Deaf West Theatre, LYLE, LYLE CROCODILE Cast & More to Join JTF WEST 2025

Performers, adjudicators, playwrights, songwriters and educators who will take part in the 2025 Junior Theater Festival West have been revealed. The festival will take place February 7-9, 2025, in Sacramento, California.

“JTF West brings together young performers, educators, and industry professionals in an electrifying celebration of arts education,” said Timothy Allen McDonald. “As someone who grew up dreaming of Broadway in rural Northern California, I'm proud to be introducing two new musicals developed in California—Elephant Shoes (Deaf West Theatre) and Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile: The Musical (Pasadena Playhouse). It's proof that Broadway's reach goes way beyond New York City.”

Called a “rousing celebration of theatre” by The New York Times, for the past 22 years, over 100,000 musical theatre students, their teachers, and families have made the annual pilgrimage to this epic event celebrating musical theatre.

JTF West 2025 will have nearly 2,500 people from across 54 performance groups that will be coming from 16 US states and 5 countries including Canada, South Korea, China, and New Zealand.

JTF 2025 is celebrating 20 years of Disney joining MTI's Broadway Junior collection and a founding sponsor of JTF. The weekend will feature a performance of the new musical, Disney's Dare to Dream JR., which premiered at JTF Atlanta. Disney's Dare to Dream JR. will be performed at JTF West as the Sunday Night Concert on February 9. Under the direction of JTF West mainstage director Marty Johnson, the musical will feature students from three different participating groups, who have each choreographed their own numbers: Woodland Opera House, Woodland, CA; Spark of Creation Studio, San Francisco, CA; and Musical Mayhem Productions, Sacramento, CA. Disney's Dare to Dream JR. is currently available for licensing via Music Theatre International (MTI).

“For over 20 years, attending the Junior Theater Festival has been a highlight for me and my colleagues at MTI. Seeing the performers display their talents is a genuine thrill and speaking with them, their directors, teachers, and parents allows us to hear what we can do to best serve their needs. The weekend energizes us for the entire year ahead!” said MTI's President and CEO, Drew Cohen.

The 2025 JTF West New Works Showcase will feature Boothbay Region YMCA: YARTS!, Boothbay Harbor, ME, performing Shrek the Musical KIDS; Preston Center Dance, Dallas, TX, performing 9 to 5 JR.; Ovation Academy of Performing Arts, Oak Park, IL, performing She Persisted JR.; and Christian Arts and Theater, Corona, CA, performing Madagascar – A Musical Adventure KIDS.

Mainstage appearances will include cast and creative team members from the upcoming musical Lyle, Lyle Crocodile, including Trae Adair, McKenna Michael Bisaha, Max Antonio Gonzalez, Cori Jaskier, Jetta Juriansz, Danny Feldman and Nina Meehan; cast and creative team members from Deaf West Theatre, including Jeff Calhoun, Adam Faison, Giovanni Maucere, and Siena Rafter, joined in performance by Morgan Siobhan Green; Steven Agdeppa (American Idiot), Sarah Jane Arnegger (AKA NYC), actor Jenna Barricklo, actor John Clay III (New York, New York), director Michael Herwitz (JOB), Academy Of Pop Head of School Marty Johnson, actor and choreographer Michael Lunder, composer Daniel Mertzlufft (Ratatouille the TikTok Musical), iTheatrics Program Director, Education; DEI Advisor Jiana Odland, composer Rob Rokicki (The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical), writer Adam Tobin (She Persisted: The Musical), and composer Deborah Wicks La Puma (She Persisted: The Musical).

This year's educators include Emma Bishop (JTF New Zealand), Michael J. Bobbitt (Executive Director, Mass Cultural Council), Mary-Catherine Chambliss (iTheatrics Director of Education), Khalia Davis (Producing Artistic Director, The Coterie Theatre), Alexis Duermeyer (Artistic Director, Backyard Kids Theater), composer Zina Goldrich (“Taylor the Latte Boy”), director and choreographer Jeff Hall, Steven G Kennedy (iTheatrics Vice President, Publications), Kelby McIntyre Martinez (Associate Dean for Arts Education and Community Engagement, University of Utah College of Fine Arts), filmmaker Dean McFlicker, Cindy Ripley (Senior Advisor, Education at iTheatrics), Shay Rodgers (Choreographer, iTheatrics), and Court Watson (Theatrical Designer).

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