Late Night Events

On Thursday evening of our state conference, following the mainstage show, late night events keep our conference rooms buzzing with activity.  A variety of activities are offered to provide students with many options.
The following late night activities are offered at the Kansas Thespian Festival. There are no fees to participate in these events but you must register at the same time as your festival registration.
COMPETITIVE IMPROV

General Information
  • The number of teams must be selected at the time of registration for the Kansas Thespian Festival.
  • There is no fee to participate in Competitive Improv.
  • Each school may enter no more than two teams.
  • Each team must include five students.
  • Each student must be registered for the conference.
  • All team members must be from the same school.  Awards will be presented after the main stage performance on the final day of the conference.
  • Prepare to play one Story Game.
  • Teams should be familiar with all of the games below, in case they make the finals:
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Rules
  • Teams will be assigned a room to compete.
  • The group may use whatever table or chair is in the room, but no other props or costumes are allowed.
  • Each team is given four minutes to play their game.  The time begins when the scene begins.  
  • Judges will award each team up to 25 points. Five points maximum can be earned in each of the following categories: 1. Professionalism, 2. Teamwork, 3. Improv/Theatre Fundamentals, 4. Beginning/Middle/End, & 5. Entertainment Value.
  • The three teams from each room that score the highest will advance to the final round.
  • In the final round, all teams will play a new game that is suggested by the adjudicators.
  • The final round will take place on Friday evening.
CREATIVE COSTUME CONTEST

General Information
  • The number of teams must be selected at the time of registration for the Kansas Thespian Festival. (The number of competitors must be known in advance since supplies must be purchased.)
  • There is no fee per to participate in the Creative Costume Contest.
  • Each team shall consist of 2-4 conference-registered students from the same school.
  • Each school may enter no more than two teams. If necessary, two sections of teams will compete simultaneously.
  • Awards will be presented after the main stage performance on the final day of the conference.
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Creative Costume Contest Rules
  • Each team shall be given identical bags of costuming material. (Possible items include: masking tape, trash bags, fabric, markers, etc.)  T
  • he costume design should tie into the theme provided to the contestants.
  • Costumes must be appropriate for public display.
  • Teams will get 20 minutes to create their costume.
  • Teams will present their final product to judges in the order in which they received materials.
  • A team member will briefly explain the costume design.
  • Costumes will be judged on a scoring rubric (creativity, theme, explanation, and workability).
  • Students should remain in costume after initial viewing for final review with all contestants. This may be a fashion parade at the end of the event.
  • Students will return all unused materials and scissors to the judge after judging is over.
SPEED CHARADES
  • The number of teams must be selected at the time of registration for the Kansas Thespian Festival.
  • There is no fee to participate in Speed Charades.
  • Each school may register two Speed Charade teams.
  • Each team must include five students.
  • Each student must be registered for the conference.
  • All team members must be from the same school.
  •  Several teams will be competing at the same time.
  • The first team with the accurate title will win a point.
  • The team with the most points wins.
  • Titles may be taken from plays, musicals, movies, TV shows, and songs from musicals.
  • Awards will be presented after the main stage performance on the final day of the conference.
  • A student from each team will be given a title.
  • The student will act out the words for the rest of their group.
  • ​​The group may ask the student questions.
  • The student can not
    • use words.
    • point at objects in a room.
    • move their lips
    • spell out words.
  • The student can act out similar sounding words.
  • The student’s group may ask questions.
  • The student may shake their head to answer questions from their group.
  • Teams can not clap or whistle.
  • The person who guesses the title runs to the designated sponsor and gives the accurate title.
  • Team members should rotate so that all group members participate.
Theatre Quiz Bowl
The number of teams must be selected at the time of registration for the Kansas Thespian Festival.
  • Each Thespian Troupe is allowed up to two teams of four players each. The players must be members of their Thespian Troupe and registered for the conference.  If a troupe has entered two teams, an individual player may be a member of only one of the teams, not both.
  • Each team must designate one member as the team captain.
  • There are two types of questions: tossups and bonuses. Players buzz in to answer tossups, and a correct answer earns a team a bonus question on which they can collaborate.
  • Questions are read by the moderator. There will also be a scorekeeper/timekeeper for each round.

Tossups

  • Tossup questions are answered by buzzing in and without conferring with teammates. Once the moderator starts reading a tossup, players can buzz in at any point. After a buzz, the moderator immediately stops reading, and looks to the player for their answer. (Unless otherwise noted, players have five seconds after buzzing to begin answering, after which the moderator should call time.) If the answer is correct, the team earns 10 points and the team then gets a bonus question (see “Bonuses”).
  • If the answer to the tossup question is incorrect, the moderator finishes the question for the other team (who must still buzz in and cannot verbally confer). Each team only gets one buzz per question.
  • There are no penalties for incorrect answers.
  • Verbally conferring with teammates is not allowed on tossups, even if the other team has already missed the question. If a team confers, their answer will not be allowed.  Answering when a teammate’s light is on instead of yours can also count as conferring, so be sure you are the one who buzzed in first!
  • Once the moderator has finished reading a tossup, he will wait for a few seconds (five, unless otherwise noted) and then call time and move on to the next tossup.

Bonuses
  • After a player correctly answers a tossup, their team gets a bonus question. The entire team can confer on bonus questions, and the captain should give the answers. However, the captain can always designate another team member to answer for the team. Answers clearly directed at the moderator (his discretion) will be accepted as the team’s answer. Unless otherwise noted, teams get 5 seconds to confer on each bonus part. After five seconds, the moderator prompts the team for an answer. After the prompt, the teams must start answering immediately.
  • Bonuses will consist of three clues about the same answer. A team scores 30 points for answering correctly after the first clue, 20 points after the second clue, 10 points after the third clue. The team can guess after each clue. Obviously, the moderator shouldn’t reveal the answer until the end.
  • Missed bonus answers are not bounced back to the other team.

Acceptable Answers
  • If a player gives less than the required information the moderator can prompt them to elicit more information. Multiple prompts can be given, as long as the player keeps getting more specific.
  • Any incorrect information given (e.g., the wrong first name for someone) makes the whole answer wrong.
  • Titles and quotations must be exact, except that leading articles (like “a” or “the”) can usually be omitted from titles.
  • Once a player has given an answer, he cannot change it, and only his first answer will be considered.
  • Last names are usually okay for people; if not, the question should prompt for more. For fictional characters, sometimes the first name is acceptable.
  • Answers should be given in English. Sometimes (especially for titles), answers given in the original language are acceptable.
  • Pronunciation of answers must be nearly right. You cannot add syllables or consonants, and vowels must be approximately right. Phonetic pronunciation is okay. The moderator may prompt a player to clarify his pronunciation (“Monet” vs. “Manet”).
  • Players may spell answers, and phonetic spellings are acceptable.

Moderator Errors

  • If the moderator inadvertently reveals an answer, he replaces the question with another one of the same type (another tossup, or another bonus part with the same point value). If one team had already answered the tossup incorrectly, the moderator reads the replacement tossup for the second team only.

Conduct

  • A player acting in a disruptive or unsportsmanlike way can be given a conduct warning. On the second violation, the player will be ejected from the current game. On the third violation, the player will be ejected from the tournament.

Protests
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  • All decisions of the tournament director are final.
  • A team can protest if they think they’ve been treated unfairly (they think the moderator erred in accepting or not accepting an answer, etc.) Except for ones which can be resolved quickly, protests should be made at the end of the half. Usually, protests will only be resolved if they affect the outcome of the game. If a protest is accepted, corrective measures will be taken, perhaps including adjustment of the score and the playing of extra questions. Intangible factors (such as the breaking of a team’s momentum in the game) will not be considered when determining corrective measures.
  • Players can ask for a buzzer check at any time, and it is their responsibility to make sure their equipment is working. Protests about buzzers not working should not invalidate whole matches or halves.
  • Protests merely stating that “My answer was correct at that point in the question” will be rejected. The player should have waited until the question narrowed down to one answer. (Most questions become specific very fast.)