The aesthetic judgments of experts (casting directors and high school drama teachers), theater buffs, and novices were compared as they rated high school students' videotaped performances of Shakespearean monologues. It was hypothesized that theater buffs would represent an intermediate stage on the path to developing expertise in judging acting ability. The judge sample (N=27) included nine experts, nine theatre buffs, and nine novices, with each expert being matched with a theatre buff and novice of the same sex and approximately the same age and level of education. All of the judges viewed eight high school students' videotaped performances of 2-minute long monologues twice, rated the videotapes, and completed the 36-item Judging Acting Ability Inventory developed for this study. One month later, each judge viewed the same eight videotapes of the student performances twice, and again completed the rating and sorting tasks. Theater buffs did represent an intermediate stage in the development of expertise in judging acting. Their measures of contestant ability were significantly different than those of the experts and novices, with more similarities to the ratings of experts. Theatre buffs were also better at replicating their results at a second session than were novices, but they did not perform as well as did the experts. Implications of the results for the judgment of aesthetic experience are discussed. Three tables, two graphs, and a 38-item list of references are included. (SLD)