Scheduling can be a tricky process. Use board members experience, past festival schedules and past hosts experience for guidance. Develop your tentative schedule early and have them review it.
The earlier technical rehearsals should be scheduled for the closest schools.
Some of the closer schools may be willing to tech the night before the festival.
Try not to schedule technical rehearsals during meetings or Forum sessions.
Schedule Technical rehearsals for distant, late arriving schools between show blocks.
Technical rehearsals probably will not be in the same order as performances.
Make sure technical rehearsals come before performances.
Be careful not to tech so many shows up front that there are not enough spike tape colors.
A show should not be scheduled to perform immediately after its technical rehearsal because each company needs its time in the green room to get ready. Occasionally a school may request to perform immediately after its tech. If that is what they want then do it. This is easier for set movement.
Allow time between show blocks for meals, Forums or critique sessions and for adjudicators to write critiques.
Try not to schedule similar shows during the same block.
Ending a block with a comedy can leave the audience with a good feeling or at least keep them awake.
If there are 2 productions of the same show in the festival, place them as far apart in the performance schedule as possible.
Keep Performance blocks to 2 or 3 shows long.
Pay particular attention to the length of each play and how long it will take to get the set in & out of the theater.
Before the first performance, schedule a 20 minute Opening Student Forum. All students will go to their forum rooms. Facilitators will explain the process and lead the groups in ice breaker games of some sort. Perhaps they will also do a trial run forum.
Before the first performance, simultaneous with the Opening Student Forum but starting 10 minutes later, schedule the 10 minute Opening Directors Meeting. Here the directors meet the adjudicators, consultant and host. Once the adjudicators and consultant leave the room, copies of the content notifications are distributed and the directors discuss any content issues.
Student Forums and Directors Critiques should be scheduled after each block of show. Allow 10 minutes for each show in the block.
Remember to allow time to get to and from the theatre.
(State Festival only)
Yes, in order to continue and evolve the New Hampshire Educational Theater Guild we need to have some meetings. During the State Festival there will need to be a meeting of the membership of the NHETG. This will involve everyone at the festival with the exception of the adjudicators and the consultant. For this reason, a good time for this meeting may be after the last performance of the festival and before awards and any other closing celebrations. At the very least this meeting will need to elect 2 students to the board and 3 adults. There may also be other items to be discussed or voted. The board of the NHETG runs this, meeting. A large space is needed such as the theater or cafeteria.
(State Festival only)
Near the conclusion of the State Festival there will be a student congress meeting. Two students from each participating school with the exception of the host school will meet to make suggestions for next year's festivals. Directors choose these students and the host provides a space. Students Representative to the NHETG Board and from next year's state host school should attend and take notes to be reported to the NHETG Board.
(State Festival only)
After the NHETG Annual Meeting, while the adjudicators are deliberating, the NHETG Board meets with the directors to discuss the future. This meeting needs to take place somewhere other than where the student entertainment is happening and not where the adjudicators are working.
At a regional festival there is not usually a meeting but check with the board. Anything is possible.