Please refer to this list of FAQs as you develop your show. Please plan to refer back to it frequently, as more information and more questions are certain to be added as the process unfolds.

When will the festival take place?
The weekend — Thursday, Friday, Saturday, Sunday — before the final week of classes during Spring 2019, or April 25-28, 2019.

Where will the festival take place?
In studio spaces (ie. Drapkin, Kerr, Tilghman, CoLab) within the Lewis Arts Complex. Actual space assignments will be determined by the needs of the respective shows in tandem with the demands of other Lewis Center programs during the week of the Festival.

Will I be able to perform more than once?
Every show will be expected to offer at least two full performances as part of the festival in late April 2019. (More presentations may be an option, depending on how the festival evolves.) The festival will be built around this baseline principle and two presentations during the festival will be a core requirement of the course.

Will I be able perform my full show at the festival? Or will it just be excerpts?
The April 2019 festival will feature at least two full presentations of each show within (what will probably be) a 2-3 hour performance slot. So, if your show ends up being more than 75-90minutes long, you might well be asked to adapt it to fit within the festival schedule. (Remember that each show will have to clear out of the space completely before the end of their allotted performance slot.)

I was hoping for a faculty director. Do I really have do this all by myself?
Not at all. Each show creator will have a primary advisor — a faculty member who will work in close consultation and/or collaboration with you as you develop and stage your show. Professor Herrera will also serve as producing advisor for all show creators; he will work with everyone, individually and collectively, to strategize how best to produce and present their show in a way that maximizes the limits and opportunities of the festival structure. Each show creator will also be charged with identifying a fellow student (ideally someone who's not also a senior) to serve as their “second” (or “second in command”); each show's "second" will — depending on the needs of the show and/or show creator — likely serve as some combination of associate director, stage manager and/or production assistant. During the festival itself, we expect that each presenting venue will be staffed with technical and house management personnel to support the teams in presenting their respective shows.

So is my primary advisor my director?
Not exactly. Each show’s needs will be different, but we do expect that, as the process begins, the primary advisor will provide substantial dramaturgical guidance but also that, as the show evolves (and especially as it gets ready for the festival), the primary advisor will provide a measure of directorial support. But this balance will be determined by the primary advisor in consultation/collaboration with the show creator, with Professor Herrera as producing advisor  available as needed to help address or strategize how to best support each show’s development and production.

How much tech — lights, sound, costume, set — can I use?
Some. But not a lot. As part of the course, we will explore how each show might be built as a “pop-up performance” — or a piece with adaptable and portable tech requirements allowing it to be presented in (nearly) any venue before, after or beyond the festival. As a general rule, every show will be responsible for “loading in” and “loading out” their show within their assigned performance slot. The performance spaces will have a standard seating configuration; will be equipped with some lighting and sound capacity (contingent on venue assignment); and will be provided with some limited scenery pieces, selected/designed for their maximal utility to the multiple shows being presented as part of the festival. We expect that every show will be allotted a limited number (ie 7) of particular production requests that they can ask of the Program in Theater in support of their show.

What if I want to use more tech?
That’s on you. As the festival approaches, we can discuss the whys and the hows of your impulses toward more technical elements. But please understand that any technical elements beyond the basic configuration set up by the Program in Theater, and anything beyond your allocated requests, will have to be executed by you and your team, with no expectations of venue crew/staff, and must not disrupt the rigorous load-in/load-out schedule that will be observed by all the shows in the festival.

Where does all my stuff go between performances?
We expect to have an adjacent studio dedicated as green-room and storage space for the weekend of the festival. This space will be thoughtfully used and shared by all shows presented in the festival.

Will my show have its own poster?
The festival will have a poster; each show will have its own "visual identity" (logo, avatar, etc) available for use in publicity. As part of the course, all show creators will work as a cohort in collaboration with the Lewis Center Communications team to develop apt publicity, promotion and documentation strategies for all individual shows and for the festival as a whole.

Will my show be scheduled opposite my friend’s show?
April at Princeton is a busy month. We will definitely work to schedule the festival so that every show creator has the opportunity to see everyone else’s performance during the festival. Beyond that, it’s hard to anticipate.

But what about my departmental thesis? It’s also due in April.
April at Princeton is a busy month. A crucial component of the mandatory meetings with Professor Herrera in Fall 2018 will be to proactively strategize how your work on this project can happen even as so much of your attention and energy will be at times dedicated primarily (and rightly) to your departmental thesis. Professor Herrera will design the week-to-week schedule for the course keeping the cohort’s various thesis calendars in mind. Our goal is to have the course help keep everything on track with and for you, so that you can invest your attention in your departmental thesis, without worrying too much about falling behind on your independent work for the Program in Theater. (And vice versa.)

Will I have to wait until the class starts to start working on my show?
No. To the contrary, you are expected to have done substantial work toward your show prior to the beginning of the Spring 2019 semester, both through meeting with Professor Herrera and in consultation with your primary advisor. Additionally, only some of our shared classtime will be dedicated to workshopping or rehearsing indvidual shows. We will also dedicate a substantial portion of our shared classtime to production meetings, during which we will meet with Lewis Center personnel to learn about and to engage the necessary (and necessarily shared) production, publicity and logistical tasks that come with presenting an independently devised work in performance (and as part of a festival) at Princeton and beyond. Our shared class schedule will also be structured as much as possible to accommodate everyone’s varied departmental thesis deadlines.

When will the class meet?
This will not be finalized until early in the Fall semester and will mostly be guided by the day/time in the week when the greatest number of primary advisors would be available. Please alert Professor Herrera immediately if you have particular scheduling requests.

Can I count this class toward my Theater Certificate?
Yes, this course can count towards the studio course requirements for your Theater Certificate.