Throughout the year theater faculty at member schools serve as adjudicators, who are invited to visit campuses to evaluate student productions. Then a regional committee selects four to six productions to showcase at the regional Festival. There currently are eight regions, each with a festival in January or February.

At the regional festival the productions are evaluated by a panel selected by the Kennedy Center and the KCACTF national committee. From the winning productions at all eight regional festivals, four to six are selected to appear at the national festival at the Kennedy Center later in the spring.

Photo: HSU student GiGi Cavallaro prepares for the Festival.