PRODUCTION INFORMATION

Congratulations on winning your local Miss Georgia or Miss Georgia’s Outstanding Teen Pageant preliminary. You are now only one more win away from going to the national pageant and two wins from being crowned the next Miss America or Miss America’s Outstanding Teen! Between now and the Miss Georgia Pageant in June, it will take dedication and proper preparation from you to achieve this goal.

During rehearsal week, pay attention to instructions. Ask questions if you don’t understand a direction but, most of all, concentrate. Think ahead when you are on stage and be aware of what happens next. This is the only way to finish rehearsals on time.

At the state level, the Miss Contestants will compete in four categories: 1) Swimsuit 2) Evening Wear3) Talent4) On-Stage Question

The Teen Contestants will compete in:1) Evening Wear/On-Stage Question (performed at the same time, but judged

separately)2) Talent 3) Fitness

It is the responsibility of the director to stage all of these competitions. We must also comply with certain production and staging rules from the Miss America program.

During pageant week both Misses and Teens will compete in groups. This year Miss contestants will compete in three groups and Teen contestants will compete in two groups. Each Miss group will compete in Swimsuit one night, Talent one night, and Evening Wear and On-Stage Question one night. Teen contestants will compete in Fitness and Evening Wear/On Stage Question one night and in Talent one night. Teen contestants will be finished with preliminary competitions by Thursday night and finalists will compete on Friday. Miss contestants will finish preliminary competitions on Friday and finalists will compete on Saturday. The crowning of the 2012 Miss Georgia’s Outstanding Teen will be at the beginning of Saturday’s pageant, and the 2012 Miss Georgia will be crowned at the end. Your grouping doesn’t matter since the judges score you independently. All contestants will participate in production numbers and/or competitions Wednesday through Saturday.

Be as comfortable as possible during rehearsals. You may wear shorts, tights and leotards, jogging suits, or any comfortable clothing. Remember, you are not being judged or seen by the judges (or anyone else who matters) during rehearsals. Columbus in June is usually very hot and humid, but the theater is kept quite cool during the day; so you will need to bring a jacket or sweater to cover up while in the theater.

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Please be quiet while others are on stage.

You will be issued security badges. Your hostesses will inform you as to when you need to wear them. It will be your official badge. It will not be worn during your competition.

OPENING PRODUCTION NUMBER

The producer selected Sherri Hill design cocktail dresses again this year for the Opening Number. Miss contestants will wear style #1452 on the Sherri Hill website. The colors of your dress have been randomly assigned in orange, green, or yellow. Teen contestants will wear style #8413 in purple, coral or magenta, also randomly assigned. The selected tan shoes for all contestants are the same design that was used last year, style # S6205, “Lindsay”, by Alisha Hill. Shoes have been ordered for new contestants as requested on the order form. You will need to pay for your Opening Number outfits at Forum if you have not already done so. Through a special arrangement with Sherri Hill of Sherri Hill Designs and Keith Pittman of Lasting Impressions, you will only pay $175 for the dress and $35 for shoes. Your outfit should arrive before the end of May and can be picked up at Lasting Impressions in Columbus or mailed to you for a shipping fee of $12. Be prepared to indicate how you wish to receive it when you place the order. Any needed alterations will be your responsibility. Earrings and a bracelet may be worn, but no necklaces will be permitted. Any hair ornaments will have to be approved during rehearsal week.

TALENT COMPETITION

A talent request form will be provided to you. After first selecting your talent and accompanying music, you must send this music request to The Miss Georgia Pageant office for approval. Talent requests are approved on a first-come, first serve basis subject to Miss Georgia Pageant approval. All decisions are final. Only postmarks and fax times and date references will be used to authenticate all of the requests. Once a song has been submitted and accepted, that song title is closed. No talent requests will be accepted by phone!

1. You must have your talent selected and requests in no later than April 1. No exceptions, no excuses and no changes will be made after April 1.

2. There can be no duplication of a talent act among contestants in the same division (Miss or Teen.)  A contestant may not include in a vocal medley the same song another contestant is planning to sing as a solo or as part of a different medley.  The same song, however, may be played on a musical instrument by a second contestant or used as accompaniment for a dance.

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3. The introduction that is read for your talent should be 10 seconds in length. It should include interesting information about the genre, selection, etc. and must end with your title and name. This MUST be submitted by email to Production@missga.org in Word format using Tahoma 14 font. Anything else will not be accepted. The production staff will edit if necessary, but will not create your intros.

4. Your talent accompaniment music can only be submitted on CDs and mailed to the Miss Georgia office. The production staff will time your music to make sure it does not exceed the 90-second time limit for both Teens and Misses. We must receive a copy of your CD accompaniment exactly as you are to perform it. We are only asking for one copy this year, so make sure that you listen to it carefully prior to mailing it. Each year we receive CDs that are blank or defective. The CD should be in one of three formats, Audio A, mp3 or wav. CDs copied from Itunes or in a mp4 format will not be accepted and must be converted to one of the three approved formats before sending. We will not make fades, edits or any other sound augmentations to the CDs supplied to us. Our sound equipment will only make a good CD sound good and a bad CD sound bad.

5. If you are playing an instrument (i.e. piano, harp, cello) and are not using an accompaniment CD, please record you playing your talent selection and send it to us so that we can time it. You should write on your CDs “For Timing Only.”

6. Remember to bring a practice CD for personal rehearsal time. Show CDs will not be returned after the pageant. Do not send us the only copy of your CD. Please keep a copy for your files. We will not be able to make copies of your CD should you need to use it before or after Miss Georgia.

7. All talent acts must be performed live. If you use CD accompaniment and you pantomime or lip sync, you must disclose the artist’s name on the recording so there is no illusion that you are singing.

8. Regardless of the talent performed, the background track cannot have voices, instruments, or other noises which mimic the talent of the contestant. (Example): A vocalist may have background vocals with “oohs” and “aahs” or other background lyrics, but cannot have a tape with a voice singing the melody line with whom the contestant sings along. The same is true for instrumentalists, dancers, and any other talent. Nothing on CD can be announced as part of your act.

9. If your talent is a presentation of an art, such as painting or sewing, you must be prepared to present authentication upon request.

10.Your talent act cannot include props that are not absolutely necessary for the act. You cannot use props that will be hazardous to you, the stage crew or the

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audience (i.e. snakes, knives, fire, etc.). No clothing (except a hat) can be removed. No live animals are allowed.

11.Your CD and case must each be separately labeled with your title, name , group and number only on the side of the CD that is recorded.

12.CD accompaniment is to be postmarked no later than April 15th. If any CDs are turned in after that weekend, for any reason, there will be a $25 per day production charge.

13.The producer and director will make all lighting decisions. Everything is designed to help you look your best.

14.We must use microphones for all acts to ensure that the audience can hear you. We provide the basic stand, hand-held and lavaliere microphones available, as well as tap microphones. If you feel you need a special microphone of any kind, you will need to directly contact our audio technician (listed below) and work out the microphone specifics. You will be responsible for any additional expenses for microphones other than the ones we have available.

15.You will have three opportunities during the week of the pageant to perform your talent act on the theater stage – twice during rehearsal week and once on the morning of your preliminary competition. You will not have the opportunity to change your act. You must know what you are doing when you arrive in Columbus. These rehearsals on stage are not only practice times for you, but are talent run-throughs for our technical and production staff. Do not come to Columbus having to learn your talent. You may rehearse in anything, but competition costumes must be worn for dress rehearsals Wednesday through Friday.

16.Only Miss Georgia Pageant officials are allowed on stage, backstage, or in the dressing rooms during rehearsals or performances. This is for your safety. All rehearsals are closed to all family, friends, and franchises.

17.We should have no problem clearing most talent numbers. If you are doing original music that has not been published or commercially recorded, we will need a clearance letter from the composer of this original music.

18.The stage area for your performance will be a minimum of 24 feet deep by 30 feet wide, with approximately 18-20 feet of ceiling space.

19.All talent entrances and exits will be from Stage Left only. No exceptions!

MISS SWIMSUIT COMPETITION

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Please check your guidelines for your choice of swimsuit. Approval of swimsuits by the appropriate Miss Georgia Board members will occur at the beginning of the rehearsal week. Each contestant will rehearse the Swimsuit competition three times. You will rehearse in your competition swimsuit on the day of your preliminary competition in this category.

TEEN FITNESS COMPETITION

Each Teen contestant will model the sportswear outfit of her choice from selections chosen by the Miss Georgia Pageant. The approved selections are from the DanceWear Solutions website. The racer-back top with a tie front is style # RY3690 by Balera, and you may choose from the charcoal, lipstick or peacock colors. It sells for $9.95. You will need to wear a camisole bra top under this racerback tie-front top. It can be any color you choose. You need not buy a new one if you already have one of your own. There are three styles of selected bottoms from which you may choose: # AH3709 stretch denim shorts by Urban Groove; #MT2789 skort and # MT3148 capri dance pants. All sell for $19.95. In an effort to help reduce your costs, this year we are also allowing any basic black dance shorts that you may already own to be used. Whichever style you choose must be in black. You will rehearse in your competition outfit on the day of your preliminary competition in this category. The top and bottom of the outfit must fit appropriately. White athletic or tennis shoes without logos are to be worn. If your shoes have a logo, cover it with a generic white patch or tape.

A musical number will precede the fitness competition each preliminary night. During the musical number, a group of non-competing Teens will participate. Bring an 80’s outfit of your choice to wear on the night your group participates. The movie “Footloose” provides examples of 80’s outfits. Black, silver and neon-colored tights, shorts, leotards, Capri pants, leg warmers, cut-off sweatshirts, etc. will work well. You are not being judged at this time, so have fun!

EVENING WEAR COMPETITION

Only one evening gown is required for competition. Miss and Teen contestants will appear in the Evening Wear production numbers on Saturday night, and you may wear any evening gown you prefer, including your competition gown, your finale gown, or something totally different (sometimes called a “walk-on” gown.)

MISS ON-STAGE QUESTION

On preliminary nights, contestants will be required to answer one general question during this competition. Answers will be limited to 30 seconds, and a chime will signal

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when time is up. Interview outfits from the private judges’ interview will be worn for this competition.

TEEN- ON STAGE QUESTION

Teens will have their evening wear competition in conjunction with their on-stage question, so you will be in your evening gown for both. Judging will be separate. Answers will be limited to 30 seconds, and a chime will signal when time is up.

FINALE

All Miss contestants are to wear white evening gowns for the finale. Teen contestants may wear any color except white.

DRESS FOR ALL MISS CONTESTANTS

1. Opening Number outfits—designated cocktail dress & shoes 2. Approved competition swimsuit3. Competition evening gown4. Interview outfit5. Talent outfit6. Saturday night Evening Wear Production Number—any evening

gown (including competition, finale or “walk-on”)7. White finale gown

DRESS FOR ALL TEEN CONTESTANTS

1. Opening Number outfits—cocktail dress & shoes ordered at Forum2. Competition evening gown3. Talent outfit4. Fitness outfit—tie-front top & choice of bottom from approved styles5. 80’s outfit (your choice) for the Fitness Production Number6. Saturday night Evening Wear Production Number—any evening

gown (including competition, finale or “walk-on”)7. Finale gown—any color except white

INTRODUCTIONS

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You have been provided a questionnaire form for production information and for the introductions to be used in each area of competition. Please carefully follow the instructions for each. The form will also be on the contestant CD. After composing your intros, please email them (in Word format, Tahoma 14 font) to barbara.motos@gmail.com so that we can edit and transfer them to the emcee cue cards for the pageant. Be sure we have a current email address for you so that we can quickly send out information to everyone.

We hope to have answered any questions you might have at this point. Please feel free to contact Barbara if you have any further concerns. We are looking forward to working with you in June!!

Barbara Motos, Vice President of ProductionProducer/DirectorHome 706-323-5974Cell 706-464-7226barbara.motos@gmail.com

Chad White, DirectorCell 706 566 6083whitech@sfhga.com

Winston Whitlow, Audio TechnicianJob Shop Productions1624 Hamilton RoadLaGrange, Georgia 30241 orP.O. Box 422LaGrange, Georgia 30241Ph 706- 882-1099 HM 706-884-1900,Fax 706-882-1080

Make sure you keep a copy of everything you send to the Miss Georgia Pageant office! Do not send anything without your name, title, group and number on it. This includes CDs, documents, forms, photographs, emails, etc. (For consistency, it would be helpful if you print a page of labels with this information to apply to everything you send.)

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