LOCAL STUDENTS WIN NATIONAL AWARDS AT 2015 JUNIOR THEATER FESTIVAL
Students from PS 124's Theatre Club in Chinatown won a Freddie G Outstanding Production award and PS 124’s Theatre Club’s Ryan Olsen was one of seven teachers selected for the Freddie G Fellowship at the 2015 Junior Theater Festival happening January 16, 17 and 18 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta, GA.Pictured here are the PS 124 students with their trophy
Pictured here is Ryan Olsen (middle) with Myrna Gershon (left) and Music Theatre International Chairman Freddie Gershon (right)
Photo credit James Barker.
As one of just nine schools from across the country to win a Freddie G Outstanding Production Award, the students performed a song from their production for all 4,500+ attendees at the Junior Theater Festival closing ceremonies.
The Freddie G Fellowship recognizes the exceptional contributions to arts education. The teachers will receive all-expense professional development weekend in New York City, complete with professional development, Broadway performances and unforgettable celebrations. In addition to the New York experience, each of the teachers’ organizations receive $5,000 from Freddie and Myrna to enhance their arts program and further the collaborative and inclusive spirit of producing a musical.The Freddie G Fellowship is
underwritten by Music Theatre International Chairman and Broadway Junior founder Freddie Gershon, and his wife, Myrna.
The 26 students, ages 9-10 presented selections from Disney's Mulan JR. for Producing Artistic Director at Adventure Theatre MTC, Michael Bobbit, and Shay Rodgers, manager of education and choreographer for Theatre Under the Stars in Houston.
Bobbitt said about PS 124’s Theatre Club, “Mulan at PS 124 was transformative. I get emotional thinking about it.” Added Rodgers, “Brilliant! PS 124 exuded honor and tradition. Every
movement they made was art!”
The students will perform selections from the show on March 4th during the school's Lunar Celebration Show and will offer a full production of Disney's Mulan JR. in June.
Students Aaron Wang and Caroline Leung were named to the Junior Theater Festival All-Stars, made up of two outstanding performers from each group attending the festival. The All-Stars performed a song during the closing ceremony for all 4,500 festival attendees.
Produced by the Junior Theater Group in partnership iTheatrics, a leading educational theater company which creates innovative experiences and products for the public and private sector, 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 were Music Theatre International, Disney Theatrical Group, and Playbill®. The Junior Theater Festival was founded in 2003. In 2010 the Festival became an annual event.
Stage and screen stars Megan Hilty (Wicked, Smash), Darren Criss (Glee), Lilla Crawford (Annie,
Into the Woods the movie), Luca Padovan (Newsies), and Philip McAdoo (Disney’s The Lion King,
Rent), as well as Disney Theatrical Group president and producer Thomas Schumacher, Oscar-winning Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Bobby Lopez (songwriters for Frozen, co-creators of In Transit), and Tony-nominated composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (A Christmas Story, Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach) were on hand to applaud the 4,500 students and teachers representing 101 educational musical theater groups representing 26 states, the district of Columbia and two countries.
The Junior Theater Festival offered an enthusiastic environment for students and teachers to interact with thousands of others who share their passion for musical theater. In addition to presenting a 15-minute selection from a musical, both students and teachers participated in interactive workshops led by Broadway and West End professionals, gained from professional development and enjoyed theatrical fellowship.
The students who traveled to the 2015 Junior Theater Festival on behalf of PS 124's Theatre Club are:
Troy Burnett, Delilah Hang, Phoebe He, Nya Hernandez, Andy Huang, Xi Wen Huang, Jamie Jian, Anita Jung, Caden Jung, Isabelle Lam, Avery Law, Hannah Lee, Caroline Leung, Katelyn Leung, Samantha Li, Katrina Lin, Stephanie Lin, Stanley Ng, Dakota Pat, Natalie Sang, Rorie Taylor, Aaron Wang, Caitlin Wong, Fiona Wong, Alan Zheng, and Alexander Zhu
About PS 124's Theatre Club
PS 124 Yung Wing Elementary School is named after the first Chinese student in America—Yung Wing came to America to attend school, and in 1853, became the first Chinese person to
graduate from Yale University. The students of PS 124 Yung Wing Elementary School speak English, and many also speak the Chinese dialects Mandarin or Cantonese.
This was the group’s fifth time attending the Junior Theater Festival. At the 2014 festival the group won a Freddie G Outstanding Production award.
In 2013 students from the PS 124 Drama Club won a Freddie G Outstanding Production Award and a Freddie G Outstanding Group Achievement in Dance Award. The group was one of five educational musical theater groups across the nation to perform as part of the New Works Showcase.
In 2012 PS 124 Drama Club earned a Freddie G Outstanding Achievement in Acting Award.
About Disney's Mulan JR.
Disney’s Mulan JR. is an action-packed stage adaptation of the 1998 Disney film Mulan and the story “Fa Mulan,” by Robert D. San Souci. The score by Matthew Wilder, David Zippel, Stephen Schwartz, Jeanine Tesori and Alexa Junge includes favorites like “Reflection,” “Honor to Us All,” and “I’ll Make a Man Out of You,” as well as new songs created by Bryan Louiselle and Patricia Cotter.
About the 2015 Junior Theater Festival
Additional Junior Theater Festival celebrity guests include 2012 Tony® Honor recipient for Excellence in the Theatre and Music Theatre International (MTI) CEO Freddie Gershon; Jacob Brent (Cats); designer Theresa Squire (The Lieutenant of Inishmore), conductor, music director and pianist Rick Hip-Flores (We Will Rock You – U.S. Tour) 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.
Thomas Schumacher offered an interactive presentation about Disney’s The Lion King stage musical for the festival’s “Direct From Broadway” program. Disney’s The Lion King recently achieved the most successful box office total of any work in any media in entertainment history. The 2015 Junior Theater Festival marked 10years since Disney Theatrical Group launched its library of musical theater titles for middle and elementary school aged performers at the 2005 Junior Theater Festival. The festival honored the milestone with a special student performance of Disney songs during the festival’s New Works Showcase on Saturday night.
Megan Hilty performed a concert for all attendees on Sunday, January 17, the program featured songs from her Broadway and television career and album It Happens All The Time.
Lilla Crawford, Luca Padovan, Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Bobby Lopez talked candidly about their experiences as professionals during the festival’s Pathways to Success Q&A session. Anderson-Lopez and Lopez also presented a musical number.
Broadway composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Broadway’s A Christmas Story the Musical,
Dogfight,Smash and Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach) and performer Philip McAdoo (The Lion King, Rent) were some of the guest adjudicators. In the spirit of celebration and not competition, each group at the festival performed a selection from a musical for a panel of
theater professionals and received feedback about their creativity, engagement in the performance, understanding of the material and connection to the lyrics and movement.
At the New Works Showcase four Junior Theater Festival groups performed selections from new musicals that will soon be made available for licensing by MTI. Play on Players (Duluth, GA) performed Elf JR., Ohlook Performing Arts Center (Grapevine, TX) performed Singing in the Rain JR., Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School’s BRAVO! program (Oak Park, IL) performed Roald Dahl’s
James in The Giant Peach JR. and Theatre Under the Stars (Houston, TX) performed selections from Disney’s The Lion King JR. and Disney’s The Lion King KIDS.
Eight exceptional educators from schools and performing arts centers around the country were selected for the sixth annual “The Freddie G Fellowship,” in which the teachers received 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 also received a $5,000 grant to put towards his or her theater program. The event is sponsored by MTI’s Freddie (“G”) Gershon and his wife Myrna Gershon and is a thank you for all that teachers do to introduce the next generation to Broadway and musical theater.
MTI CEO Freddie Gershon conceived The MTI Broadway Junior Collection (featuring 30 and 60 minute musicals for young performers) in 1994 with nearly 300,000 performances since its inception. Beginning in 2010, the festival has paid tribute to his leadership and dedication by renaming its student awards for excellence in theater “The Freddie G’s.”
There was a tech track in which students interested in technical theater trained with
professionals. A select group of these student technicians were invited to work side-by-side with festival staff in running the tech for main stage festival events. Each group nominated up to four students to take part in the “Tech Olympics,” in which students completed 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.
This year 50 additional teachers traveled to the festival without groups to take part in the professional development track. This series of workshops empower teachers and professionals to present musicals in their community and offer educators the knowledge, skills and tools necessary to grow their program in every possible way.
The Junior Theater Festival was founded in 2003. In 2010 the Festival became an annual event. ####
Contact: Allison Van Etten
Ravenscroft Public Relations 323-449-5030
