DramaFest is a 3-day theatre extravaganza! The format and schedule of events is different every year, but the festival centres around key pieces of programming:
As of 2023, DramaFest has also been extended to offer a Jr. High DramaFest Day! Jr.High DramaFest takes place on the Tuesday before the main Festival, and offers a little sampler of the Main festival’s activities in just one school day. Students from Grades 7 through 9 are invited to come participate in Jr.High DramaFest to get a sense of what the Main Festival will offer.
Over multiple days of the Festival, students will have the opportunity to choose from a roster of over 15 different workshops all related to different aspects of theatrical practice, including: Acting, Directing, Musical Theatre, Stage Combat, Lighting Design, Props, Improv, Stage Management, Puppetry, Costume Design, and more. Workshops are two hours long and provide an in-depth look at topics that students are interested in exploring. Workshops are led by theatre professionals, giving students a hands-on opportunity to learn directly from their peers in the working world of theatre in Nova Scotia.
As part of the EDANS Spring Conference, Teacher Professional Development sessions are held at the same time as Student Workshops each day, allowing teachers the same tailored in-depth learning that their students engage in! It’s a professional development opportunity unlike any other offered in the province.
Teacher Professional Development is facilitated by local professional artists and provides workshops on topics that teachers have expressed interest in. Subjects are tailored towards drama pedagogy or theatre skill-building, and also provide an excellent opportunity for Drama Teachers from across the province to connect and learn together. On the final day of the festival, conference participants use the opportunity to share teaching strategies, resources and assessment ideas.
Each year a special featured professional presentation is arranged for the students at DramaFest. Often this is a presentation of an award-winning production that has featured somewhere in Nova Scotia in the past few years. Students are able to see an example of top-quality professional work being done in their home province. For some students this may be their first opportunity to see a professional production.
Each evening, DramaFest opens up into a Fringe Festival’esque format, with multiple productions from schools happening simultaneously in multiple different performance venues.
Schools are able to submit one production each and productions can be a maximum length of one-hour.
DramaFest staff will work with schools to draft a Tech schedule to accompany the main festival timeline – and schools will be given a time slot of one-hour (sometime before their presentation) where students can work with professional Dalhousie technicians to set cues for their show and prep for their presentation.
On the night of the performance, Professional artists will attend the show, and provide feedback and adjudication to students, following the conclusion of the performance.
DramaFest is a welcoming, inclusive environment and a great opportunity for students to get to see work from their friends and peers at all different stages of the creative process. We encourage schools to bring us staged readings, workshop presentations, and devised theatre pieces. It all contributes to a more wholesome view of what students can do.
Production and Show slots are given out on a first-come first-served basis. As the excitement around student productions grows, we have increasingly limited availability!
On the Thursday evening of the festival, after student presentations are concluded, a Talent Show is held, open to students all across the province. Held in the James Dunn Theatre to an audience of 200+ of their ultra-supportive DramaFest peers, students can choose whatever talent they want to show off.
We limit admission to a maximum of one participant or group per school, to ensure all schools have representation in the talent show.
Registration for the talent show is done in person during the festival, on a first-come first-served basis.
DramaFest is hosted by Dalhousie University’s Fountain School of Performing Arts, and takes place annually at the Dalhousie Arts Centre on campus, at 6101 University Ave, Halifax, NS.
Accommodations, Meals, Transit and Parking are the responsibility of the attending school. However DramaFest staff work hard to secure partnerships for accommodations for travelling schools!
Each year we try our best to arrange festival dates alongside Dalhousie University, so that schools who need overnight accommodation can make use of the Residences on campus to stay in.
These details are often confirmed and communicated out to schools in early February, before registrations are due.
