SDC Directing Initiative

Rules for 2025

In Region 6, students DO NOT need to be nominated by a faculty member. We encourage you to have a faculty member who is willing to serve as your mentor, but it is not required. 

Student directors participate in the SDC Directing Initiative (SDI) at each Regional Festival. To be eligible, students must be:

• Attending an institution that has entered either an associate or participating production during the year in which the student applies; OR

• A bona fide student at the time of the Regional Festival.

• A bona fide student is:

• an undergraduate student registered for at least six semester or equivalent quarter hours;

• or a graduate student registered for at least three semester or equivalent quarter hours;

• or a continuing part‐time student enrolled in a regular degree or certificate program.

***Depending on the number of applications, directors who are not invited to participate in SDI may be invited to participate in the 10‐Minute Play Festival/Student Directing Program instead. In rare cases, students may be invited to participate in both. Please indicate on the application form if you would like to be considered for the 10-Minute Play Festival***

The participant must submit a completed application packet on or before January 24, 2025. Student directors will be notified by email by Feb 1, 2025, regarding their materials.

Student Artists for SDI:

To apply:

Choose one of the listed scenes on the National KCACTF SDC Directing Initiative webpage for 2024/25 as the focus of your application.

The evaluation of applications will be anonymous (i.e., any potentially identifying information will be redacted or removed before applications are sent to reviewers). Applicants are encouraged to minimize the inclusion of potentially identifying information in the writing of their application. For example, instead of “Dr. Smith, my professor at XYZ University,” you might write “my professor” instead.  

Please create a director’s statement as one PDF, no longer than 10 pages (including visceral response/research), that answers the following: 

1. Page 1.

1. Who are you, including your journey as a director (a brief biography)? One-page in length maximum.

2. This page will be for festival organizers’ information, but will be removed prior to applications being sent to respondents.

2. Pages 2 through 5.

1. What play/scene did you choose? 

2. Why does this play need to be done RIGHT NOW and what impact do you hope your work will have on an audience? 

3. What is your interpretation of this scene? Discuss what is happening both in the scene itself and how it relates to the rest of the play. Help us understand your approach to analyzing not just the meaning, characters, and action, but also the world of the play and what you hope to communicate.

4. How would you approach this scene in a rehearsal process?

3. Pages 5 through 10.

1. Present your visceral response to the play using images, music, collage, vision boards, short film, other persons, things– anything that may help you express the world of the play to collaborators.

2. We encourage links to online playlists, online videos, or Pinterest boards, for example. You may choose to focus on the scene itself or the whole play. Use all your creativity to reflect your ideas about the piece.

The professional respondents will choose up to six student-directed scenes for the festival. If selected to present at the festival, be aware of the following:

• The invited students for SDI will then prepare a fully-staged, off-book presentation (no longer than 15 minutes, including set up and break down) of their chosen scene from the 2024/25 list. The student is responsible for realizing all aspects of the presentation. Please consult your school about its policies for bringing a scene to the Regional Festival (such as limitations to number of students who may be supported, restrictions to the casting pool, or resources available).

• All scenes will be presented in a closed session in a standard conference room under room lights, with no other tech provided. We strongly encourage you to think simply and creatively with limited technical resources; the focus should be on the work of the actor and director in clear storytelling rather than on design or spectacle. Directors would be responsible for running any technical elements they bring. There will be no storage in the convention center.

• Scenic: Directors will have access to the following in the room:

• 8 café chairs, 2 tables, 2 2’ rehearsal cubes, 4 1’ rehearsal cubes

• Directors do not need to use all these elements, but as you rehearse, be mindful of what will be available in the actual space.

• Directors are responsible for any other scenic elements, which should be portable and easily removed from the space.

• Props: Directors may bring simple hand props, as needed (no weapons).

• Costumes: Directors and casts are responsible for their own costuming. Keep costuming simple, portable, and low maintenance (e.g., use personal clothing that suggest the characters or world of the play but do not require period authenticity or complicated care).

• Sound: Directors may bring their own Bluetooth speakers and playback devices for sound, if they can be easily deployed and broken down in the allotted time.

• Lights: Directors should plan to present under room light. Directors may incorporate small handheld practical lights, if appropriate, but setting up and focusing any larger lighting is not permitted. A full blackout may not be possible.

• A pair of respondents who are professional directors/educators will view all scenes and meet with each director for 15 minutes to offer feedback and discussion of the work.

• Directors of scenes advanced to the finals should plan to schedule time with their casts during festival to explore ideas arising from the conversation with the respondents. Those revised scenes will be presented during the finals, which will be open to the full festival.

• At the closing ceremony, the Region 6 committee will announce the SDI Regional Finalist selected by the respondents who will advance to the national festival.

OTHER DIRECTING OPPORTUNITIES AT THE REGION 6 FESTIVAL

We also invite applications from students interested in directing as part of the 10-Minute Play Festival. Every year, the Region 6 Playwriting area chooses a limited number of new student-written plays to present. Selected student directors will be paired with student playwrights to work on a public reading of a new 10-minute play. The emphasis is on performance and supporting the playwright’s words, without props or other production elements. A stage direction reader will be provided.