Drama Festival

Do you have a flair for the dramatic? Do you have a secret (or not so secret) desire to be an actor? Why not take part in the Lincoln Country Drama Festival? Come and join in on all the theatrics!

The Corning Yankees 4-H Club is coordinating this year’s Speaking and Puppetry Contest and is scheduled to be held on Saturday, April 5th, 9:00 am at St. John's School, Merrill. To enter, just fill out the registration form and return it by Monday, March 24, 2008 to the UW-Extension Office. Be thorough and exact, as the information will be printed in the program and put in news releases as noted on the entry forms.

There will be no exceptions to this deadline.

Please read the Drama Festival Guidelines for complete details. You can also review the Drama Rating Sheets in order to understand what the judges will be looking for.

If you have never seen or participated in the Drama Festival, there are videotapes/DVDs of past festivals for you to view. Stop by the UW-Extension Office to check one out. We also have lots of catalogs of plays and other drama resources for your use.

Drama Festival Guidelines:

For all county activities, groups may consist of any combination of enrolled 4-H members. Videotaping/ recording of entries in place of a live performance will not be allowed.

Adults are encouraged to provide guidance and support in teaching youth as they prepare for and perform in these events. They may assist with stage/scenery design, costuming, practices, and serve as accompanists for musical performances. However, they may not perform with the youth. Remember, these are youth performances, and we want to keep them learning experiences for the youth.

Open to all 4-H members.

Each member can perform in two performances.
Performance may be one person or a group.
All performances should be one act style (limited curtain pulling).
Adults should help with the behind-the-curtain action, teaching and guiding the youth (but remember, this is not an adult contest). Keep it a learning experience for the youth.
Performances should be creative, educational and entertaining.
Each performance is critiqued/judged (oral and written), except individual Cloverbuds or groups where the average grade is Cloverbud grade (K-2nd grade) will receive a participation ribbon (they are not judged).
Each performing member, whether on stage or behind the scenes, will receive a ribbon and certificate.
For each performance, outstanding actor/actress award and best costume award certificates may be presented at judge's discretion.
The outstanding performance may receive a merit ribbon at judge's discretion.
If you use props that create a mess (i.e. straw, hay, etc.), try to wrap them in something and ask coordinator of the event for equipment to clean up after yourself. This will help everyone involved.

Costumes

Looking for some help to make your costumes for this year’s play? The Lincoln County UW -Extension Office has a resource that may provide some help, “Elegantly Frugal Costumes”. This do-it-yourself costume maker’s guide has wonderfully practical ideas for making costumes for plays and musicals at the lowest possible expense. Over 150 detailed illustrations work with the easy-to-follow text to walk you through every step of the process. Many helpful hints and information about sewing in sleeves, hems and zippers, leftover fabric, aging an outfit and much, much more. Contact the Lincoln County UW-Extension Office if you are interested in borrowing this resource.