We're a Large Training Program . . .

• The participating entry format, where your show competes for a trip to the Kennedy Center, is only part of our organization.  There are dozens of other ways to participate.  Each school that participates finds a way to use the festival to its best advantage.

• One of the many playwrighting programs, design award categories, National Critics’ Institute, or acting scholarships may give your students a second-step opportunity. Simply coming to the festival allows them to see a number of productions done by a variety of institutions as well as student design exhibits, the Irene Ryan Scholarship auditions, new plays, student-written criticism, and the like.  Some of the work will not be as good as theirs; some will be better.  In either case, they learn about their peers, cohorts, potential competition, and coevals.

• Your faculty presenting workshops, responding to productions, or participating in regional governance of the festival may give them valuable service accomplishments and broadcast the excellence of your program throughout the region and the nation. At the same time they are networking with other schools that may be a source of students for your program. 

• Your school hosting the state or regional festival may give hundreds (in some regions around 1500) of undergraduates and graduate students a look at your facilities, your programs, your faculty, and your students and can be a priceless recruiting tool for years to come.