2026 Florida Thespian Senior State Festival

2026 Florida Thespians Senior State Festival

Festival Information

The 2026 Florida Senior Thespian State Festival will be held on March 18-21, 2026 in Tampa, FL at the Straz Center for the Performing Arts, the Tampa Convention Center, and Howard W. Blake School of the Arts.

The Florida Thespians Senior State Festival provides the opportunity for students to participate in a variety of workshops, one act performances, master classes, individual Thespy events, Mainstage performances, and technical theatre events led by theatre professionals from around the country, all while you get to spend time with other high school students from around the state who share your passion and excitement for theatre.

The festival is an educational event for high school students, troupe directors, and registered chaperones. We are bound by seating limitations at our venues so priority for participation in all events will be given first to registered thespian troupes.

Conference Registration

High schools with active troupes are welcomed to attend; high school troupe directors (or theatre teachers) will coordinate and be responsible for the registration for their school’s attendees.

In order to attend the Florida Thespians Senior State Festival, all students must be current 9th, 10th, 11th, or 12th grade students who qualified to attend through participation at their troupe’s district thespian festival in either a Thespy event or One Act play performance.

Troupe Directors (or theatre teachers) may register students currently enrolled at your school this year, as well as chaperones who are (or will be) 21 years of age by March 18, 2026. Registered troupe directors and chaperones are able to attend all conference events but should also consider themselves supervisors of students throughout the festival.

Chaperones must be at least 21 years old. To ensure that students are properly supervised, troupe directors must register one chaperone for every ten students (1:10) and at least one chaperone of each gender, if their group consists of students of both genders.

Registration Dates & Deadlines:

All registration fees and materials must be received by our published deadlines. Failure to do so will result in a late fee and if registration is more than three (3) weeks late, your troupe will not be able to attend the festival.

Online Registration Window: December 15 – January 16, 2026
Mail In Deadline: January 23, 2026 (THE ONLY ITEM THAT SHOULD BE MAILED IS A CHECK FOR PAYMENT; ALL OTHER MATERIALS ARE TO BE SUBMITTED DIGITALLY AND MUST BE RECEIVED BY THIS DATE)

Fees:

All registration fees are non-refundable and registration is final once we have passed the online registration window. Once the registration window closes, the registration system will no longer accept changes. After the close of registration, the troupe assumes full financial responsibility for all submitted registrations and any information entered in the registration system. No exceptions will be made, as event planning is based on the exact number of registered delegates. Registrations not paid by the stated deadline will incur a $250 late fee. Failure to submit payment within three (3) weeks past the due date will result in cancellation of the registration.

Festival Registration: $165 per festival delegate (student, troupe director, chaperone)
- T-Shirts: $15 each
Thespy and One Act Event Fees: $5 per person, per event
Senior Scholarship: $20 per student
- Limited to 5 per troupe
- Student must have received a Superior rating at Thespys
Junior Auditions: $20 per student
- Limited to 3 per troupe
- Student must have received a Superior rating at Thespys
Day Passes: $55 per person/per day if purchased by the online registration deadline
- Day Pass holders are permitted to attend our daytime events. They do not receive tickets and will not be permitted in the venues during the evening performances.
- Day Passes DO NOT include admission to our Opening Ceremony, Closing Ceremony, Mainstage performances, or any evening events
- All Day Passes sold at the festival are $75

Acceptable forms of payment are:

certified checks
school checks
school booster club checks
money orders (complete with signature, if required)
credit cards

No personal checks will be accepted.

Make all checks/money orders payable to “Florida State Thespian Society, Inc.”.

Registration Submission

Your complete registration submission must include:

Check for the full amount matching your invoice, made payable to Florida State Thespian Society, Inc. OR printed copy of your credit card payment receipt
Printed copy of Troupe Invoice from the registration system
Official Signature Form (signed by both the troupe director and school administrator)

Review our Mailing Best Practices before sending your registration materials.