Stage and screen stars Darren Criss (Glee, Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Newsies, Tuck Everlasting), Ben Platt ("Pitch Perfect", Dear Evan Hansen), Tony-nominated composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen, A Christmas Story, Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach), Philip McAdoo (The Lion King and Rent), Brad Simmons ("Camp", Lysistrata Jones), Jacob Brent (Cats); Cory Lingner (On the Town), and writing team Kate Anderson and Elyssa Samsel (Camp-Wish-No-More, My Little Brony) are some of the talent confirmed for the 2016 Junior Theater Festival (#JTF16), it was announced today by Timothy Allen McDonald, founding chairman of iTheatrics and the Junior Theater Group.
Produced by the Junior Theater Group in partnership with iTheatrics, a leading educational theater company which works to ensure students everywhere have access to quality theater programs, the Junior Theater Festival is the world's largest festival celebrating young people and the transformative power of musical theater. This year's title sponsors are
Music Theatre International (MTI), Disney Theatrical Group, and Playbill.
Students and teachers from 115 educational musical theater groups representing 28 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, New Zealand, South Korea and Australia will participate in the 2016 Junior Theater Festival, to be held January 15, 16 and 17 at the Cobb Galleria in Atlanta. In the spirit of celebration and not competition, each group at the festival will perform a selection from a musical for a panel of theater professionals. Both students and teachers will participate in interactive workshops led by Broadway and West End professionals, gain from professional development, and enjoy theatrical fellowship.
"The Junior Theater Festival is our new year's celebration and the energy and excitement surpasses anything that you'll find in Times Square. It's the most remarkable thrill to experience the power and joy of student-driven musical theater with thousands of young people, teachers, Broadway professionals, and leaders in education and theater. We celebrate each other, exchange ideas and take our love for and commitment to this art form to new heights. Each of us leaves the weekend with a renewed commitment and understanding of how we will bring our personal best to the next year," says McDonald.
Darren Criss will be the festival headliner, and will perform a concert for all attendees on Sunday, January 17. The program will feature songs from his Broadway and television career.
The festival will shine the spotlight on the next generation of composers and artists during Pathways, a Q&A event in which Broadway talent talks candidly about their experiences and presents works from new shows. This year's Pathways will feature songwriting team
Benj Pasek and
Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen); New York Times best-selling author Jodi Picoult and songwriting team Kate Anderson and
Elyssa Samsel (Between the Lines); songwriter and music director
Rob Rokicki (The Lightning Thief); composer/lyricist Matthew
Lee Robinson (Atlantis, Happy People) and performer
Cory Lingner (On the Town). Joining them in performance will be
Ben Platt (Dear Evan Hansen);
Megan Rozak (winner of national If/Then contest);
Janice Landry (Japan tour of Disney on Classic with the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra);
Corey Cott (Newsies), and
Ryann Redmond (If/Then, Bring it On the Musical).
The festival will also host pop-up concerts featuring the works of Anderson and Samsel, Rokicki, and Robinson with performances by Rozak, Landry, Cott, Redmond, as well as
J.D. Daw (Forever Plaid,
California Musical Theatre and Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera House),
Luke Holloway (Million Dollar Quartet),
Janice Landry and
Martin Landry (1st national tour of Murder for Two).
This year, the festival honors the 20th anniversary of MTI CEO
Freddie Gershon launching Broadway Junior, the first educational division in a major musical theater licensing firm, which created the educational musical theater market. Broadway Junior musicals are developmentally appropriate versions of classic and popular shows designed to be directed by teachers and performed by students. All Broadway Junior musicals include the materials needed to produce a show as well as educational resources tailor-designed to the needs of schools, teachers and students. Beginning in 2010, the festival has paid tribute to Gershon's vision by naming its student awards "The Freddie G's."
"Twenty-some years ago
Freddie Gershon shared the concern of a number of musical theater creatives that the next generation of musical theater supporters and artists were being lost to budget cuts and videos games. He decided to create a first-ever multi-faceted educational musical theater program that would make it as easy as possible for anyone anywhere to stage their own successful production. At the 2016 Junior Theater Festival thousands of students and teachers will join us in paying tribute to 20 years of Broadway Junior and Freddie's leadership," says McDonald.
There will be special author meet and greets with
Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Jack & Louisa written with
Kate Wetherhead will be published by Penguin Random House in February 2016; Mary Pope Osborne, author of the international sensation Magic Tree House series of books and musicals; and New York Times best-selling-author Jodi Picoult (Between the Lines).
At the New Works Showcase select groups will perform selections from new musicals that will soon be made available for licensing by MTI. Bradley Academy Musical Theatre in Murfreesboro, TN, Roy Waldron Elementary Drama and University School of Nashville in Nashville will present Peter Pan JR.; Community Theatre of Greensboro in Greensboro, NC will present Madagascar JR.; and Eastern Shore Repertory Theatre will present Magic Tree House: A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens JR. Students from Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School's BRAVO! Program in Oak Park, IL; Harris County Carver Middle School in Hamilton, GA; P.S. 124 Theatre Club in New York City; and Uptown Music Theatre in New Orleans will come together to honor the 20th anniversary of Broadway Junior with a medley of Broadway Junior songs.
Additional Junior Theater Festival celebrity guests include designer
Theresa Squire (High Fidelity and The Lieutenant of Inishmore on Broadway);
Morgan Rose (first national tour of Shrek the Musical, Dear Edwina);
Peter Avery, the Director of Theater for the New York City Department of Education; Ken Cerniglia, dramaturg and literary manager for Disney Theatrical Group; Lisa Mitchell, Senior Manager Education Outreach for Disney Theatrical Group;
Nick Pramik, director of the Marketing and Partnerships division at Spot Co; and artistic directors from leading children's theaters:
Michael Bobbitt of the Adventure Theatre, Rosemary Newcott of the Alliance Theatre, and
Ernie Nolan of Emerald City Theatre.
Eight exceptional educators from schools and performing arts centers around the country will be selected for the seventh annual "The Freddie G Fellowship," in which the teachers will receive an all-expense-paid trip to New York City to collaborate with each other and work one-on-one with Broadway greats. Each winning teacher will also receive a $5,000 grant to put towards his or her theater program. The event is underwritten and hosted by Freddie and
Myrna Gershon and is a thank-you for all that teachers do to introduce the next generation to Broadway and musical theater
There will be a tech track in which students interested in technical theater train with professionals. A select group of these student technicians will be invited to work side-by-side with festival staff in running the tech for main stage festival events.
Each group may also nominate up to four students to take part in the "Tech Olympics," in which students complete an obstacle course of technical theater activities - ranging from performing a quick change and focusing a light to pre-setting props and taping the floor - within the fastest time.
The festival will award the third annual Sharidan Giles Technical Theater Award Scholarship to the technical theater student who most exemplifies commitment, curiosity, collaboration, and creativity in technical theater. Giles was a respected theater production manager and technical director who mentored countless technical theater artists and was one of the first women admitted into her local branch of The International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States union (IATSE local # 50).
