So far, more than 500 theater companies and schools have participated in the OOB Festival over the decades, including troupes from coast to coast as well as from Canada, Singapore, the U.K., and Australia. Festival week consists of four performance sessions in which seven to eight scripts are presented in front of a judging panel comprised of theater industry professionals. At the end of each session, the judges deliberate and one to three plays are selected to move on to the Festival Finals.
During the Finals, the Festival staff selects six shorts to be a published in an anthology.