The Cultural Arts Center

The Cultural Arts Center Fall Choral &Theatre Festival 2013

The Cultural Arts Center of Dothan, Alabama is pleased to bring you an all new expanded festival. The Fall Choral and Theatre Festival is being brought to you by The Cultural Arts Center, The Southeast Alabama Community Theatre and Southeastern Performance Apparel to spotlight the talents of your best and brightest students. Our center offers you excellent performance and practice halls and is centrally located in the downtown area, a short drive away from the National Peanut Festival fairgrounds. The Cultural Arts Center Fall Choral and Theatre Festival guarantees to offer your students an outstanding performing arts experience. By hosting this competition during the National Peanut Festival week, we will also be able to offer your students reduced fees for entry into the fair, should you choose to participate.

The Cultural Arts Center is the home to five arts related organizations in the Wiregrass. Housed in the old Southside Elementary School, these organizations share a wonderful 300 seat acoustically sound auditorium and a smaller one hundred seat banquet hall as its performance venues. Our building has undergone a facelift this year. We have rehearsal pianos, a Kawai Grand Piano in the performance hall and a full sound system should you require taped music. We also have dressing rooms, waiting areas and a green room for theatre students. The Cultural Arts Center and Southeast Alabama Community Theatre are non-profit organizations that are proud to offer a Fall Choral/Theatre Festival and promise to insure a positive learning experience for all in attendance. The Cultural Arts Center and Southeast Alabama Community Theatre will be handling all fees and securing quality adjudicators for this competition. First place plaques will be awarded to division winners, Best of Festival, and Spirit of Festival for choral and theatre competitions. Second and third place ribbons in each division will also be awarded.

The goal of the Fall Choral & Theatre Festival is to spark that extra drive and determination needed at the beginning of the school year, and to provide valuable experience in preparing for district, regional, and state competition, while offering a professionally delivered festival. We are encouraging high standards of excellence and strive to provide quality adjudication services.

Please note the postmark deadline for registration is Friday, October 11. We will date and time entries as we receive them and the schedule will be created according to the order we receive entries. Please return registration forms, payment, information sheet and adjudication forms by October 11. There will be a $50.00 late fee assessed to all schools sending in registration forms after the due date. YOU MAY FAX FORMS TO 334-699-2816. We must have payment before the festival begins.

The fee schedule will be as follows:

FOR CHORAL COMPETITION

1. There will be a registration fee of $40 for each performing choir from your school OR homeschool. (Ex.ample- if you bring a mixed choir, a show choir, and a men’s choir, you would owe the festival $120). 2. A participation fee of $7.00 per student covers the cost of adjudication, certificate fees, and entry into the National Peanut Festival fairgrounds. Chaperones attending the fairgrounds with students will also be required to pay a $6.00 fee to cover their fair admission.) The festival opens each afternoon at 4pm Monday- Friday and noon on the weekend. The Peanut Festival runs November 2-11. Please visit nationalpeanutfestival.com for a listing of fair events and general information. 3. Soloists must pay an additional $15 fee to cover additional costs. 4. If your students will not be attending the Peanut Festival Fair, there will only be a $3.50 charge per student to cover adjudication and certificate fees. 5. There will be a $2.00 admission charge at the door for those wishing to watch the competition (per day). Choral students will not be charged. Directors must collect the fee from your chaperones ahead of time and send it with your registration. The chaperone fee is $1.00 per person. You will receive armbands for your chaperones and yourself at the registration table. You will need to purchase a separate armband to observe the drama festival.

For Choral Students and Show Choirs; You must provide 3 original copies of each piece of music with measures numbered and the school name clearly labeled when you arrive the day of the festival. If your music is copied, please provide permission from the publisher to use said music. If your choir is performing to taped music, you must present your C.D. at the registration table upon arrival so that our sound engineer may test your music ahead of your performance time. Choirs may perform 2 songs of your choice. Our choral risers will accommodate 100 students. A Kawai grand piano is available at floor level. We will also have a piano at stage level for those directors who must also accompany their students.

Show choirs may perform a program of your choice no longer than 15 minutes. The stage is 32 feet wide and 27 feet deep. Wing space is available on both sides of the stage. We will close the grand to allow your students to get in place. Please designate on the cd cover the directions for opening the curtain and starting music. (Example: do your students come on stage before or after the music starts? )

For Soloists: Please be advised that this year, the soloists will compete in a room with one judge rather than on the large performance stage. We hope this encourages more students to compete. This format will also allow students to talk to the judge and get immediate feedback on his/her performance. The student may have an accompanist or use taped music. One piece of sheet music must be turned in at registration for the soloist. FOR THEATRE COMPETITION:

1. There will be a registration fee of $40 for each performance group from your school OR homeschool. (Example- if you bring a drama club and a drama class, you would owe the festival $80). 2. A participation fee of $7.00 per student covers the cost of adjudication, certificate fees, and entry into the National Peanut Festival fairgrounds. Chaperones attending the fairgrounds with students will also be required to pay a $6.00 fee to cover their fair admission.) The festival opens each afternoon at 4pm Monday- Friday and noon on the weekend. The Peanut Festival runs November 2-11. Please visit nationalpeanutfestival.com for a listing of fair events and general information. 3. Students presenting Monologues and Duets must pay an additional $15 fee to cover additional costs. 4. If your students will not be attending the Peanut Festival Fair, there will only be a $3.50 charge per student to cover adjudication and certificate fees. 5. There will be a $2.00 admission charge at the door for those wishing to watch the competition (per day). Drama students will not be charged. Directors must collect the fee from your chaperones ahead of time and send it with your registration. The chaperone fee is $1.00 per person. You will receive armbands for your chaperones and yourself at the registration table. You will need to purchase a separate armband to observe the choral festival.

For Drama Students and Dramatic Performance Groups;

PROOF OF PRODUCTION RIGHTS. You must provide a copy of your Royalty Agreement and/or Permission to Cut for any published piece presented. We must have this information with your registration before your piece can be performed for competition. The Cultural Arts Center Choral & Theatre Festival accepts student-written work. If a play is student written, a signed statement from the teacher must be attached to a typed copy of the work indicating it is the product of that particular student.

SELECTION OF PLAYS. Any 10-minute, 5-minute, or 3-minute cutting (published, original, or student written) from a longer play will be accepted. If piece is student written a signed statement from the teacher must be attached to a typed copy of the work indicating it is the product of that particular student. The selection of plays should include the following characteristics:

1.Suitable for middle or high school cast, school and its community. 2.In good taste with regard to language and subject matter. 3.An example of good literature. 4.Emphasis on direction, characterization, and simplicity of production.

It is the participating school's responsibility to know limitations of Host's Stage and production capabilities. You must provide 3 original copies of each dramatic presentation for the judges. TIME LIMITS. Each participating Group or Student should be ready to perform at the scheduled time. Monologues shall be allowed 3 minutes. Duets shall be allowed 5 minutes. Scenes shall be allowed 10 minutes. Any presentation breaking this rule will be eliminated from consideration for a Superior rating.

SET REQUIREMENT. No sets are permitted at the Cultural Arts Center Fall Choral & Theatre Festival. A 2’ x 4’ table and two chairs are provided on stage for optional use during a dramatic presentation. Groups or Students are allowed limited properties to enhance the presentation, but all materials are to be kept and maintained with the school or performance group and must move with the student or group. There is no designated area for materials to be “left” during observation of other schools or performances. We encourage students and groups to embrace the suspension of disbelief with imagined props and set. Instructors need to communicate concerns to the Festival Theatre Director prior to the Festival event. The stage itself is approximately 24’ wide x 16’ deep.

We look forward to having you join us this year. Please feel free to e-mail or phone us if we may be of any service to you. Sincerely,

Ann Cotton Susan Brolund Jennifer Love Doherty Executive Director Festival Coordinator Theatre Coordinator 334.699.2787 phone 334.618.1766 phone 334.794.0800 phone 334.699.2816 fax 334.699.2816 fax 334.699.2816 fax [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]