Firstly, always pay your royalties.
Second, there's options. The last two years we did a program Two Nights, Four One Acts. We had our competition one act go both nights, and then my different classes performed their various one act shows (four in one night; in 2015 this was Woman at a Threshold Beckoning, followed by Check, Please!, followed by A Christmas Carol, followed by Postcards from Shakespeare).
This was utter chaos and not a little stressful having over 150 students to supervise, worry who was coming in/late, etc, and just soul destroying.
This year I'm still going to have our one act festival, but spread it over three weeks, and have two plays go each night. One will be the competition one act, followed by whichever class one act is up for that week.
This means we can let the cast go at a reasonable time, as well as having a more manageable group (two casts rather than 4!). By extending it over a few weeks, I'm hoping that the word of mouth will carry through and sell extra tickets.
Other suggestions on here are great! Sometimes I had a theme, sometimes the theme was 'there's students performing in it.' Selection was often based on what I felt was appropriate or just challenging enough to move the students from one level to the next, and selection was also based on aiming for a variety of genres/styles/stories, but mainly making sure to balance drama with comedy. This year, our competition piece is an adaptation of Macbeth, so the other one acts are most likely going to be comedies...
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Phillip Goodchild
Theatre Arts Instructor/Assistant Department Head of English
Ruskin FL
Original Message:
Sent: 07-22-2016 22:07
From: Kathy Cannarozzi-Harris
Subject: Show Selection
I have done student directed one acts and handled the royalties through the various agencies. They were anywhere from $25 to $75 per selection.
I also have done evenings called, "The Scenic Route" which are scenes from various plays joined by a theme--Tales of Terror, Power of Love etc... The royalties were handled as scene performances with the various agencies. It can get expensive but it is important to pay the royalties --writers need to make a living too.
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Kathy Cannnarozzi Harris
Theater Director - Mission Viejo HS
VAPA Coordinator K-12
Saddleback Valley USD
Mission Viejo, CA
Original Message:
Sent: 07-20-2016 12:59
From: Michael Stofko
Subject: Show Selection
Has anyone done one acts from three different shows as a major production? How did you choose shows? How are royalties handled? Any suggestions would be appreciated.
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Michael Stofko
Teacher
Wilkes Barre PA
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