Student Performers From Australia Head To The USA To Participate In The Junior Theater Festival And More

With stars in their eyes, an intrepid team of 41 young performers known as the "Aussie All Stars" are headed to the United States to serve as Australia's youth musical theatre ambassadors. The student performers will begin their journey in New York City to participate in theatrical performance workshops and attend Broadway shows. From there, the Aussie All Stars will head to the annual Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta, GA, and finish their adventure in Anaheim, CA by participating in the Disney Performing Arts program.

Producers from Junior Theatre Celebration Australia (an event which follows the stateside Junior Theater Festivals), in partnership with Music Theatre International Australasia and youth performing arts tour provider Travel Gang, will be chaperoning the ensemble along with a group of 55 supportive family members - making this one of the largest Australian youth musical theatre tours ever.

As part of the inaugural Aussie All Stars program, this elite team of youngsters (aged 12 to 18 years) are working under the creative direction of Daniel Stoddart and New York-based Australian choreographer Scott Morris. Stoddart is a recipient of the Freddie G. Fellowship - an honor recognizing exceptional educators for their contributions to arts education, underwritten by Myrna and Freddie Gershon and bestowed at the annual Junior Theater Festivals.

Junior Theatre Celebration Australia (JTCOz) Producer Daniel Stoddart first attended the Junior Theater Festival with a group from Newcastle, Australia. Since then, Daniel and his fellow JTCOz Producer, Shane Bransdon, have assisted in getting other Australian and New Zealand groups across to the United States for various opportunities. The All-Star ensemble consists of students who successfully auditioned in 2017 as part of the Junior Theatre Celebration Australia.

In New York City, the Aussie All Stars will collaborate on a 15-minute performance piece featuring selections from MTI's Broadway Junior musical, Madagascar - A Musical Adventure JR., guided by a production team made up of Aussie and New York-based educational experts. The young performers will also participate in acting workshops, attend Disney's Frozen and King Kong, and explore the sights of New York City.

After New York, the students will join 7,000 like-minded young performers in Atlanta at the massive Junior Theater Festival. A "rousing celebration of theatre" (The New York Times), the Junior Theater Festival recognizes and empowers the international global movement of young people and educators creating student-driven musical theatre worldwide. The 2019 Junior Theater Festival Atlanta, which launched in 2003, will unite 136 groups, representing 28 states, New Zealand, Australia, and the U.K

The Aussie All Stars will perform their selection from Madagascar: A Musical Adventure JR. for adjudication and will receive feedback as well as attend skill-development workshops presented by the world's best teaching artists, watch performances by their peers and Broadway's best, and connect with an international audience of people who love theatre just as much as they do.

The trip concludes with performances and educational development opportunities at Disneyland in Anaheim, CA when the Aussie All Stars participate in the renowned Disney Performing Arts program.

"For many of these young people, their lives will be changed forever and they will be inspired to make their dreams come true. Often it seems like a big old world, but by taking Australian students to the musical theatre capital of the world we hope to inspire students to realise that their dreams are achievable." Daniel Stoddart (Producer, Junior Theatre Celebration Australia and Co-Founder of Travel Gang)

"The Aussie All Stars program brings students together from different schools to collaborate in a shared experience. We are super proud to have these kids representing our territory at an international event." Shane Bransdon (Producer, Junior Theatre Celebration Australia and Co-Founder of Travel Gang)

"MTI Australasia strongly believes in supporting our country's young performing artists. They are, after all, the future of our industry here in Australia." Stuart Hendricks, Managing Director - Music Theatre International Australasia.

The Aussie All-Stars program is an initiative of youth performance tour experts, Travel Gang, who provide opportunities for students and their teachers to travel between the USA and Australia in the aim of broadening their performing arts experience. The Aussie All Stars is a unique program bringing together like-minded young people from all over Australia including NSW, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. The ensemble is comprised of individually selected students from a variety of Aussie schools and academies who were then put through their paces in an audition process, from which they were offered a position in the troupe. Travel Gang also has a troupe of New Zealand students queued up for a 2020 tour aptly named the Kiwi All-Stars.

Music Theatre International (MTI) is one of the world's leading theatrical licensing agencies, granting schools as well as amateur and professional theatres from around the world the rights to perform the largest selection of great musicals from Broadway and beyond. MTI works directly with the composers, lyricists and book writers of these shows to provide official scripts, musical materials and dynamic theatrical resources to over 70,000 theatrical organizations in the US and in over 60 countries worldwide.

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