PSIA  One-Act Play
Simplified Rules

Last Updated:  8/10/03

The following guidelines include rules and specifications for contest administration at District and State levels.  Complere instructions for OAP may be found in the 2003-04 edition of the PSIA Middle School One-Act Play Handbook.

 • ENTRIES.  Students in the sixth, seventh and eighth grades may enter the One-Act Play Contest.  As many as 15 actors plus for crew member students from grades six through eight combined may be entered in this contest from each school.  Schools that consist of any of the three grade levels (6, 7, or 8) may participate.

• COMPETITION SCHEDULE/ ADVANCING TO STATE.  Schools will be assisted in locating and forming an area competition.  District / Area OAP competition must be held within the same schedule provided for all other academic contests, unless written permission is given otherwise.  Six plays from across the state will advance to the PSIA OAP State Meet.  Ideally, one play could advance from each of six OAP tournaments held throughout the state.  Because of growing numbers of schools participating, however, it may be necessary to hold both a ZONE and an AREA contest.   Alignment will be determined following the deadline for receipt of OAP Registration Forms—January 15.  (Check the PSIA website for updates on district competition dates/places, to be posted in January.)

• REGISTRATION DEADLINE.   Inform the District Director by December 10 of your school’s intent to participate in OAP competition, in order that alignment may be  set for competition. All registration forms for OAP are due in to the state office on or before January 15.   (Registration form follows this section in the handbook)

• PERSONNEL.  
    1.  Coach / Director.  Any person may serve as coach / director of a PSIA One-Act Play.   Preferrably, the director would be a certified drama instructor.
    2.  Stage Manager.  Any person from the host school may serve as stage manager.  This person should be knowledgeable of all aspects of the stage:  dimensions, lighting, curtains, props, etc.  Although it is possible for the hosting coach to serve as the stage manager, it is preferred that someone else serve in this position to avoid conflict.  The stage manager is responsible for hiring a judge and enforcing rules of the  contest.  (Further explanation of the stage manager’s function is found in the OAP handbook.)
    3.  Judge.   One certified drama teacher or a critic judge. (See handbook for detail.)
    4.  Time Keepers.  Two persons representing two different participating schools, or one who represents no school in the competition.  One will be stationed backstage.  The other will sit in the audience and keep time.
    5.  Backstage Crew.   Doorkeepers, ushers, and box office personnel as needed.

• PLAY SELECTION.  OAP coaches may select a short or long play from the lists provided in the OAP Handbook for Middle Schools.  If another play is selected, it must meet these criteria:
    1.  It should be published by one of these approved publishers (addresses / phone numbers in OAP handbook):  Anchorage Press, Baker’s Plays, Broadway, I.E. Clark, Dramatic Publishing, Dramatists Play Service, Samuel French, and New Plays, Inc.  (Other publishers may be accepted by committee approval only if the play title and script are submitted to the state office by December 10.)
    2.   Written request for approval of a play not on the list must be made to PSIA by January 1.

• ROYALTIES.   Proof of payment of royalties must be submitted at each level of competition.

• PLAY TIME LIMIT.  The presentation time of the OAP must not exceed 40 minutes.  Scene changes within the progress of the play are included within the 40-minute time period allowed.

• TIME LIMITS TO SET AND STRIKE.  Seven minutes are allowed to set up the set on the stage, and seven minutes are allowed to strike the set following the play presentation.  These times are separate from play presentation time.

• TIME LIMITS ON MUSIC ELEMENTS.  Up to 10 minutes (optionally documented) shall be allowed.

• STAGE SET.  Instructions for constructing the basic OAP stage set are found in the appendix of the OAP  Middle School Handbook.  Any pieces of the approved basic stage set may be used in the play production.  The host school may provide the stage set, or the pieces needed by an individual school may be brought to contest. 
Guidelines for stage sets are printed exactly as they are in the UIL rules.  A lengthy explanation has been provided in order to ensure that stage sets will be within required  standards.  Each school will have no more than a 10” X 10’ space in order to store stage pieces behind stage prior to and following performance.
    Additions to the Basic Set Not Requiring Approval. The following (i) through (v) shall be used upstage of the house curtain/proscenium unless architectural necessity dictates otherwise.  If architectural necessity dictates using downstage of the house curtain/proscenium for unit set or any other scenic device, except hand held flags/banners, an addition to the basic set shall be required. (i) Four portable, single-source lighting instruments, excluding intelligent/robotic lighting, or two 6' strip lights, or two single source and one strip light may be used. These instruments shall not exceed 1000 watts each and must be hand-held or safely mounted from the floor on either a static light stand or any part of a unit set element, not to exceed 8' in height, provided and controlled by the performing company.
(ii) Two 8’x 10' unframed soft goods/cloth type backdrops, scrims, curtains or projection screens, hand-held or suspended on battens between unit set elements and to be used in separate locations. Backdrops shall not be used to extend unit set flats as walls.  No more than two (2) portable projection sources including stage lights with static Gobos, but excluding video and film, may be used with the unframed backdrops, curtains, scrims or projection screens or unit set elements.  Soft goods/cloth-type trim elements, including flags, cloth/floral trim, and banners, may be hand-held, used on (v) below, or used on or with unit set elements (as a substitute for all or part of the above), but shall not exceed the square footage described above.  Hand held poles for flags or banners are limited to 8'. Such goods shall not cover more than 50% of the visible surface of any unit set elementor (v) below, but shall not be used as downstage masking of unit set platforms. No combination of the above unframed units or trim shall exceed 160 square feet, nor shall any piece of trim exceed 10 linear feet. (iii) Capitols on unit set pylons which shall not exceed more than one foot in any direction from the top edge of the pylon and which shall be constructed of lightweight material that shall not damage the pylons.  (iv) Six self-supported trees, each not to exceed 4' wide by 8' high, and six self-supported bushes, each not to exceed 2' wide by 3' high, each of which are lightweight, portable, shiftable, storable and easily transportable. Two-dimensional cutout trees or bushes may be suspended from unit set elements, but shall not cover more than 50% of the visible surface of each element with the exception of unit set pylons, which may be covered.  (v) Twelve linear feet of non-metallic fence or railing with sections not to exceed 4' high by 8' long by 6" wide, to be  self-supported or used in conjunction with unit set elements and soft goods/cloth-type trim elements in (ii) above, but shall not be used to elevate unit set elements. Such sections shall be lightweight, portable, shiftable, storable and easily transportable.
           Additions to the Basic Set Requiring Approval. If special lighting instruments, video and film projections, scrims, drops, step units, platforms, curtains, draperies, trees, bushes, ground-rows, flat scenery or other scenic pieces are desired, except as noted above (refer to “Supplements” in the current Handbook For One-Act Play for definition of scenery), the director shall postmark or deliver to the PSIA state office on or before JANUARY 1 the play title, author, exact scenes from or adaptation of the play and each of the following, on 8-1/2"x 11" paper:  a. A scale drawing of the complete ground plan of the proposed set.  b.  A scale drawing of each proposed addition to the basic set. c.   A full description of all materials to be used in construction of each proposed addition to the basic set.  d.  A full description and justification of the intended use of each proposed addition to the basic set. No consideration will be given to any request for additions to the basic set unless items (i)-(iv) listed above are submitted. (Additions to the basic set do not include stage properties. Refer to “Supplements” in the current PSIA Middle School Handbook For One-Act Play for definition of stage properties.) The letter from PSIA approving set additions must be presented by the director to the contest manager. Set additions not officially approved by PSIA shall not be used in one-act play contests. (Scenic devices attached to actors as costumes require approval, unless the characters in question are actually used as character properties in the action of the play. Carrying scenic devices on the stage in view of the audience does not necessarily make them properties.) One-act play contest managers may supply standard stage properties. No stage properties such as those included in the definition (refer to “Supplements” in the current handbook), shall be used as substitutes for platforms or step units. Individual play directors may provide unusual stage  properties not available at the contest site.  Arrangements for the use of such properties must be made in advance with the contest manager. All hand and trim properties must be furnished by individual play directors. (This provision is not intended to prevent standing on a stage property as a natural character action, but is intended to prevent creating an extra elevation or playing area that is not a part of the basic set.)   Items that will not be approved as additions to the basic set and properties include the following:  real knives, guns, crowbars (any heavy or sharp tool), and ladders more than 10 feet tall.  Toy, wooden or model firearms may be used.  No cap pistols nor any other explosives may be discharged on stage.

• LIGHTING ASSISTANCE.   Middle school students shall be allowed to have one adult assistant in the lighting and sound booth during the play presentation.

• STANDARDS FOR JUDGING.   60% of the value of the judgment will be based on ACTING  (voice, characterization, movement, contrast, ensemble, timing, and motivation).  40% will be based on DIRECTING AND STAGE MECHANICS  (set, lighting, sound, make-up, costume, business, tempo, composition and theme.)  An elaboration of this criteria may be found in the OAP handbook.

• AWARDS.   Plays shall be ranked to third place:  25 points awarded for 1st place; 20 points for 2nd place; and 15 points for 3rd place.  Individual awards are as follows:  Best Actor / Best Actress - 8 points each; up to 10 All-Star Cast Members - 4 points each; and up to 10 Honorable Mention All-Star Cast Members - 2 points each.  Present awards from lowest to top ranking play. 

• FEES.   1.  District / Area / State contest administrators may charge an admission fee each time plays are presented to the public, as long as royalties are paid as well.  This fee will help to defray the cost of facilities, personnel, equipment, royalties, etc. 
    2.  The admission fees at the State One-Act Play Meet will be $4.00 for adults and $2.00 for students. 
    3.  District directors or One-Act Play contest managers may assess a fee to each participating school to cover the cost of hiring a judge or providing facilities. 
    4.   A  NO-SHOW fee of $20 shall be collected by the district director or contest manager from schools that fail to give notice of at least 15 days if they have been scheduled to compete and are unable to make it to the tournament.