least one figure must be included in the rendering or model to show proportion and scale.
3. The student must draw a floor plan to the same scale.
4. The set is to be designed for a state with a proscenium opening of 38"wide x 20" deep including wing space. The proscenium arch and wing space must be represented in the model.
5. Only one student may be involved in the design. No collaboration.

Criteria for Scene Design Evaluation
1. Interpretation: Does the design visually reinforce the mood, style and theme of the play?
2. Execution: Is the model or rendering executed with precision, clarity and attention to detail?
3. Use of space: Does the design use playing space to maximize flexibility and variety in blocking and movement?
4. Student still can be in play and one (only) individual play event - School must "intend" to have play to enter students in individual events!

Class B Play Rules
1. Each participating director must submit a "Proof of Royalty" form and a "Proof of Permission to Alter Script" form to the regional manager and NDHSAA two weeks prior to the regional contest. (Forms at bottom of this information")
2. Rule 5, Page 42 - Judges should be high school or college people with a theatre background. Rule 6B, Page 41. Casts of the top 4 plays in state receive participation awards. Will order correct number after state.
3. Class B Regional Managers must send judge instructions to all hired judges prior to contest day. Managers must cover these rules/guidelines on the day of the contest prior to the first performance! Please send Brian Bubach at Brian.Bubach@sendit.nodak.edu State Play judge preference by September 15.
4. Rule 1, Page 43. School cannot use same play they used in last year's contest.
5. Clarify Rule 3, top of page 43: Class B Play contest format does not provide for musicals (Can use musical script if no singing parts included in performance) Can not use reader's theatre.
6. Rule 6, Page 41 - Judges must give all awards provided. New: 8 Superior Acting awards medals provided by NDHSAA) and manager may announce 8 Honorable Mention awards
7. Rule 8 & 9, bottom of page 42 - Judges may lower rank or rating for a play containing offensive or suggestive portions. The school administrator must sign the registration form which is his/her formal approval of the play's language and content as it will be performed at region/state. Again, someone may file a grievance form, but this does not lower ranking/rating of a play. If the grievance is approved by the manager, the administrator will be sent a letter of concern from the NDHSAA.
8. Suggestion: NDHSAA will send a judge guide sheet to all regional managers. Manager must have short pre- contest meeting with the judges covering items on the guide sheet. Manager must ask judges to cover a minute or so at end of critique or oral critique with just the director. Please do private oral critiques.
9. B Play Judges: Prelims/Finals will have 3-Judge panel made up of at least 1 from west and one from east - Directors-please submit names on registration form to NDHSAA
10. All State information will be sent to qualifying directors:

• State dimensions
• Available lighting & sound
• Available props (should be prepared to bring all of own except tables, chairs, regular desk, couch)

Old Class A & B Play Rules Worth Knowing
1. Plays must be copyrighted
2. Provide own tech crew
3. School can not use the same play as used last year or any year there is duplication of cast members
4. Length: Class A Total-45 Min., Class B Total-35 Min. (30 play, 5 reaction)
5. Type:

• Class A: 1-Act or Cutting/Musical/Reader's Theatre
• Class B: 1-ACT or Cutting from play. No Reader's Theatre or Musical. Script can be from a musical, but singing not allowed in performance.
• No smoking or drinking on stage, bottles must not be real.

2008-09 NDHSAA Play Judge Guidelines
What is expected of a Judge at NDHSAA sponsored contests?

1. (Class B): Each judge panel must nominate 8 Superior Acting award winners and may nominate 8 Honorable Mention Superior Acting awards (no award furnished). The top 2 plays in each Region shall receive a plaque. At State, 16 Outstanding Performer plaques shall be awarded in Class A. In Class B, there shall be 10 Outstanding Performer plaques awarded at each preliminary site. Also, in Class B, the 8 casts that are finalists will be awarded key fobs (p.40 #5 & #6, 2008-09 Handbook)
2. Ratings: Each judge must rank plays 1,2,3,4 and all remaining plays as a 5. Plays must also be rated by circling a number on the top of the ballot. The numbers range from 30 as high to 15 as low. These numbers help the tabulator break ties. They also give the director a feeling for the quality of the performance. For example, ranking a play as "1", but rating that play as a "22" is telling the directors in that region that the quality of performance is average to below average! Ratings and rankings must be done without conferring with another judge or person. The other awards were mentioned in item A.
3. Professionalism: A judge is expected to be a professional and to have at least a minor in theater/drama. The judge must act professional at all times and dress as a professional in education would dress. One must remember that a judge must be an educator first. The students and directors want to be critiqued, but they also want to learn and grow.

Critiques
The NDHSAA ballot must be used and have the following criteria:
1. Effective use of stage (blocking, composition, design, elements)
2. Character Development (emotional, physical & vocal repines, spontaneity)
3. Development of playwright's ideas, themes, styles
4. Ensemble Acting
5. General Effectiveness (quality of play, tempo, mood, emphasis, etc.)

Written critique: Please be constructive and remember that you are trying to help high school students who are just learning to appreciate drama. Also, many directors may be self trained and lack high self esteem. They want help from you, but are somewhat apprehensive about how many directing mistakes they have made. Thus, your critique should be complete, helpful and compassionate. Please stay within the criteria listed above, plus your general comments should contain 3 points. (1) What did they do well? Always try to be positive. (2) What areas need improvement? and (3) How may they improve?
Please do not assume a cast or director could perform the play as you would or did. Allow professional freedom. The greatest mistake judges make is to assume students have more potential, talent or training than they really do. Do not give your opinion on how you once directed the play. Please don't embarrass the director or cast. Do not mention the wonderful set they could build for $1000 when the rules say to limit the set to the simplest form!
Don't spend much time on makeup, sets or costumes unless you see a glaring problem as the NDHSAA rules do limit emphasis in these areas because of the time factor. Also, the NDHSAA has a rule limiting sets and set-up/take-down time.

Oral Critique: Each member of the judging panel is expected to give an oral critique to the cast and director immediately after each performance. Make sure the critiques stay within the manager's schedule. Do not reveal play ranks or ratings to the cast or director during this critique as this seems to indicate you have your mind made up before all plays have been judged. Also, the tabulator will take judge ballots and compute the final rankings of the performances as soon as the last performance is over and before you start the last oral critique. Do the oral critiques so no other cast or director may hear them. It may seem wonderful at the time to make these critiques public, but past experience has warranted private critiques! (Please talk to the director in private after the cast critique if you cover items that may embarrass the director. Be sure that the director is not subjected to your criticism in front of his/her students.) The panel should have a rotation plan concerning who speaks first at each critique. We assume the first judge would give a bit longer critique than the other two. Listen to one another. You may reinforce one another, but don't repeat most of what the previous judge stated or refute what another judge said. Be positive. You may bring up new points. If a play performance is of poor quality, don't dwell on ALL the weaknesses. On the other hand, you must use constructive criticism. You can't tell a cast they were "marvelous" and then rank them as a 3, 4 or 5.

Please give several specific realistic examples of how improvements could be made within the limitations of the one-act play format. List major problems and constructive ways to
improve. Please write a thorough ballot and use the back if need be. Directors and the cast
want your professional opinion and help! Choose several major points to deal within each criterion.

General Comments: Don't dwell on every mistake made. The downside of critiquing is that you can't make many comparisons with the other plays. Plays may be of different styles such as ensemble plays. They may also be humorous or serious. Through the maze of differences in each production, you must rank the performance, which certainly is not an easy task. We appreciate your efforts to help us promote high school theatre.

Thank you very much for being a judge! If you have suggestions for improving this guide sheet or any part of the contest format, please don't hesitate to contact Brian Bubach 701-845-4935 or Brian.Bubach@sendit.nodak.edu.

One-Act Play Proof of Royalty Form

Name of Director____________________ School______________________

Name of Play___________________________________________________________

Playwright_________________________ Publishing Company__________________

YES - NO (Circle one)
1. Does the Publishing Company require a royalty payment for this play if only performed for competition and/or performances where no admission is charged?

2. If the answer is "YES", staple a copy of the proof of payment (copy of cancelled check is sufficient) to this form and send one copy to the regional manager and one copy to the NDHSAA no later than 2 weeks prior to the regional competition. (NOTE: You will have to repeat this process if your play qualifies for state. Send Proof to Brian Bubach.

3. If the answer is "NO", copy the said statement from the play script and send to the manager and the NDHSAA.

4. A copy of the script (as edited) must be sent to the manager by the 2 week deadline. Send to Brian Bubach if play qualifies for state.

One Act Play "Permission to Alter Content" Form

Name of Director____________________ School______________________

Name of Play___________________________________________________________

Playwright_________________________ Publishing Company__________________

Note: If your changes go beyond the definition below, you must request the publishing company for permission. (Note: Directors that have been the most successful have called or e-mailed the publisher directly. If they are told that NDHSAA Rules limit content to 30 minutes and that we have strict content/language rules, they are usually happy to grant permission to alter. When permission is received, a copy of that letter of permission must be attached to this form and mailed or faxed to the regional manager and the NDHSAA at least 2 weeks prior to the regional contest.

Note: It is the play director's responsibility to be aware of copyright law and how it relates to altering play scripts. "Altering" shall be defined as making any changes to the script other than substituting high school like vocabulary or phrases for obscenities, content, or other words not condoned in the classroom, If you would have to alter the playwright's intent to accomplish this, one should choose a different play.

A school will not be allowed to perform a play that has been altered without written publisher's approval.

It is not the responsibility of the manager to remind a director of his/her responsibilities, but a play will be disqualified at the time of competition, if the responsibilities outlined above have not been met.

Class B Ballot
One-Act Play Ballot
Title of Play ______________________________________ School ______________________
Playwright __________________________ Quality Points ___________ Rank __________
Use the following as general criteria to arrive at an overall quality point rating for
the production. Circle the total number of points you wish to award.
Rank plays 1, 2, 3, 4 and all remaining plays 5.
30 29 28 27 26 25 24 23 22 21 20 19 18 17 16 15
EFFECTIVE USE OF STAGE
(blocking, composition, design elements, inc.) ....................
CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT (emotional response,
spontaneity, physical & vocal response, etc)........................
DEVELOPMENT OF PLAYWRIGHT'S IDEAS,
THEMES & STYLE.............................................................
TOTAL
ENSEMBLE ACTING.............................................................
GENERAL EFFECTIVENESS (quality of play,
tempo, mood, emphasis, etc).................................................
COMMENTS: WRITTEN COMMENTS MUST JUSTIFY THE RATING! (Please do not
compare the production you are critiquing to any production you have done or are presently doing.)
JUDGE: __________________________________________
NDHSAA Official Ballot Form - North Dakota Play Contests

Please refer to the Online Handbook for 2008-09 Forensics/Drama Contests for Region dates and locations.

The NDHSAA website is new; please make sure you complete your MVP login for registration, etc.