Concord Theatricals Reveals Winners of 'Kick Off Your Sunday Shoes: The FOOTLOOSE Competition'

Concord Theatricals has revealed the winners of their Kick Off Your Sunday Shoes: The Footloose Competition, which awarded ten low-income communities with a complimentary license package to perform Footloose in honor of the stage musical's upcoming 25th Broadway anniversary.

The winning applicants come from seven states across the country, each one telling an engaging story about the power of dance within their school community. The schools will perform the Footloose edition of their choice (Footloose: Youth Edition, Footloose (90-Minute Version) or Footloose) by June 2024. With thanks for their participation in the endeavor, production rental materials from iTheatrics, Right On Cue Services and KeyboardTEK are also included.

The winning schools are: Beaver Falls High School (Beaver Falls, PA); The Stage Makers at Cairo High School (Cairo, GA); Carroll High School* (Ozark, AL); Central High School (Martinsburg, PA); CCHS Drama Club at Cleburne County High School (Heflin, AL); Columbia High School (Columbia, MS); Heritage High School (Conyers, GA); Heritage Hills High School (Lincoln City, IN); Middle Park High School (Granby, CO); and Waterbury Arts Magnet School (Waterbury, CT).

*Carroll High School allows students from nearby Ariton High School, Dale County High School and Long High School to participate in their drama program.

More information about the competition, which was aimed at Title 1 and other under-resourced schools, can be found at concordtheatricals.com/FootlooseCompetition.

"What most impressed and moved me about the entries of these worthy winners is how much the very act of putting on a show caused people to reach out, to move beyond their comfort zones, and to forge new, vibrant communities with a single, shared goal," remarks Dean Pitchford. "The final scene of Footloose, then, becomes a joyous celebration not just for the characters in the musical, but for every person who has been touched by the experience of making theatre."

"There is nothing more heartwarming than to hear stories from schools about the power of theatre," said Bill Gaden, President of Concord Theatricals. "Many of us here at Concord participated in high school theatre and know firsthand the feelings of teamwork, accomplishment and pride that putting on a musical brings. We are thrilled to be able to reward these schools with free licenses to put on Footloose - each one is richly deserving. We look forward to stories about their Footloose productions, as well as the continued impact of arts on their schools and communities."

With dynamic new songs augmenting the powerhouse hits from the movie musical's bestselling Oscar-nominated score, Footloose celebrates the exhilaration of youth, the wisdom of listening to one another and the power of forgiveness. Footloose features music by Tom Snow and lyrics by Pitchford, with a stage adaptation by Pitchford and Walter Bobbie, based on the original screenplay by Pitchford, along with additional music by Eric Carmen, Sammy Hagar, Kenny Loggins and Jim Steinman.

Footloose first burst onto the silver screen in 1984 and proved to be one of the year's most successful motion pictures. It then opened on Broadway on October 22, 1998. The next day, the show broke the box office record for the Richard Rodgers Theatre, where it continued to thrill audiences through July 2000. The show has subsequently been seen on tour in the U.K., in the West End and around the globe. In 2011, Paramount Pictures' remake of Footloose - with a screenplay by Pitchford and the film's director Craig Brewer - brought this heartwarming story and electrifying musical to a whole new generation.

BIOGRAPHIES

Concord Theatricals

is the world's most significant theatrical company, comprising the catalogs of R&H Theatricals, Samuel French, Tams-Witmark and The Andrew Lloyd Webber Collection, plus dozens of new signings each year. Our unparalleled roster includes the work of Irving Berlin, Agatha Christie, George & Ira Gershwin, Marvin Hamlisch, Lorraine Hansberry, Kander & Ebb, Ken Ludwig, Lin-Manuel Miranda, Dominique Morisseau, Cole Porter, Rodgers & Hammerstein, Thornton Wilder and August Wilson. We are the only firm providing truly comprehensive services to the creators and producers of plays and musicals, including theatrical licensing, music publishing, script publishing, cast recording and first-class production. www.concordtheatricals.com

Dean Pitchford

Born and raised in Hawaii and graduated from Yale University, Dean Pitchford performed off- and on-Broadway (Godspell; Pippin) before turning to songwriting, screenwriting and directing. Dean was nominated for four Academy Awards (winning the 1981 Best Song Oscar for "Fame," co-written w/ Michael Gore), three Golden Globes (winning for "Fame"), eight Grammys and two Tonys; his songs - recorded by such artists as Barbra Streisand, Whitney Houston, Cher, Peter Allen, LL Cool J, Kenny Loggins, Hugh Jackman, Dolly Parton, Bette Midler and Martina McBride - have sold over 70 million records. The musical stage adaptation (with Walter Bobbie) of his original screenplay for Footloose ran for more than 700 performances on Broadway and is now seen all over the world. Dean also provided the lyrics for Carrie: The Musical, which was produced in 1988 by the Royal Shakespeare Company - first in England and then on Broadway - and was revived in 2012 by New York's MCC Theater. Dean's middle-grade novels, The Big One-Oh and Captain Nobody, are published by Putnam/Penguin; his performances of their audiobook recordings (Listening Library/Random House) were both nominated for Grammys. His third novel, Nickel Bay Nick, was published to acclaim in 2013, and Dean voiced that audiobook for Audible.com. In 2019, the musical adaptation of his first novel, The Big One-Oh!, premiered at New York's Atlantic Theatre with lyrics by Dean, music by Doug Besterman and a libretto by Timothy Allen McDonald. www.deanpitchford.com