General TheatreFest Information

What is Theatre Fest?

The Illinois High School Theatre Festival (IHSTF) is the largest, oldest, non-competitive high school theatre festival in the world. The three-day Festival takes place every year in early January, and switches locations between the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Illinois State University. Over 4,000 students, teachers, university representatives, exhibitors, and volunteers come together to put on over 25 different high school productions and over 150 workshops. Other highlights include college/university auditions for high school seniors/juniors, professional development for teachers, and the All-State Production: featuring student cast and crew members from across the state.

Which faculty chaperone TheatreFest?

Chaperones typically are Mr. Morrison, Mr. Wayne, Ms. Lawrence, and Ms. Ure. Dr. Pascavage attends TheatreFests at ISU; Mr. Marik attends TheatreFests at UIUC.

Which students are eligible to attend TheatreFest?

Students need to meet ONE of the following requirements to attend TheatreFest:

1. A current member of Theatre Honors Society

2. Recommendation by a current faculty member of The Brook Theatre (Morrison, Wayne, Lawrence, etc.)

We put this requirement in place to make sure that students are trustworthy and responsible enough to attend the festival. Students who do not meet this standard are not allowed to attend TheatreFest.

How much does TheatreFest cost?

The average cost for attending the festival is around $200. This includes registration and hotel charges. It does NOT cover food or any additional purchases while at the festival.

This cost can be mitigated by fundraising through our DoubleGood popcorn program, which is typically done in September. Our theatre boosters also typically help contribute to the cost of the festival through their fundraising avenues.

The first $100 deposit is due in late September, and the balance (dependent upon hotel cost, number of students attending, and any fundraising done) is due in November.

What forms are needed to attend TheatreFest?

The following forms need are due when the deposit is due:

• Medical/Media Release Form

• BHS Field Trip Permission Form

The following form is due before leaving for festival in January:

• Teacher Permission Form

The Medical/Media Release Form and the Field Trip Permission Form can both be downloaded from the Band App.

When specifically do students leave and return to Bolingbrook?

On Thursday, students attend periods 1-4. At the start of 5th period, students meet in the auditorium to wait for the bus. We typically depart around 12:30pm, which gets us to campus around 3:30pm. Students attend the festival Thursday night, all day Friday, and Saturday morning. Typically, we depart the festival on Saturday after lunch and return to Bolingbrook around 4:30pm.

Where do students stay during the festival?

Students either stay in an on-campus hotel or a hotel a short bus ride from the festival. They stay in rooms with 3-4 other students; roommates are selected via a roommate preference form. In general, students are only in their rooms at lights out (11pm Thursday night; midnight Friday night). Other times, students socialize in the common areas or are attending festival events.

What do students do during the festival?

Thursday night, we typically attend Opening Ceremonies at the festival and have a pizza dinner at the hotel with Dr. Pascavage or Mr. Marik. Friday, students attend workshops, performances, roundtables, auditions, interviews, etc. There are a wide variety of events that students can participate in. Saturday morning, we attend the All-State performance. Once the performance is over, we grab lunch before heading back to Bolingbrook.

How are students supervised during the festival?

We employ a “buddy system” while at TheatreFest: students need to be with at least one other BHS (or RHS, when they attend) buddy at all times while on campus. This buddy may change throughout the day; we want to ensure that students are never alone. If any student wants to attend a show or workshop and doesn’t have a “buddy” that wants to go with them, they can contact a chaperone, and one of us will attend with them. Students may message us through a shared Band chat, or they have Morrison’s cell phone number in case of an emergency.

No student should ever be alone on campus or be off-campus at any time. Students who are found to be engaging in these behaviors will be asked to be picked up by a parent/guardian and will not attend the rest of the festival.

Students do a lunch-time and dinner-time check-in with chaperones on Friday. Because we are together as a group on Thursday and Saturday, we do not do check-ins on those days.