You are invited to the 4th Annual North Texas Performing Arts Invitational Theatre and Speech Tournament!
This Invitational Tournament will award Top Theatre and Speech Awards in all your favorite events and more for Middle Schoolers for the entire North Texas region!
The tournament is open to public, private, individual and home-school students currently in grades 6-8 (or age equivalents) for any student residing in the North Texas region.
This special tournament offers public school students the opportunity to practice works for other competitions, and enables private, individual and home-school students an opportunity to compete. There will be both individual and school awards offered!
Prizes
NTPA will be offering trophies to the top three placed winners and medals to the top 8 contestants. The top award winner in each individual competition will receive a free scholarship in an NTPA production (a $400 value!) (some limitations apply including a minimum number of participants – see Prize Details Terms & Conditions.)
Schools with at least five contestants can compete for sweepstakes trophies and bragging rights as the Top Theatre & Speech program in North Texas!
Registration is just $5! So what are you waiting for?
Tournament Details
Date
Saturday, November 11, 2023
Times
Check-In and Registration: 8:00AM
First Round: 9:00AM
Awards Ceremony: 5:00PM
Location
Willow Bend Center of the Arts
Shops at Willow Bend
6121 W Park Boulevard, Suite B216
Plano, TX 75093
Quick Links
Questions?
The Events
The NTPA Invitational Tournament will offer competitions in twelve events, including traditional Middle-School competitions and special events for theatre skills.
Individual Events:
- Poetry Interpretation
- Prose Interpretation
- Dramatic Interpretation
- Humorous Interpretation
- Storytelling
- Solo Vocals
- Audition
Team Events:
- Lip Sync (Individual or Team Event)
- Musical Pantomime (Individual or Team Event)
- Duet Acting (Team Event)
- Group Vocals (Team Event)
- Group Scenes (Team Event)
Registration
Contestants may enter multiple events but may only enter one event per section as each Event is housed in a different room. This enables an individual contestant to participate in up to four different group or individual competitions throughout the day.
There are three ways to register and participate:
- Participants may register as individuals contestants, unaffiliated with a school or organization
- Participants may register as individuals affiliated with a school or organization that may also compete for the Sweepstakes competition
- A School or Organization may register all of its participants and compete for the Sweepstake competition
Individual Registration
Individual participants should register in advance online, though may register on the day of the event provided space is available.
For team events, please only complete 1 registration per team and enter the name of the team captain for registration.
If an individual registrant is affiliated with a school or team that intends to be considered for the Sweepstakes competition, that should be noted at registration and upon check-in at the tournament.
School/Organization Registration
Schools may register all students online at once. Each school may enter up to 4 students in each category. Additional students may be placed on a waitlist for open spots by emailing speech@ntpa.org.
For team events, please only complete 1 registration per team and enter the name of the team captain for registration.
Schools may add or drop contestants until Noon on Wednesday before the tournament. Substitutions will be allowed on the day of the competition.
Schools with 5 or more students will be considered for sweepstakes competitions.
Tournament Schedule
Check-In: A Student MUST check-in at least fifteen minutes before their Section’s competition. A student may check-in once for all of their planned competitions for the day.
Contestants may enter multiple events but may compete in only one event per section (each event is housed in a different room). This enables a participant to compete in up to four different team or individual competitions throughout the day.
* NOTE: The finals schedule and time for the subsequent awards ceremony are subject to change based on the number of participants in each preliminary event. A final schedule will be posted on the website prior to contest day.
| 8:00 AM – Check-In Opens | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| 9:00 AM – Section A Prelims | Poetry (PO) | Dramatic Interpretation (DI) | *Lip Sync (LS) |
| 10:00 AM – Section B Prelims | Solo Vocals (SV) | Humorous Interpretation (HI) | *Musical Pantomime (MP) |
| 11:00 AM – Section C Prelims | Prose (PR) | Storytelling (ST) | *Duet Acting (DA) |
| 12:00 PM – Section D Prelims | Audition (AU) | *Group Scenes (GS) | *Group Vocals (GV) |
| 12:30 PM – Section A Finals | Poetry (PO) | Dramatic Interpretation (DI) | *Lip Sync (LS) |
| 1:30 PM – Section B Finals | Solo Vocals (SV) | Humorous Interpretation (HI) | *Musical Pantomime (MP) |
| 2:30 PM – Section C Finals | Prose (PR) | Storytelling (ST) | *Duet Acting (DA) |
| 3:30 PM – Section D Finals | Audition (AU) | *Group Scenes (GS) | *Group Vocals (GV) |
| 5:00 PM – Awards |
*This is considered a “Team Event” with more than one participant per team.
Tournament Rules
- Willow Bend Center of the Arts is located within the Shops at Willow Bend Mall in Plano, Texas. This mall features a food court, shopping and other amenities. NTPA will be offering a monitored waiting area within the theatre complex, though it is the Parent/Guardian’s decision to allow students access through the mall. If Parent/Guardians choose to allow their student to travel within the mall, students are encouraged to move with at least one other participant when entering the public areas outside the theatre. NTPA is not responsible for any student that exits the Willow Bend Center of the Arts.
- A standard judging ballot will be employed by each Judge. View a Sample Ballot
- All Pieces/Performance Material must be from a PUBLISHED source unless otherwise noted in the rules.
- All material presented at this tournament should be appropriate for middle school students to view and perform. Material inappropriate in nature (cursing, off color language, extreme sexual references, sexual acts, etc.) will not be tolerated and will be disqualified. Tournament staff and judges reserve the right to stop the performance of any material deemed inappropriate or rank that piece last in the room. If you would like to run material by the tournament staff for approval, feel free to do so.
- Any issues that need to be addressed with tournament staff need to be brought to the tabulation room/tournament officials by the student in question or the coach of record for that school. Parents and student participants will not be allowed in the tabulation room.
- Time will be kept in all rounds. Students will have a 30 second grace in each round following the max time for each event. If a student exceeds the given time limit for that event, they will not be ranked first and they can be ranked lower at the judges discretion. This ensures the tournament stays on schedule as much as possible.
- Smoking on the NTPA premises will result in squad disqualification.
- Vandalism of NTPA property will result in disqualification of the entire squad.
- No student will be allowed to enter a competition room without a judge present.
- Students will be provided a waiting theatre where they may remain when not in a round, and students may observe other events when not competing. There will be food and drinks available at concessions during this event, and there is also a public food court within the mall for those students permitted by their parents/guardians to travel outside the theatre complex.
Questions? Email Tournament Chair Cheryl Lowber at speech@ntpa.org