School Application Instructions

Transcription

1 1 School Application Instructions BACKGROUND INFORMATION To join the Cappies, as a Participating School, you must submit: An On-Line School Application not later than the Initial School Application Deadline. A Written School Application, mailed to the Treasurer of your Cappies Program (mailing address posted on your Program s home page on which must be received not later than seven days after the Application Deadline. The Written School Application must include payment of a participation fee, a signed Parental Authorization Form for each Critic, a signed Affirmation from your mentor (if s/he is not a teacher or administrator at your school), and a signature from your Principal. To learn about Cappies rules and procedures, please see the Rules & Forms links. The Cappies is very solidly web-supported, through the Cappies Information Services (C.I.S.), an extensive network designed and created by a teenage software team from Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Virginia. For information about the Cappies Program in your area, go to your Program s informational page on via the link to your Program at the upper right hand corner of the home page. On this page, you will be see: The participation fee. Whether your Program includes awards. The number of Cappies Shows your school may have, in a year (one or two). The minimum required number of reviews per Critic, during the year. IMPORTANT NOTE: You may only apply to be a Participating School if the Cappies Program in your area has received a Charter for the 2007 Program Year. If the Step One page includes your Program s three-letter code, then your Program has a Charter, and you may apply.

2 2 ON-LINE SCHOOL APPLICATION To find the link, click on the Rules & Forms menu item on Or, you can go to: Find the New Schools section. Click on the On-Line School Application link. If you get a prompt asking if you want to proceed, click on the Yes button. When you get to the first page, please note the initial instructions. Don t use the back or forward direction arrows on your computer. If you do, you will have to start over. Never use a double-quote (for example, if you describe your Program as Kansas City Cappies ). If you do, what you write will not be accepted. If you have any questions about the School Application process, please the National Webmaster, at webmaster@cappies.com. To begin, click Start Application. STEP ONE (first page) STEP ONE requests you to identify your Program. Identify your Program. This is where you designate your own regional Program, so you apply to the right place. Click on the v, scroll down to your Program, and click that. If your Program does not appear on this list, it has not yet been chartered. Please your Program Director, or webmaster@cappies.com, if you have any questions about that. When you have done that, click next. From this page, and from all subsequent pages, you can start over by clicking on Start Over at the bottom of the page. STEP TWO requests School information. School Name. Input the full name of your high school, as you would like it to appear in Program materials. Two-Letter School Code. Input a two-letter alphabetic code, easy to remember, that will be the Cappies shorthand to identify your school perhaps the first two letters of the school name, or first letter of each of the first two words (or syllables) of the school name, or first and last letter. The Program Director may change this two-letter code, if s/he thinks it could cause confusion, or if another school requests it.

3 3 Theater Department Phone. Input the phone number where the Theater Director can be reached during the school day. Include the area code, with dash separations ( ), and any extension (x123) in parentheses. Ticket Information Phone. Input the phone number through which members of the public may order tickets. Please input it as described above. If this phone number is the same as the Theater Department Phone, please input the same phone number twice. City/Town, State, Zip Code. Input the data requested, as you would normally write your school s mailing address as a street address, not Post Office Box, please, because Mentors and Critics will need to use this address to find on-line maps and directions. Level of Participation. While we recommend that schools participate fully in the Cappies, we allow schools to choose among the following options. Full Participation, with your Cappies Show(s) evaluated for awards, and reviewed. If you select this option, you must have a Mentor and Critics Team. Partial Participation, with your Cappies Show(s) reviewed but NOT considered for awards. If you select this option, you must have a Mentor and Critics Team. Limited Participation, with no Cappies Show(s) and no Mentor. If you select this, you may have a Critics Team or, alternatively, may simply authorize one or more students to participate on a Regional Team. Your program may charge a different fee for each Level of Participation. See their Program page on When you have completed all items, click next. STEP THREE (third page) STEP THREE requests Show information. Please read the instructions at the top, so you enter the show name, dates, and times correctly. (If you enter them incorrectly, you will not be able to go to the next page.) Show Name. Input it as you would like it to appear in Cappies materials. Please type it in regular font, not in italics and (especially) no double quotations. If you don t know the name of a Cappies Show, please type TBA (for: To Be Announced). Later, when you learn the name of your show, or if you change your show, please that information to your Program Director. Show Type. Click on the v and scroll to Play or Musical, and click that. If you re not sure, click that. If you re uncertain whether a particular show is a Play or Musical, consult the rules for awards eligibility. (Put simply: A Musical must have six or more songs, with live accompaniment.) Show Address. Only if your Cappies Show will not take place at your school, input the address of where it will be performed. (Leave this blank if your Cappies Show will take place at your school.)

4 Alternative Dates/Times for the Show to be Reviewed. Please request the date and time for your First Choice of when you would like Critics to review a Cappies Show. If you are expecting final bows later than 10:30 PM, please either start the show earlier or request a weekend matinee. If your school is quite distant from where many other Critics live, please request a weekend matinee or Saturday evening show. If your school is more than 75 minutes driving time from where Critics live, some rules may apply. Please the Program Director if you have any questions. In case your first choice is not available, when schedules are set, you must request a second choice and third choice. We recommend that you rank your show choices based on how well you expect each performance to be presented by your cast and crew, as well as when you expect the largest possible audience (which can enhance cast energy and encourage a better performance). If your show will run over two successive weekends, we recommend that you request a date and time in the first weekend, to enable you to ride the reviews and boost audiences for the second weekend s shows. If you re expecting a sellout audience at one performance but not another, you are welcome to request that the Critics attend the more lightly attended show, to maximize your ticket receipts. Please balance that against other factors, and make your choice. Other dates/times for the show. Input the date and time for all other performances of the same show. Separate them by commas, semi-colons, and single spaces, e.g., 03/05, 8:00 PM; 03/06, 8:00 PM. Dress rehearsal dates/times. Input the date and time for any dress rehearsal. If you do not know, enter TBA. If you are planning more than one dress rehearsal, input both dates and times. Request that a Cappies Show not be a public performance (optional). While we do not recommend this option, we allow a school whose show will be performed in a theater of less than 100 seats, and/or who expects every performance to be a sellout, to request that Critics attend a dress rehearsal or special Critics-only performance. If you prefer this option, please click on the box, and the Program Director will contact you to discuss possible dates and times for your Cappies Show. Please note: We will not limit the number of Critics who will be assigned to, or may volunteer for, any Cappies Show, but your Program is required to reimburse you for the price of any tickets, in excess of 50, that are in fact used by the Cappies for any Cappies Show. If your Cappies program allows participating schools to have two Cappies Shows, you will need to provide the above information for both shows. (If you have two Cappies Shows, one must be a Play, and one must be a Musical.) When you have completed all items, click next. From this page, and from all subsequent pages, you can go to the previous page by clicking on the prev button, or you can start over by clicking on Start Over at the bottom of the page. 4 STEP FOUR (fourth page)

5 5 STEP FOUR requests Contact information. Please read the instructions at the top. To learn whether your Program requires that a Booster be named, and/or School Newspaper be provided (or whether that information is optional), please see the Program page on You must provide all the requested information, including home phones, work phones, cell phones if a person has them (identified as cell ), and at least one address per person. Do not leave these spaces blank. If you do not include an address and phone numbers for each person, your application will not be accepted. You may only leave a space blank if a person has no phone (e.g., cell phone) of the type listed. All information entered here will be kept confidential. It will NOT be distributed to students, and will be used by Cappies officials for program purposes only. If you are uncertain about what the rules require of a Theater Director, Mentor, Booster, or School Newspaper, please see the rules, which are posted on Advisor. This is the teacher who will oversee the work of all critics at your school. Please input the data requested, including any extensions (x123) in parentheses. Work phone refers to school phone. You must submit an Advisor, regardless of your requested level of participation. Show Director. This is the person (teacher, other adult, or student) who will direct your Cappies Show. Please input the data requested, including any extensions (x123) in parentheses. Work phone refers to school phone. You must submit an Advisor, regardless of your requested level of participation. (If you have two Cappies Shows, with different directors, please enter data for the director of your first show.) Mentor. This is the teacher (or theater professional) who will represent your school as a mentor. Please input the data requested, including any extensions (x123) in parentheses. Work phone may refer to school phone. If you have two Mentors, please see the instructions. You must submit a Mentor, and you may have two, but not more than two, Mentors, except: If your school has selected Limited Participation, you can leave this blank. Booster. Please input the data requested, including any extensions (x123) in parentheses. We recommend, but do not require, the Booster to be a parent of a student currently enrolled at the Participating School. You must submit a Booster, except: If you have no Booster (e.g., if you are a boarding school), you may submit a teacher s name instead. If your school has selected Limited Participation, you can leave this blank. Newspaper Contact. Please input the data requested, including any extensions (x123) in parentheses. This person should be a newspaper editor or advisor, except: You must submit a Newspaper Contact. If your school has selected Limited Participation, or if you have no school newspaper, you can leave this blank. When you have completed all items, click next. STEP FIVE (fifth page) STEP FIVE requests Critic information.

6 6 Unless your school has selected Limited Participation, you must select a Critics Team with one Lead Critic and at least two (but not more than five) additional Critics. If your school has selected Limited Participation, you must either select a Critics Team, with a Lead Critic, or list Critic volunteers for Regional Teams. You must provide all the requested information, including home phones, cell phones if you have them (identified as cell ), and at least one address per person. Do not leave these spaces blank. If you do, your application will not be accepted. You may only leave a space blank if a person has no phone (e.g., cell phone) of the type listed. You must indicate the gender and year of school for every critic. Click on the toggle to select the gender and year of school. Lead Critic. Please input the data requested. To see what is required of a Lead Critic, please see the rules, which are posted on Critic #2 - #3. Please input the data requested. You must have at least three critics (including the Lead Critic) on your Critics Team. Critic #4 - #6 (optional). If your Team has more than three Critics, input the data requested. Regional Team (optional). If you would like to select more than six students at your school to be Critics, you may name one, two, or three additional students as volunteers for a Regional Team. You may not select Regional Team Critics unless you have six Critics on your school Team. If you have Regional Team Critics, they will be assigned separately from your school s Critics Team. Regional Team critics must be students who will not in your own school shows. They will be assigned to shows by the Program Director, who must have the ability to schedule them during the busiest weeks of the year, as required. You may remove Critics at any time, but you may only add Critics who are trained at a Critics Training Session administered by the Program Director. If you would like more than nine students from your school to be Critics: You can accomplish this by asking some Critics on your initial Roster to volunteer for enough Cappies Shows to enable them to submit five reviews in the fall, to meet their requirement and qualify them as awards voters. You can then replace those Critics with other students, who can be trained at the Midyear Critics Training Session, and who can volunteer for enough Cappies Shows to enable them to submit five reviews through the remainder of the Program Year. At year-end, all Critics from your school who have submitted five or more reviews will be eligible to vote for awards. When you have completed this information, click next. STEP SIX (sixth page) STEP SIX requests School Newspaper information. Name of School Newspaper. Input the name of the School Newspaper, as it appears on its masthead.

7 Whether this is a required or optional feature of your Program, we recommend that you contact the teacher advisor and/or student editor of your School Newspaper to request them to publish one or two Cappies reviews, written by Critics from other schools, of Cappies Shows performed at the newspapers own schools. Many School Newspapers do this now. Please click on whatever outcome applies. When you have done so, click next. 7 STEP SEVEN (seventh page) STEP SEVEN requests Unavailable Date information. In the upper box, please list dates on which your school s Mentor(s) will not be able to attend a Cappies Show. In the lower box, please list dates on which half or more of your school s Critics Team will not be able to attend a Cappies Show. If you currently do not know of any conflicts, you may leave these boxes blank. However, the more complete this information, the simpler the scheduling process will be, and the less likely your Mentors and Critics will be to have serious scheduling conflicts. If you know dates of theater trips, proms, or unusual holiday periods, please list them here. STEP EIGHT (eighth page) STEP SEVEN requests your agreement to follow rules, and to submit legally required information with your Written School Application. Parental Authorization Forms. No Critic may be on the Roster unless this Form is signed by his/her parent and submitted, with your Written School Application. You can download this form through the link shown, or on the Rules & Forms page of Affirmation. If your Mentor(s) are employed at your school, this is not required, and you can check this box. If you have selected a Mentor who is not currently employed as teachers or administrators at a Participating School (or school system), we require a signed Affirmation that s/he has not been convicted of, and is not currently charged with, a felony offense. Participation Fee. This must be paid with the Written School Application. If you don t know the fee, please see your Program s page on Agreement to follow rules. We require an agreement, by all Participants at your school, to follow all Cappies rules and Cappies Information Services (C.I.S.) procedures. The rules are posted on for you to review before agreeing. When you have clicked each of the boxes, you can click finish. YOUR ON-LINE SCHOOL APPLICATION HAS NOW BEEN SUBMITTED BUT HAS NOT YET BEEN ACCEPTED.

8 IF YOUR APPLICATION IS NOT COMPLETE IF IT IS MISSING IMPORTANT DATA IT WILL NOT BE ACCEPTED. The Program Director will notify you, by , if this is the case. When you are accepted as a Participating School: You will be notified, by . You, your Show Director, Mentors, and Critics will be placed on the Roster, and will receive usernames passwords for access to the Cappies Information Services (C.I.S.) Your school will be accepted conditionally, pending timely receipt of your Written School Application. When you and others from your school receive usernames and passwords for C.I.S., we recommend that you log-in. You can do this through the link on the home page, or through your Program s page on If you later forget your username or password, you can obtain it by clicking on the link ( Forgotten your username or password? ) and entering your address. If that address has been correctly entered into the database, you will receive a username and new password immediately, by . 8 WRITTEN SCHOOL APPLICATION To find the link, click on the Rules & Forms menu item on Or, you can go to: Find the New Programs section. Next to the words, Written School Application, you ll see links for PDF or Word. Use PDF if you can. Use Word only if that works better on your computer. If you use Word, please do not make any changes on the forms. You must submit a Written School Application within 14 days after submitting an On-Line School Application. You can download the Application by clicking on the link, or from the Rules & Forms link at You can print the form (PDF or word) with your usual computer commands. The Written School Application is your signed (and binding) statement to adhere to our rules, and to an association with the Cappies that complies with the legal requirements of an organization with educational and charitable purposes under Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code. If you have any question about what you are signing, or why it is required, please the webmaster, at webmaster@cappies.com. You must include any required Affirmations and Endorsements, and the participation fee, with your Written School Application. Please mail your signed Applications to the Treasurer of your Cappies Program, at an address that will be given you. It may be on your Program s home page on the web site. If you are uncertain about that address, please contact your Program Director. If you do not know how to reach your Program Director by , please contact webmaster@cappies.com.

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