The Rules
For the official rules, you need the AACTFest Handbook - 2009 Cycle, available on the AACT site.
Participant Criteria
- All theatre companies must meet the same eligibility standards and requirements.
- Maximum time limits are 60 minutes performance time, 10 minutes set-up time and 10 minutes strike time.
- All actors, musicians and stage personnel must begin set-up and end strike either in or immediately adjacent to the "on deck" area.
- A production must be performed in the same form at all festival levels.
- The house must be closed during each performance.
- Adjudicators must not discuss productions before the first ballot.
- The Festival Commission Representative will make the final determination in all matters of dispute during a festival.
Adjudication Criteria
- Is the acting believable and technically skillful with effective timing?
- Are the characters well-interpreted?
- Does the company display ensemble work?
- Is the material appropriate for the company?
- Is the concept appropriate for the material and realized by the company?
- Has the structure of the production been controlled?
- Are the movements and stage pictures effective?
- Is the production well-paced?
- Do the technical elements support the overall production?
- How effective was the total impact?
Guidelines on Adjudication
Plays are to be adjudicated based on the overall production, with acting and directing as the major elements. All types of productions—comedy, drama, original works, musicals, revues, avant-garde, “controversial,” etc., presented as a one-act, a cutting, a selected act, etc.—are acceptable entries to the festival and must be considered on a similar basis, with the best production being the one that most fully realizes all production values and criteria.
AACTFest Policy on Censorship
AACT supports a policy permitting the widest possible range of dramatic material to be performed in a festival of American community theatre. Companies are expected to exercise taste, good judgment and respect for the values of the host theatres.
Host theatres, if they have reason to believe a festival performance may be locally unacceptable, may notify their patrons in advance, or publish a disclaimer, but in no case may they refuse to allow the company to perform. Should the controlling body of the host theatre forbid said performance, the host group, with the approval of the Festival Commission Chair, shall provide an alternate performance space.
For More Information...
Visit the AACT web site to download the the AACTFest Documents page, with links to downloadable PDF versions of the AACTFest Handbook - 2009 Cycle, and other helpful documents .
Learn How to Participate in AACTFest '09
Find out Who To Contact about AACTFest '09
