ITheatrics And Junior Theater Group Celebrate Record-Breaking Junior Theater Festival Atlanta

iTheatrics and the Junior Theater Group (Founder and CEO, Timothy Allen McDonald) presented the 2024 Junior Theater Festival Atlanta from January 12-14, 2024, in Atlanta, Georgia. JTF Atlanta 2024 saw a record-breaking 6,583 people in attendance representing 125 student theatre groups, and featured a performance from Arielle Jacobs and Wren Rivera, who reunited to perform songs from Between The Lines.

Exclusive to organizations performing Music Theatre International's (MTI) 30 and 60-minute Broadway JuniorÒ musicals, the Junior Theater Festivals bring together the best musical theatre professionals from Broadway and beyond with the largest audience of artists and arts supporters.

Each year, 36 million people see a Broadway JuniorÒ show in North America—which is three times the number of people who see a Broadway show annually. The majority of people in the US who see live theatre are seeing young people perform in their hometowns.

This year JTF also held parent panels hosted by New York Times Best-Selling Author Jodi Picoult and SJ Arnegger (Head of Partnerships and Engagement, AKA) focused on ways to advocate for student theater programs, by engaging their communities and forming parent booster organizations. Panelists included notable educational theatre experts Michael J. Bobbitt (Executive Director, Mass Cultural Council), Nina Meehan (Founder/Artistic Director, Bay Area Children's Theatre), and Paul Brewster (Senior Consultant, Theatre Projects).  

This initiative was further supported by JTF's first-ever Social Media Ambassadors.164 students were coached by Broadway marketing agency RPM in how to create impactful social media campaigns for their theater programs.

Through this program, the participating students created more than 275 videos over the course of the weekend. These videos and the hashtag #JTFSocialMediaAmbassador garnered over 180,000 views, with posts using #JuniorTheaterFestival receiving over 825,000 views. The students' work helped the official JTF TikTok account gain over 3000 new followers, with videos reaching a combined 358,000 views.

Throughout the festival, 2,556 parents and teachers attended panels which explored various topics including how to support and advocate for student theatre programs, college and non-college opportunities for students, and how to respond to show cancellations caused by community pushback over content.

At the festival, each group performed 15 minutes of a Broadway Junior musical for adjudicators. In addition to mainstage performances featuring powerhouse Broadway and West End guests, the groups enjoyed “Direct From Broadway,” hosted by Luca Padovan and Isabella Russo, a New Works Showcase of performance selections from upcoming Broadway Junior musicals presented by JTF groups; “There's A Place For Us,” hosted by Jiana Odland; and “Growing Up Broadway,” hosted by SJ Arnegger and Timothy Allen McDonald.

Headline performers for the concert held on Sunday January 14 were Arielle Jacobs (Here Lies Love, Between the Lines) and Adam Jacobs (The Lion King, Aladdin).

This year's performers, presenters and adjudicators included Tilly-Raye Bayer (Matilda, Disney's Frozen – West End), director Jeff Calhoun (Disney's Newsies), Katy Geraghty (Into the Woods), Taylor Iman Jones (Head Over Heels, Six), Beau Harmon (“So You Think You Can Dance”), Brittney Mack (Six), Luca Padovan (School of Rock, Newsies), New York Times best-selling author Jodi Picoult (Between the Lines), Wren Rivera (Jagged Little Pill, Between the Lines), Isabella Russo (School of Rock), Joe Serafini (“High School Musical: The Musical: The Series”), Morgan Siobhan Green (Be More Chill, Hadestown – First National Tour), songwriter Rob Rokicki (The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical), Thommy Bailey Vine (Matilda, Les Misérables – West End) and Michael Wordly (Miss Saigon, The Color Purple – First National Tour).

The weekend also featured book signings from the songwriting team of Elyssa Samsel and Kate Anderson (Between the Lines, Olaf's Frozen Adventure, The Book Thief) and playwright and author Vichet Chum (Bald Sisters, Kween).

This year's educators of note included Michael J. Bobbitt (Executive Director, Mass Cultural Council), Fernell Hogan (Kimberly Akimbo), Jade Jones (Beauty and the Beast), Dr. Jennifer Katona (Executive Director, Educational Theatre Association), Nina Meehan (Founder/Artistic Director, Bay Area Children's Theatre), Rosemary Newcott (former Sally G. Tomlinson Artistic Director of Theatre for Youth and Families, Alliance Theatre), Ernie Nolan (Executive Artistic Director, Nashville Children's Theatre), Cindy Ripley (Senior Advisor, Education at iTheatrics) and Darian Sanders (The Lion King). These educators served as adjudicators throughout the weekend.

ABOUT ITHEATRICS

Founded in 2006 and based in New York City, iTheatrics has established itself as the world's leading authority on musical theater for young people. iTheatrics works with leading public and private companies around the world—including the Kennedy Center, NBC, leading licensors Concord Theatricals and Music Theatre International—to ensure young people everywhere have access to quality musical theatre programs.

Exclusive to organizations performing MTI's 30 and 60-minute Broadway Junior musicals and Online Editions, the Junior Theater Festivals bring together the best musical theatre professionals from Broadway and beyond with the largest audience of artists and arts supporters. Organizers will produce the in-person 2024 Junior Theater Festival West (#JTF) happening February 9-11, 2024, in Sacramento, CA. iTheatrics also produces, hosts, and supports one-day Junior Theater Celebrations and Junior Theater Festivals in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. In 2019, nearly 15,000 people worldwide attended a Junior Theater Festival or Junior Theater Celebration.

Past festival attendees have included Ahrens & Flaherty, Skylar Astin, Joshua Bassett, Shoshana Bean, Sierra Boggess, Nicholas Christopher, Darren Criss, Zac Efron, Cynthia Erivo, Megan Hilty, Arielle Jacobs, Kenny Leon, Caissie Levy, Kara Lindsay, Ryan McCartan, Lindsay Mendez, Alan Menken, Pasek and Paul, Ben Platt, Olivia Rodrigo, Samsel & Anderson; Steven Schwartz, Ali Stroker, and Jeanine Tesori.

FOR MORE INFORMATION:

juniortheaterfestival.com

 

To post a comment, you must register and login.