NBC’s “Smash” actors Christian Borle, Brian d’Arcy James and Jaime Cepero; “Smash” executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron; A Chorus Line’s Baayork Lee, Bonnie and Clyde’s Jeff Calhoun and Annie creators Thomas Meehan, Charles Strouse and Martin Charnin were some of the celebrities who traveled to Atlanta to applaud the 3,000+ students and teachers representing 65 schools in 19 states staging musical Theater Productions in their communities at the 2012 Junior Theater Festival, January 13 - 15, 2012 at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta. Presented by New York’s iTheatrics and Atlanta’s Theater of the Stars and sponsored by leading theatrical licensor Music Theatre International (MTI), Disney Musicals and NBC, the Junior Theater Festival is the world’s largest musical theater festival dedicated to groups working with elementary, middle and high school students.
Students from Central Drama Players in Mayfield, Kentucky won the Freddie G Broadway Junior Spirit Award, the festival’s top award given to the group that most embodies the spirit of educational musical theatre.
NBC’s “Smash,” a new musical drama series celebrating the beauty and heartbreak of the Broadway theater, sponsored “’Smash’ Sunday” on January 15th with a full day of activities for festival attendees. Guided by questions from the students, cast members Christian Borle (“Legally Blonde: The Musical”), Brian d’Arcy James (“Shrek The Musical”), and Jaime Cepero (“Porgy & Bess”), alongside executive producers Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, spoke about the hard work and determination it takes to make it in the entertainment business.
With the “Smash” cast and producers on hand, Music Theatre International CEO Freddie Gershon announced the first 15 schools to be chosen for the national launch of “NBC’s ‘Smash’: Make a Musical.” Administered by iTheatrics’ non-profit arm, The Junior Theater Project, this philanthropic initiative will help create sustainable musical theater programs in underserved schools nationwide. The first 15 schools to take part in “NBC’s ‘Smash’: Make a Musical” program are: Renfroe Middle School in Decatur, GA; The University of Chicago Charter School Woodlawn Campus (UCW) in Chicago, IL; Paschal High School in Fort Worth, TX; Place Bridge Academy in Denver, CO; Middleton Street Elementary School in Huntington Park, CA; Independence Charter School in Philadelphia, PA; Desert Sands Middle School in Phoenix, AZ; Wheaton High School in Silver Spring, MD; Sharpston High School in Houston, TX; W. H. Oliver Middle School in Nashville, TN; Leadership and Public Service High School in New York, NY; KIPP Bridge Charter School in Oakland, CA; Stroud High School in Stroud, OK; The Academy at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh, PA, and Morris E. Ford Middle School in Tacoma, WA. Five more schools in St. Louis, Portland, Cleveland, Boston and Minneapolis/St. Paul are in “final callbacks” for the program and will be announced soon.
This initial program launch is the catalyst for iTheatrics’ Junior Theater Project to produce 200 more “Make a Musical” programs in the fall. In 2013, iTheatrics plans to launch an additional 200 programs and by 2014, the goal is to have 1,000 new arts programs positively impacting over one million U.S. students. NBC is underwriting the initial 20-market program rollout with Broadway master professionals going into the schools and mentoring students and teachers.
