Open Forum

As long as you make the criteria clear, your administration should have no problem with you awarding letters.  I've attached the list of criteria for our program.  My principal and athletic director signed off on it very quickly.

For our program, lettering in Drama takes at least two years, most students do it in three years.  We even have some very "gung-ho" students who letter twice in their four years.  Each year, we award about a dozen letters (or gold "bars" for those students that have already lettered in other activities).

Here's something to keep in mind if you do meet resistance: Do you participate in any competitive drama events (One Act Play competitions, Forensics, Literary Meet, etc.)?  If so, you can make the argument that such activities constitute the same level of commitment and school spirit as football or any other competitive event.  Just sayin'.

Hope this helps!

In order to Letter in Drama at Northwest Whitfield High School, a student must have at least:

2 Drama Classes with a Grade of “A”

2 Spring Musicals (onstage, tech crew, or producing*)

1 One Act (onstage or tech)

or Improv Team Performance (you must attend 10 Improv workshops prior to performance)

2 Years in Drama Club

- This includes being very active and productive in club activities. In other words, simply signing up and attending a few meetings is not enough

2 Of Any of the Following:

- Literary Meet (any event) or Mock Trial

- Shakespeare Contest

- Poetry Recitation Contest

- Improv Team

- Tech or Produce* Talent Show 

- Tech or Produce* Miss NHS Pageant

- Performance, Tech, or Producing* shows outside of NHS

*Producing = working backstage, or on any crew (construction, costumes, lighting, sound, etc.) – or – working at least 20 hours to advertise and raise money for the show.

A student may earn an additional letter in Drama (or receive a gold bar to attach to a previously earned letter) if he/she exceeds the prerequisites listed above AND, in the view of Mr. Ruben, demonstrates the skills and professionalism which merit the honor.

I'm glad this question was asked - I have had similar desires for my own program, which is now two years old. I gave my first letter at our end-of-year dinner last night.

I like this list of criteria a lot, and with your permission I will borrow from it for our school. The only criterion I had in mind was that students had to have accumulated 50 Thespian points, which I think I'll keep. Your points about loyal participation, doing well in class, and doing a set number of projects are great additions.

Embarrassingly, it had not occurred to me that I should get the idea approved by my principal! Guess I know what I'm doing today.

Our students who are inducted into the International Thespian Society earn their varsity letter.  Our letter is just slightly different from the one earned through athletics.  Our letter has 3D shading on one side.

To letter in theatre at my school the students must complete ALL of the following:

* be a Thespian

* complete two theatre classes with a B- or better (my classes are one semester long)

* make a significant contribution in two different productions (acting or tech)

* two more items of their choice (either classes or production requirements as stated above)

I know this is rigorous, especially in a small school, but I wanted to insure that students had to work hard to earn a letter and be committed to the success of the theatre department. Since beginning this award, I have added a Technical Theatre and a Musical Theatre letter. Those requirements are a bit different in that the Technical Theatre letter requires the contributions to be technical jobs and the Musical Theatre letter only requires a significant contribution in two different musicals with no missed performances or excessive rehearsal issues. Final determination is made by the choir teacher and me with the student's effort and mental attitude playing a big part of the final determination of who earns a Musical Theatre letter.

After receiving their first letter in a category, students receive a chevron for any subsequent years of earning the same letter. So a student could potentially earn a physical school letter in all three areas and any number of chevrons for additional years. All three letters have the name of the letter embroidered in it. ("Theatre" "Technical Theatre" or "Musical Theatre") This was a process that evolved over a few years, but I wish I would have had the foresight to introduce them all the same year. Let me know if I can answer any questions.

DHS has been giving Drama Letters for better than 20 years, and our criteria break into two parts, Performance and Events.  Typically we have 4 shows and the Choir POPS concert that we are involved in.  You must be heavily involved in 4 of the 5 shows, either Tech or performing in the shows.  We have a variable list of Events from fundraisers (football concessions, car wash, etc), community service events (TOTS, work at our local Food Bank, etc) Homecoming, etc.  You must be involved in 3/4 of these items.  The students know that if they do not fulfill their responsibility for a show or an event I will discount it towards lettering.  The incoming freshmen are encouraged by the rest of the troupe to get involved early and stay involved, so I have 6 to 8 four-year letter winners each year.

HI Lisa,

There is already a format for awarding students in theater. The International Thespian Society, which is part of the Educational Theater Association.  If your school is a member of ITS, then you can begin awarding points to your students for their work in theater. There is already an award system set up there, and you shouldn't need to go through the athletic department to accomplish this.

ITS does not specifically say when the students have enough points to letter - but I award them letters when they have earned 60 points, which is when ITS states they are an Honor Thespian.

At 100 points, I award an Honor Medallion, and at 120 (National Honor Thespian) I award the graduation cords.

The link below will get you to their home page.  Good Luck!!

International Thespian Society - EdTA - Educational Theatre Association

Hi Lisa,

Our program has a letter that is our school letter with the drama masks in one corner of it.  Students letter when they have been involved in our program for two years and have earned 20 Thespian points.  One needs not be inducted into ITS to letter, though everyone has been already inducted.

While I do like some of the more detailed plans that people have posted, I like the simplicity of mine.  We give out lots of other awards, so we keep track of lots of elements of our students.

Ray

In our Troupe, we use the Thespian Honor Point system to determine honors status.  Students can reach various levels through out their high school careers, culminating in the awarding of cords at graduation along with scholar stoles, etc.  Something we are talking about doing next year is to award the various honor point levels as students attain them and pin or embroider their warm up jackets. 

Something else that we do that I think is kind of cool-- we wear "blacks" that are essentially all alike for our after school rehearsals and workshops, as well as for some performances.  Some of my students have 3 or four sets of blacks, one from each year along with their troupe shirts. 

Hope that helps,