Purpose-The general purpose of this program is to stimulate interest and participation in dramatic art as a means
of furthering the cultural and educational development of students in Virginia high schools. This purpose is best served when a large number of schools engage in the program on school and sectional levels. The theatre festival program is intended to motivate the development of a broad school drama program in which many students participate as well as to provide a means of evaluating and improving standards of school dramatic performance.
School Participation-Virtually all schools include in their offering some form of dramatic activity, usually of the
co-curricular type, such as class plays, club skits and the like. Few are able to provide opportunities for participation in dramatic art for all who might enjoy or profit from this experience. The theatre festival serves as a means of stimulating school interest in a type of vehicle which can be produced in a comparatively short time at little expense, so that a number of plays, rather than a few, may be included in the school's drama calendar. A bill of three short plays, produced by the players of the same school or of neighboring schools, has proved to be a popular means of increasing the number of participants in the drama program as well as an effective means of providing general school and community entertainment.
DID YOU KNOW — At over 2,100 annually, more boys participate in theatre than in any other VHSL academic activity, and theatre is the VHSL’s second most popular activity overall (next to Scholastic Bowl) with 75% of schools taking part.