Adjudicator Information

The Function of the Adjudicator

Statement from TTAO

ADJUDICATORS

This year, for OAP Contest, some companies may be performing a continuous, uninterrupted segment of a full-length play. Therefore, we adjudicators should be ready to evaluate and critique those plays right alongside the others (“one-act” and “scenes from”). 

In ranking the plays, we regularly have to evaluate comic vs dramatic or classic vs contemporary. We sometimes evaluate plays that had to shut down early vs those who got to the end. In recent years, we’ve had to compare masked companies to those without. We’ve done all this without missing a beat, so I’m confident we will continue to provide top-notch adjudication this coming year, as well. 

Thanks, and have a great contest season,

Yvonne Phillips-Dupree
TTAO President

The most important function of the adjudicator is to serve as an educator. True, advancing schools and individual awards must be selected, but adjudication without a carefully prepared critique, which teaches as it evaluates, deprives play competition of a most valuable feature - opportunity for qualitative improvement.

An effective critique requires, among other things, extensive knowledge of all styles and types of drama/theatre, and an understanding of the physical theatre with special concern for limitations often imposed in school theatre plants and scenic limitations of the One-Act Play Contest. The successful adjudicator must be able to discuss the plays seen in a firm but courteous manner. The adjudicator must be objective, direct, and detailed in criticism without imposing opinions dictatorially.

The adjudicator has the special responsibility of evaluating seriously the efforts of the director and play company and of treating them and their performance with respect. They have deliberately engaged in creative competition which offers a variety of cultural and practical opportunities. Through many hours of rehearsal they have sought to perfect creative performances not only to win the contest, but for the satisfaction which comes through the search for perfection in the arts. The adjudicator must be familiar with the current Handbook for One-Act Play, the rules of the One-Act Play Contest in the current Constitution and Contest Rules and understand limitations imposed on directors. To treat their effort casually would defeat a most important function of critic judging.

The adjudicator should use professional skills and experience to make each contest a pleasant and richly educational experience in the lives of young people as they seek to understand more fully the art of theatre.

Qualifications for Adjudicators

Adjudicators for the One-Act Play Contest are selected from the current Accredited List of Adjudicators [Section 1033 (c) (9) (A-D)], secured from the League and provided by the Texas Theater Adjudicators and Officials (TTAO). It includes only those individuals from whom an agreement to serve has been received. Each adjudicator must agree to become familiar with the rules of the One-Act Play Contest and all sections of the current HANDBOOK.

GUIDE FOR ADJUDICATORS
as excerpted from the One-Act Play HANDBOOK 

RULE CHANGES and Updates for 2024-25

TTAO OATH of Ethics & Professional Standards

Multiple adjudication workshops are conducted annually at One-Act Play contests. Information about these workshops can be found on the TTAO website