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2026 Dates & Deadlines
October 15 – Deadline for Initial Interest Form
Applications for the 2026 Isaac Awards are now closed. To see the list of participating schools, you can click the link for the High School Musical Calendar on the left.
7 days prior to your opening night – Deadline for Nominations
- Student Choreographer Award
- Student Design Award
- Student Crew Award
This information must be submitted 7 days before your opening night, so that the judges may see the students’ work in person. If you miss this deadline, we cannot consider your nomination.
Please send all of your nominations in one email, and include a Read Request to make sure we’ve received it.
Student Choreographer Award – The Isaacs judges will accept one choreography nomination from each school as selected by the Teacher/Director. To submit a nomination, please email the name of the student-choreographed musical number and the name(s) of the student nominee(s) to eherb63@outlook.com.
Student Design Award – This award is meant to acknowledge and encourage students who have either independently designed or have worked with a member of your production staff to design sets, lights, costumes, or any other technical aspect of your production. The Isaacs judges will accept one nomination from each school as selected by the Teacher/Director. Submit the student’s name as well as design drawings, photos, etc. via e-mail to eherb63@outlook.com.
Student Crew Award – This award is for students working behind the scenes including Stage Manager, Assistant Stage Manager, Sound Board, Light Board, or Spotlight Operators or run crews for Props, Set, or Costumes. The Isaacs judges will accept one nomination from each school as selected by the Teacher/Director. It can be an individual or a group (but not the entire cast). To make a nomination for the Student Crew Award, send an e-mail to eherb63@outlook.com.
Thursday, April 30 – Deadline to submit your Isaacs production number
Each participating school has the opportunity to perform a musical number from their show onstage at the Mishler Theatre as part of the Isaac Awards. It can be a solo, a small group, or a large group. If you choose to do a medley, please do not pause between numbers. Move from one song directly into the next. Please note that your musical number cannot exceed 6 minutes in length. See below.
Time Limit – The awards show spans three hours. We have politely requested that musical numbers adhere to a time limit. Unfortunately, some schools have exceeded the limit by up to forty percent, which is unfair to other participants. To ensure fairness and smooth scheduling, we ask all schools to carefully time their musical number when you are rehearsing it, as we will be strictly enforcing a six-minute maximum, including any dialogue. During your Tech Rehearsal, your performance will be timed, and if it exceeds the limit, your students will not be able to perform that evening. We sincerely appreciate your cooperation in making the awards a seamless and enjoyable experience for everyone involved.
Please click this link to tell us what musical number you’ve chosen for your students to perform.
Thursday, May 7 – Deadline to submit your Tech Form
Please download the Tech Form for your musical number and return it to Eric Wolf.
Lights and Sound – Because we have 18 schools performing over two days, we are not able to add any special technical effects.
Dancing in the aisles – For safety reasons, we are not able to accommodate students singing or dancing in the aisles or on the stairs up to the stage. (We’ve already had students falling down stairs to get to the stage to accept an award.)
Ticket Deadlines – May 4 & 8
We want to include as many of your students as we can possibly fit into the Mishler. Here is the process.
- Tickets are $20 for students, parents, teachers, and administrators. There are no added fees.
- Initial ticket requests are due by 4:00 p.m. on Monday, May 4. Final ticket orders must be confirmed by 4:00 p.m. on Friday, May 8.
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Your school’s initial ticket request is a request only. Until we receive requests from all of the schools, we can’t confirm orders. The initial limit for tickets will be 100 per school. You can request more than 100, and if we have tickets available, we will accommodate you to the extent possible. The “100 tickets” is a limit not a goal. Order just what you need. The average school order last year was 85 tickets with the smallest order being 41.
- Please note that it is unlikely that there will be tickets available to the general public.
- To order tickets for your students, parents, teachers, and administration, phone Tara or Alice at 814-943-4357 or send an email to act@altoonacommunitytheatre.com. We will confirm your ticket order via email.
- All adds or deletes to your order are due by May 8. After May 8, you are responsible for payment for your confirmed order.
- Payment is due by the date of the Isaac Awards. (However, we know that while many high school theatre programs have their own bank account, others have payments made through their school’s business office. Since this can be a slow process, we will work with you on payment. If this is the situation for your program, please reach out to Tara or Alice in advance. In any case, payment is due before the end of the school year.)
Monday, May 11 – Deadline for your school’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award
Each school will select their own MVP using their own criteria and selection method. You might choose a graduating senior who didn’t get a lead this year or someone who works quietly backstage. You might decide to have your cast and crew vote on the MVP. The only rule is that it must be a student who was involved in your production.
At the Isaacs ceremony, all the MVP’s will go up onstage together to receive individual award certificates and a big round of applause from everyone. (Your MVP need not be present to win.)
To submit your MVP, please complete this Google form.
Monday, May 11 – Photo Deadline to upload nominee photos (optional)
During the Isaac Awards, a photo of each nominee in each category will be projected onto a screen on the Mishler stage as they are announced.
For individual acting awards, send a portrait or a photo from the show. If you have Design, Choregoraphy, or Stage Crew nominations, send a photo of the individual or group photo of their work. A production photo or a photo of the entire cast can be submitted for “Best Production.”
You only need to send one photo for each nomination Please note that submitting photos is optional. If you don’t have certain pictures, or if you’re totally swamped, that’s okay.
Please upload your photos to these Dropbox sites. Please name them as follows SCHOOL NAME – CATEGORY – NOMINEE NAME.
Saturday, May 23
- 12:00 noon – 5:00 p.m. Tech Rehearsals for Saturday Night schools (Mishler Theatre)
- 5:00-5:30 p.m. Tech Rehearsal for the Opening Number
- 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Mishler Theatre opens
- 7:30 p.m. The Saturday Night Isaac Awards at Altoona’s historic Mishler Theatre
- 10:30 p.m. (approx) Award Ceremony ends.
Sunday, May 24
- 12:00 noon – 5:00 p.m. Tech Rehearsals for Sunday Night schools (Mishler Theatre)
- 5:00-5:30 p.m. Tech Rehearsal for the Opening Number
- 6:30 – 7:30 p.m. Mishler Theatre opens
- 7:30 p.m. The Sunday Night Isaac Awards at Altoona’s historic Mishler Theatre
- 10:30 p.m. (approx) Award Ceremony ends.