The Alamo Theatre Arts Council (ATAC) is a not-for-profit corporate organization501 (c) (3) whose purpose is to administer a judging process and present awards to recognize, honor and celebrate excellence and achievement in San Antonio live theater.
The Council is managed by an elected Board of Directors who contribute their time without compensation. Board committee organization provides for presentation of the annual Globe Awards show, judging and balloting functions, fundraising, and special events and publicity.
ATAC Globe Awards are presented annually for approximately 32 categoriesincluding excellence in production, direction, lead and supporting actors and actresses, musical direction, choreography, and artistic design areas (Scene, Lighting, Costumes and Sound). An additional Globe Award recognizing special contribution to San Antonio theater is presented by the Board of Directors in the name of founder and past president Jasmina Wellinghoff.
Currently, any local production of a drama, comedy or musical with an opening date between September 1 and August 31is eligible for that season’s Globe Award consideration. The producing theater company must be located in Bexar County, Texas, to be considered a local production. Actors, designers and directors must be residents of the South and Central Texas area to be considered. Shows must run for at least 5 performances. The intent is to ensure that a sufficient number of judges see a show.
Eligible productions are evaluated each season by a panel of volunteer Judges. Judges are recruited continuously. Judges are selected and appointed by the Board of Directorsfrom names of qualified candidates recommended by members of the board, current judges, producing theaters, and the theater-going community at large. Judges represent a wide cross section of the theater going community ranging from degreed theater professionals to avid theatergoers.
Once selected and trained, Judges receive an ATAC Ballot Form for each eligible production. Judges are encouraged to attend all eligible shows— drama, comedy or musical.
In preparing the ballot, an ATAC Ballot Info Form is sent to the producing theater. When completed and returned, the form provides ATAC with details concerning the production, including the name of director, and those to be credited for scenic, lighting, sound and costume design and, where applicable, choreography, music direction, and author or composer of an original work. The production company of each show is given the opportunity to determine and provide the names of lead and supporting roles together with their designation as such. Upon receipt of the form the ATAC judge coordinator prepares the show ballot and distributes copies to the judges of that category of show.
Theaters are encouraged to provide judges with complimentary or discounted tickets, but are not required to do so. Many judges pay for tickets.
The Judge compares the name of the performer playing roles during the performance viewed to ensure that any cast replacements or double-cast roles will be evaluated separately. Each judge evaluates each production area and all performances and enters a score from 0 to 10 on their ballot. Zero is the lowest and 10 is the highest. After seeing a show, the Judge completes the ballot and returns it to the independent tabulator for tabulation and audit.
For reasons of statistical soundness, completed ballots from a minimum of five (5) Judges are sought for any production, performance or design to be eligible. Each Judge evaluates a particular production only once. Short sketches or scenes compiled to showcase one or more playwrights are not acceptable. One act plays over 30 minutes in length will be judged. The tabulator tabulates all ballots by calculating the mean (average) of all scores received.
A Judge who is participating in a production recuses him- or herself from evaluating that particular production. If a Judge’s spouse, significant other, co-worker, or blood relative is in a production, the Judge may evaluate all elements of the production except the aforementioned persons or the Judge may abstain from evaluating the entire production.
To facilitate communication with the Judges, an ATAC Judge liaison maintains regular contact with the judges and serves as a conduit for any questions or concerns from the Judges during the theater season. Judge anonymity is encouraged to the degree possible. Judges may not discuss their scores and may not discuss their opinions about a production with other judges until those ballots have been submitted. The scores of the Judges and all data for tabulations as set forth above are kept strictly confidential by the accounting activity performing such tabulation, and are not known to the ATAC Board of Directors until the season results have been compiled and certified.