Quiz Bowl Blog!

 By: STO Lia Graham, Texas High School, Troupe 2526 & STO Jackson Barnes, Argyle High School, Troupe 6015 

 Hello Texas Thespians! Our final Super Saturday is upon us, and what an amazing experience it has been. We’ve seen so many of you thespians showcase your theatrical greatness for the past 2 months, and we could not be happier! However, there is one special group of people that are often underappreciated that deserve some attention. We are turning the spotlight to the techies and showcasing the incredible individual event of the Technician Quiz Bowl Challenge! We interviewed Charlie Woods, event coordinator, to get the inside scoop.

What is the Quiz Bowl Challenge?
“Quiz Bowl is an Individual competition. There is a morning QuizBowl session and an afternoon session and each will contain 40-50 multiple choice questions, covering a wide variety of  technical theatre topics, including basic stagecraft, make-up, lighting, sound, costumes, props and design,” Charlie Woods, Tech team Challenge Coordinator said. “The sessions are created on the Quizzes program and students get points for correct answers and points for how quickly they get the correct answer. The link to each session is available for 2 hours and open to any TTVF attendee.”

How do you compete in the Quiz Bowl Challenge?
“Students can participate in each of the 6 quiz bowl sessions, but can only make 1 attempt for each session,” Woods said. “Students must use their last name and troupe number as their session ID. 1st and 2nd place winners  from each session will advance to the finals round on Dec 5th. The Finals quiz bowl will contain more difficult questions including Theatre engineering, electronics, and problem solving questions.”

Here are a few examples of the questions you might see during the Tech Quiz Bowl Challenge:

In rigging " SWL" stands for ?
A. Standard Weight and Length
B. Safe Working Load
C. Steel Weight loaded
Calculate the Amperage draw of 5 LED striplights daisy chained together powered from one 120v 20A circuit.  Each fixture is rated at 250 watts each.
A. 10.4 A
B.  9.7A
C. 11.3A
D. 8.5A

What troupes have participated thus far?
 Both Jr High and High School Thespian troupes have participated. Here are some of the Troupe #'s who have participated: 7585, 1212, 1053, 4169, 8888, 0241, 311, 5872, 1790.
 
What is your favorite part about being able to do the tech quiz bowl?  
“That it provides our tech students another opportunity to demonstrate their skills and talents,” Woods said. “Hopefully it challenges them to learn and develop more skills and knowledge about the tech side of theatre and to go beyond what they are learning in their classes and own productions.”
 
What school(s) are currently in the lead?
Since this is an individual competition, points are awarded to the individuals from those Troupes. Currently, the following troupes have won first or second place in the last Super Saturday Quiz Bowl sessions: 7586, 7585, 3376, 1212. 

The STO’s are so excited to find out the results of this incredible new event and cannot wait to experience one last Super Saturday with all of you spectacular thespians on December 5th! Wish your fellow technicians luck as they go into their finals rounds for their Quiz Bowl Challenge. As always, we would love to keep up with your Thespian adventures, so make sure to tag us on Instagram @texasthespians. Continue to keep up with us by checking the STO blog and to see what comes next after our last day of The Greatest Festival on Earth!

Break all the legs,
Your 2020 Texas State Thespian Officers