Students from Academy of Children’s Theatre in Bossier City and Stage Center's School of Performing Arts in Shreveport, have been accepted into the 2013 Junior Theater Festival, happening Jan. 18-20 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, Ga.
Featuring 82 groups representing 23 states, the Junior Theater Festival (JTF) is the world’s largest musical theater festival dedicated to groups working with elementary and middle school students and is presented by New York’s iTheatrics and Atlanta’s Theater of the Stars and sponsored by Music Theatre International and Disney Musicals. The festival will bring together more than 4,000 students, teachers, and Broadway professionals to raise their voices in celebration of on-stage and backstage excellence in musical theater.
Bossier StageCenter castmembers for the JTF are: Cameron Cason, 11, St. Mark's Cathedral School, Haughton; Jordan Farris, 11, Benton Middle School; Nolan Tomasek, 11, Cope Middle School.
Each group attending the Junior Theater Festival performs a 15-minute selection of a musical for a panel of distinguished theater professionals. The students from the Academy of Children’s Theatre, grades 4 through 12, will present songs from Disney’s The Little Mermaid JR. for adjudication, while nine students representing Stage Center's School of Performing Arts, ages 10-13, will perform selections from Disney’s Winnie the Pooh KIDS for the group’s first JTF appearance. Details for both groups are presented separately below.
This is the first time Stage Center is participating in the Junior Theater Festival. Academy of Children’s Theatre (ACT) has attended every Junior Theater Festival since the event launched in 2003.
At the 2012 Junior Theater Festival, students from Academy of Children’s Theatre earned a Freddie G Outstanding Production Award for the group’s presentation of Once on This Island JR. and student Kate utstanding Junior Slam award, and Joshua Myers was one of 25 students from across the nation who flew to New York in summer 2011 to record instructional choreography DVDs. ACT was also chosen to perform a selection of songs from Thoroughly Modern Millie JR. for the show author’s Jeanine Tesori, as well as all festival attendees.
In 2010 ACT performed selections from Into the Woods JR. and The Music Man JR. and received two ensemble awards, Freddie G Outstanding Achievement in Acting and Freddie G Outstanding Achievement in Dance. Additionally, student Michael Brown earned a Freddie G Achievement in Acting award, and ACT was one of five groups from across the country selected to perform Pirates of Penzance JR. for all festival attendees as part of the JTF’s Spotlight on the Classics series
At the 2009 festival, ACT students presented Disney’s Mulan JR. and were awarded an Outstanding Production award and an Outstanding Achievement: Dance award. The group was also invited to perform “I’ll Make A Man Out of You” from Disney’s Mulan JR. during the closing ceremonies.
The Academy of Children’s Theatre premiered Thoroughly Modern Millie JR. at the 2007 festival and won an Outstanding Music award for its presentation of songs from Godspell JR.
In 2005 the group received an Outstanding Choreography award for the students’ performance of selections from Annie JR., and in 2003 won an Outstanding Production award for its presentation of songs from Fiddler on the Roof JR.
