Theatre BC's Annual Provincial Community Theatre Festival
How Plays Are
Chosen For the Provincial MAINSTAGE Festival
Theatre BC's
Festivals Committee selects a minimum of five adjudicators from the Association's
"Talent Bank" of theatre professionals to review each performance at their
assigned Zone Festival and offer their evaluation of each production. Following the final
performance, the adjudicator selects a "Best Production and other category awards to
honour the achievements of participants. The competitive nature of these events is
intended to encourage learning, as participants seek to improve their theatrical skills
and enhance their chances of being selected to advance to MAINSTAGE.
Adjudicators
receive entered scripts in advance and compare each Member Club's production achievements
with the intentions of the script: Did the performance meet or exceed all its objectives?
Were all the challenges of that script met? At the end of the Zone Festival, individual
awards are given at the Adjudicator's discretion and in keeping with established Zone
traditions. The Adjudicator will select a "Best Production" and then meet with
the Festivals Committee upon the conclusion of the final Zone Festival to help set the
schedule for MAINSTAGE. There are two categories of participation:
The traditional,
adjudicated performances of the "Best Productions" from the up to 11 preceding
Zone Festivals. Each Zone-winning play is given a "Best Production Workshop" by
its Zone Adjudicator following the Zone Festival in preparation for "Mainstage"
and in keeping with Theatre BC's "education" emphasis. These productions vie for
coveted provincial honours, awarded since 1932.
The Workshop Plays
Series provides two performances, plus workshopping with a professional instructor. Each
play is performed on the afternoon of the first day, workshopped for the next day and a
half, then the re-worked play is performed a second time on the third afternoon. Groups
are each given the same four-hour load-in as the Mainstage competitive plays. Performances
are in a secondary venue.
Any play in any Zone that enters a Zone Festival can apply to Theatre BC for the
opportunity of attending MAINSTAGE as one of three Workshop Plays. If selected as Zone
Festival ‘Best Production’, a submitted entry would no longer be eligible for
the Workshop Plays Series -- you cannot do both!
The criteria the Festivals Committee will use are:
1. We will take into account the opinion of the Zone Festival
Adjudicator as to whether or not he or she believes that a production will benefit from
the Workshop Play experience.
2. We will consider which clubs sent plays to last year’s Workshop
Play Series, and may use this history to allow plays from other clubs to attend.
3. The venue size and configuration may be considered, as some plays may
not be suitable for the Workshop Play venue at MAINSTAGE.
This process offers participants the opportunity to enjoy both performance and
workshopping by a theatre-professional instructor. Each Workshop Play performs in a
secondary venue, workshops for a day and a half and performs the reworked show a second
time. All performances are scheduled in the afternoon and each series is three days long.
Go to Workshop Play Application here.
