PROCESS FOR BECOMING ​
A GUEST ARTIST OR ADJUDICATOR

Thank you for your interest in being a guest artist at the 2027 Virginia Thespian Festival at the Capital One Hall & Hilton McLean-Tysons Corner January 15-17, 2027! We are excited to have you join us in bringing the knowledge, experience and creativity of the theatre industry to our Virginia Thespian Students and Educators!

• Workshop Presenters: If you are an independent guest artist applying to teach workshops, or a representative teaching on behalf of Recruiter Level colleges, conservatories, vendors or sponsors please submit a separate workshop proposal application for each class you are interested in presenting.

 

• Adjudicators: We are also accepting applications for adjudicators with expertise in certain topics to judge individual student events, scholarships and one-acts. Applicants for this position can not be involved in the vendor fair or college audition events due to time/schedule conflicts.

 

• Interns: We also have a new college intern program with four specialized tracks where we pair interns with staff or guest artists for mentoring in an area of their interest. See our intern page for more information if you are a current college student
  

**** Those representing colleges, conservatories, vendors or sponsors who wish to participate in our table fair or college audition events must also submit a separate application linked on the designated webpage under "partners" in the menu above. Representatives of Recruiter-Level Organizations teach in exchange for the waiving of their table registration fees.

If you are selected and live more than 100 miles away, we may be able to cover hotel if you are teaching or adjudicating multiple days, otherwise, we have a limited budget and prioritize local artists who we ask to commute each day during the festival. Meals are covered during work hours on site.

APPLY TODAY TO BE A GUEST ARTIST FOR VTF 2027!

Application Deadline
Nov. 13, 2026

We start building our scheduling matrix earlier than the deadline so earlier applications may result in stronger chance of selection.

2027 Workshop Proposal Application

2027 Adjudicator Application

Suggested Workshop Outline Planning Guide

Our staff will notify all applicants of workshop or adjudicator acceptance no later than the week of November 16th, at which point each accepted artist will be asked to return an individual adult registration form and background check to complete registration. Upon which time, contracts will be sent out.

---

BACKGROUND CHECKS

****PLEASE NOTE: For safety and security, we require that each workshop presenter and adjudicator who is accepted fill out the adult individual registration form upon acceptance and complete a background check. We must run background checks on all adults attending Festival. 

---

VA Thespian Guest Artist Pay Scale
(under review - will be updated by 8/24/2026)

WHAT DOES A SESSION ENTAIL?

A Session is a 75 min - 90 min block of time where you may do one or more of the following:

• Adjudication of Individual Events
• Adjudication of Scholarship Candidates
• Teaching a Workshop
• Giving a Talkback
  
• Delivering a Keynote introduction speech/ MC'ing a ceremony
• Leading/Hosting a Special Event or Challenge

Artist Type is based on distance from the conference site and whether travel/lodging is required.

Suggested Workshop Outline Planning Guide

---

Want to know where you fall? See the radius maps below:

The general border cities are included for local and regional. If you fall outside of either of those boundaries, you are likely a national artist. We take very few national artists currently as we want to prioritize local artists, but are open to negotiation if you can make the journey cost effective for us and the schools.

---

WANT MORE INFO?

Catina Anderson

Managing Director

Virginia Thespians

CONTACT