South Carolina International Thespians
& Palmetto Dramatic Association
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2024 PDA One-Act Festival
Dreher High School, Columbia
Schools must register by the December deadline in order to participate in the FESTIVAL.
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FEES Due:
$50- School Registration
$50- One-Act Registration for
Professional Plays
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School Registration link will be active from
September 25 until December 7, 2023.
Payment (or Purchase Order) must be received in order to reserve a Play Title. No duplicate entries are allowed.
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One-Act Main Stage Performances
One-Act Stage Performances are presented through out the weekend on the Main Stage.
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RATINGS: Superior, Excellent, and Honorable Mention
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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.
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Play Guidelines
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No plays that have been performed at the festival within the past two years may be presented. Ineligible plays are listed to the right.
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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 School Registration Form (available September 25).
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40 minute time limit, including set-up and strike.
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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.
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Focus should be on acting and directing; keep the technical elements SIMPLE.
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NOTE: ALL set pieces must fit in a 8ft X 8ft storage space
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The Host Site stage dimensions and instructions:
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If there are any updates after September 25th, those will be posted here:
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Ineligible Plays for the 2024 Festival
There is a TWO YEAR hold on scripts that can be performed.
Presented at the 2023 Festival
A Look on the Inside by Ty Ricard
Tribunal by Alan Haehnel
Anatomy of Gray by Jim Leonard Jr.
For Tiger Lilies Out of Season by Andrea Green
Danse Macabre by L. Don Swartz
Why Do We Laugh by Stephen Gregg
The Dancers by Horton Foote
Supressed Desires by Susan Glaspell
Epic Fail by Bradley Hayward
Love at First Thought by Shawn Deal
The Day the internet Died by Ian McWethy and Jason Pizzarello
Speed Date by Janet Allard
My California by Lisa D'Amour
The 146 Point Flame by Matt Thompson
Mac Beth by Erica Schmidt
In the Garden of the Selfish Giant by Sandra Fenichel Asher
The Elephant's Graveyard by By George Brant
The Least Offensive Play in the Whole Darn World by Jonathan Rand
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakeapeare
Silent Sky by Lauren Gunderson
The Velveteen Rabbit by Elise Kauzlaric
The Spot by Steven Dietz
Treasure Island by Todd Espeland
Who Killed Broadway by Meredith T. Taylor
Picnic at Hanging Rock by Joan Lindsay, Laura Annawyn Shamas
Anon(ymous) by Naomi Iizuka
The Brothers Grimm Spectaculathon (one-act) by Don Zolidis
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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
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.
ORIGINAL ONE ACTS:
The deadline for Original One Acts to be submitted is Thursday, Dec. 7, 2023.
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. Thespys Playwriting entries must be submitted as well. For more information about the Original One-Acts, please click the button below:
To learn more about the Blair Beasley Award for Seniors, go to the Senior Awards Page:
To view the critique sheet that the Judges use at the PDA One Act Festival, click One-Act Rubric:
Titles to be reserved by schools for the 2024 Festival will be listed in this document:
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First Day to submit Titles: September 25
To nominate a teacher for outstanding work, open this form: