California State Thespian Festival is a 3-day extravaganza for high school students of theatre.
While the 2024 schedule is currently in the works, a typical Festival weekend is as follows:
- Friday 10 a.m.: Festival registration opens. Thespys, rehearsals, and tech crew work begins.
- Friday evening: Opening Night mainstage event.
- Friday night: late night events, rehearsals.
- Saturday (7 a.m. – 10 p.m.): workshops, rehearsals, mainstage events including Playworks, Play Marathon, and Best of Fest Thespy performances.
- Sunday morning: Festival Finale rehearsals. Finale mainstage event and awards.
Festival registration includes all mainstage performances and workshops. Additional student opportunities are listed below; they may require sign ups, applications, auditions, and/or additional fees.
This following is intended to be a quick guide to all Festival happenings; for details, guidelines, and sign up procedures, use the links below.
Festival Finale: Time to Dance: Selections from THE PROM School Edition. Performed mainstage Sunday morning. Actors, singers, and dancers. Audition-based. No fee.
Improv Spectacular: Improv groups perform for adjudication. 1 per troupe. No fee.
Late Night Activities: Fun, non-competitive events, great for troupes with some students in late night rehearsals. No fee.
Opening Number: Dance number from Moulin Rouge! The Musical! that kicks off the first night of Festival. 6 students per troupe may apply, 1 per troupe guaranteed a spot. No fee.
Play Marathon: 30-minute one acts or cuttings performed mainstage. One per troupe. Apply by attending any Play Festival. $150.
Playworks: Staged readings of student-written plays. Playwrights, Actors, ADs. No fee for actors or ADs. $30 per Thespy playwriting submission.
Room Chairs: Vital time keepers and room facilitators. Required at least 2 per troupe. No fee.
Scholarships: Scholarships available for undergrads and seniors in 9 distinct categories. No fee.
State Thespian Officers: Student Officers elected to one-year terms. Max 2 per troupe. No fee.
Student Assistant Directors & Choreographers: Students assist professional directors on Opening Number, Playworks, or Festival Finale. Max 3 per troupe. No fee.
Tech Challenge: Fun, competitive event testing tech skills. Saturday afternoon on the quad. No fee.
Tech Crew: Student tech crew runs all tech for Festival under the mentorship of professional technicians. $30 per application.
Thespys: Individual students or student groups perform/present for judges for adjudication. Max 1 for freshmen & sophomores, max 2 for juniors & seniors. $30 per entry.
For a comprehensive guide on registering for Festival, download the Festival Registration Checklist (coming soon!)
With event questions, contact the email listed in the specific event description.
With general festival questions, contact Festival coordinator Emily.Stamets@cathespians.org
With questions about CA Thespians, contact info@cathespians.org
With questions about Open Water, visit this page or download the pdf Accessing OpenWater_22 for helpful documentation and videos. You may also contact the EdTA Membership team by emailing MEMBERS@schooltheatre.org
updated July 5, 2023