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2023 PDA One-Act Festival 
USC-Upstate, Spartanburg

Schools must register by the December deadline in order to participate in the FESTIVAL.

FEES Due:

$50- School Registration

$50- One-Act Registration for

Professional Plays

INTENT to PARTICIPATE link will be active from October 1 until  December 8, 2022.

Payment (or Purchase Order) must be received in order to reserve a Play Title.  No duplicate entries are allowed.

One-Act Main Stage Performances

One-Act Stage Performances are presented through out the weekend on the Main Stage. 

RATINGS: Superior, Excellent, and

                      Honorable Mention

Please remember, PDA is a Festival, NOT a competition. Schools are NOT rated against each other. Adjudicators are professionals, college professors, and theatre educators. An attempt is made to provide a variety of judges from year to year. Suggestions are welcome. Festival judges utilize a "rating sheet" created and revised by the PDA Board of Directors for the one-act plays.

Play Guidelines

  • No plays that have been performed at the festival within the past two years may be presented. Ineligible plays are listed to the left.

  • No duplicate entries are allowed. The second school to submit a play title will be asked to make another selection or to withdraw with a refund for the one-act fee only. Schools are highly encouraged to submit the play title with the Intent to Participate/School Registration Form.

  • 40 minute time limit, including set-up and strike.

  • One professional play entry (musical or non-musical) per school. A school may perform an original script but will be adjudicated as if it is a professional published script.

  • Focus should be on acting and directing; keep the technical elements SIMPLE.

  • NOTE: ALL set pieces must fit in a 8ft X 8ft storage space

The Host Site will post stage dimensions and instructions here:

Thespian Chapter Select

​Any Thespian school that would like to perform their one-act at Nationals must indicate the desire to be screened during the PDA One-Act Festival for a slot in  Select Showcase (formerly the Regional Play Marathon) at the International Thespian Festival.  If more than one school wants to advance, a representative from EdTA will make the final selection.

1. Schools must register in January 

2. There is a $20 fee to be considered for Chapter Select Showcase at our festival.

3. The Community Standards & Copyright Form must be submitted at registration in February.

Ineligible Plays for the 2023 Festival

There is a TWO YEAR hold on scripts that can be performed.

Presented at the 2021 Virtual Festival

A Moment in Time                          Eddie Kennedy

A Virtual Whodunit                         F.Kobler/ C. Marcus

All Out                                               John Rester Zodrow

And                                                    Alan Haehnel 

Asleep on the Wind                        Ellen Byron

Deaf Day                                           Leslie Ayvazian

Final Dress Rehearsal                     Jack Frakes

Happenstance                                Craig Pospisil

Hope n' Mercy                                Kent R. Brown

Just Like Us                                     Craig Sodaro

Medusa's Tale                                Carol S. Lashof

Nothing Good Happens After Midnight        Laurie Allen

The 39 Steps: A Live Radio Play   Joe Landry

The Arkansaw Bear                       Aurand Harris

The Bequest                                   Dale Wasserman

The Ghost Moments                     Randy Wyatt

The Murderous Mansion of Mr. Uno        Don Zolidis

This is a Test                                   Stephen Gregg

Twelve Incompetent Jurors          Ian McWethy

Waiting for the Bus                       Benjamin Connor

War Letters                                     J. Robert Wilkins

War of the Worlds: A Totally Teen Online Theatrical Event                                                                                 -F.Kobler/ C. Marcus

Presented at the 2022 Hybrid Festival

A Christmas Chaos by Michael Wehrli

A Game by Dennis E. Noble

Almost, Maine by John Cariani

Bald Soprano by Eugene Ionesco

Booby Trap by Ed Monk

Chairs by Scott Mullen

Crafting a Killer by Brent Holland

Far Away by Caryl Churchill

Gutenberg! The Musical! by Anthony King & Scott Brown

If Sherlock Holmes were a Woman by Tim Kelly

Jack in the Box by Scott Mullen

Malled: Yes, Virginia, There is a Virginia by Colleen Neuman

On the Verge by Eric Overmyer

Oz by Don Zolidis

So You Want To Be A Cheerleader by MG Davidison

Steel Magnolias by Robert Harling

That's Not How I Remember It by Don Zolidis

The Complete Works of William Shakespeare, Abridged by

                                                      A. Long, D. Singer, and J. Winfield

The Lottery by Brainerd Duffield, Shirley Jackson

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Dwayne Hartford

The Role of Della by John Wooten

The Staggering Heartbreak of Jasmine Merriweather

                                                                                      by Don Zolidis

Time Flies by David Ives

Titles to be reserved by schools for the 2023 Festival will be listed in this document:

Updated February 16 at 4:15 PM

To view the critique sheet that the Judges use at the PDA One Act Festival, click  One-Act Rubric.

ORIGINAL ONE ACTS:

The deadline for Original One Acts to be submitted is Thursday,

Nov. 10, 2022.

The top three ORIGINAL scripts will be presented in READER'S THEATRE FORMAT during the festival.   The performances WILL NOT be part of the Main Stage Productions.

For more information about the Original One-Acts, please click the button below:

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