BWW Reviews: Bucks County Playhouse's 46th Annual Student Theatre Festival

This year, 2013, marks the first time that the Student Theatre Festival has been at the Bucks County Playhouse in two years. The Playhouse reopened last summer, the summer of 2012. The festival was held for three consecutive weeks in May, and involved 800 students from twenty-five schools. Students from Pennsylvania and New Jersey preformed a thirty-minute segment from either a play or musical. The students then received critiques on their performance from a panel of adjudicators. The adjudicators was comprised of a select group of people with experience in theatre, some were from the local community and others were well-known screenwriters, actors or musicians. The Newtown Arts Company and the Bucks County Playhouse presented this year's Student Theatre Festival.

One of the things I found striking about the groups of students is the camaraderie that existed between schools. Each school consistently cheered for their own school, as well as the schools they were competing against. Schools performed a variety of musicals such as THE WEDDING SINGER and THE DROWSY CHAPERONE and plays such as OF MICE AND MEN and THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE. After every session, the adjudicators critiqued each group and told them what they did well as well as what they needed to work on. The adjudicators differed each week, and some of the people who were part of the adjudicator panels were Justin Guarini, Garth Kravits, Amanda Pipe and Ted Tally.

Jed Bernstein, the Producing Director of Bucks County Playhouse, explains that once the Bucks County Playhouse reopened last year, it was important to revive the Student Theatre Festival at The Playhouse. He explains, "this festival began 46 years ago, and this festival is important to the community." Bernstein further explains that in 2013 there were 800 students from twenty-five schools participating in the Festival, next year he has a goal of at least 1,000 students participate in the Bucks County Student Theatre Festival.

The 2014 Student Theatre Festival at Bucks County Playhouse will be held May 8 and 9 and May 12-16, 2014. For more information visit the Bucks County Playhouse's website at www.bcptheater.org.

Photo Credit: Mandee Kuenzle

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