Students from Eastern Shore Repertory Theatre in Fairhope and Sunny Side Theater in Mobile earned national awards at the 2016 Junior Theater Festival, which happened January 15, 16 and 17 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.

Eastern Shore Repertory Theatre won a Freddie G Excellence in Dance award and was one of nine schools across the country selected to perform for the more than 5,800 festival attendees in the New Works Showcase, which previews selections from new musicals that will be made available for licensing by Music Theater International.

Sunny Side Theater won a Freddie G Excellence in Music award, and educator Christopher Paragone was one of six teachers selected for the Freddie G Fellowship, which recognizes exceptional contributions to arts education. These six teachers receive an all-expenses-paid trip to New York City, complete with professional development, Broadway performances and unforgettable celebrations.

In addition to the New York experience, each teacher’s organization receives $5,000 from Freddie and Myrna Gershon to enhance its 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.

As part of the New Works Showcase, Eastern Shore Repertory Theatre students performed songs from Magic Tree House: A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens Jr.—with Magic Tree House author Mary Pope Osborne in the audience. The showcase also included Community Theatre of Greensboro in Greensboro, North Carolina, presenting Madagascar Jr.; and two multi-group performances. Nashville-area groups Bradley Academy Musical Theatre, Roy Waldron Elementary Drama and University School of Nashville joined together to present Peter Pan Jr.; and students from Gwendolyn Brooks Middle School’s BRAVO! Program in Oak Park, Illinois; Harris County Carver Middle School in Hamilton, Georgia; P.S. 124 Theatre Club in New York City; and Uptown Music Theatre in New Orleans came together to honor the 20^th anniversary of Broadway Junior with a medley of Broadway Junior songs.

The 30 students representing Sunny Side Theater presented selections from Disney's Alice in Wonderland Jr.for Peter Avery, Director of Theater for the NYC Department of Education; Kristen Singer, a music director and educator (Catch Me If You Can, International Thespian Festival in Lincoln, Nebraska, director of world premiere of Avenue Q School Edition); and Nick Manna, Performance Director for Disney Live! Mickey’s Music Festival.

“Bravo to the lovely cast of Sunny Side Theater, who perfectly captured the iconic Disney sound,” Avery said. “The students were very strong musically. We were transported to a world where Alice had great adventures—and so did we. There was clever staging and transitions; I marveled at this inventive and well-executed way of portraying small-big-small Alice.”

For their scheduled festival performance, the 46 students representing Eastern Shore Repertory Theater presented selections from The Music Man Jr.for Stuart Hendricks, Director of the Licensing and Hire Department at Hal Leonard Australia; performer and musical director Brad Simmons (“Camp,” Broadway’s Lysistrata Jones and Broadway’s Mr.& Mrs. Fitch); and performer Carol Worcel (1st National Broadway Tours of 42nd Street and Anything Goes).

 “All I can say is, wow,” Worcel said. “Eastern Shore Repertory Theatre had unbelievable choreography and executed it like professionals.”

Eastern Shore Repertory Theatre students Joe Solomon, Millie Ollinger, Jacob Schmitt, Bella Cannon and Georgeanna Cannon were five of 319 students who made it to the call-back for future Broadway Junior shoots for “how-to” choreography videos for soon-to-be-released Broadway Junior musicals. The shoots will be taped in New York City this summer. 

The Broadway Junior scouts were on the lookout for outstanding students, and out of 5,000 students at the festival, 319 were invited to audition for iTheatrics resident choreographer Steven G. Kennedy. The final cast will be determined later this year. These videos will be used in tens of thousands of schools across the country and internationally.

Additionally, Eastern Shore Repertory Theatre students Lily Kate Gwin and Liam Searcy and Sunny Side Theater students Rainey Tanner and Dylan Farnell were named to the Junior Theater Festival All-Stars, made up of outstanding performers attending the festival. The All-Stars performed a song during the closing ceremony for all 5,000+ festival attendees.

The students who traveled to the Junior Theater Festival on behalf of Eastern Shore Repertory Theatre are: Stone Agren, Peyton Aiken, Lizzie Anderton, Dru Bramblett, Anne Lois Bullington, Bella Cannon, Georgeanna Cannon, Nola Cannon, Charles Carey, Louis Cunningham, Caroline Davis, Cece Decorte, Sophie Decorte, Kamden Eady, Muriel Fitzgerald, Sam Glisson, Will Glisson, Carly Greisinger, Lily Kate Gwin, Jack Hearin, Sam Hearin, Rawlin Hoffman, Jodi Johnson, Renie Kennedy, Mary-Camila Klotz, Molly McClure, Isabella McCormick, Erin Moseley, Andrew Nelson, K2 Nelson, Millie Ollinger, Peyton Phillips, Payton Robinson, Joey Roh, Jacob Schmitt, Liam Searcy, Stella Sheldon, Nick Smith, Joe Solomon, Sarah Claire Stejskal, Bella Stevens, Benjamin Stimpson, Addie Tripp, Sophie Walters and Grace Weil.

The students who traveled to the Junior Theater Festival on behalf of Sunny Side Theater are: Lilley Alidor, Rebekah Chappell, Emma Cheatham, Sydney Conrad, Adele Crowe, Helen DeLaney, Chloe Duren, Dylan Farnell, Sophie Goodwin, Savannah Hall, Sara Margaret Helsming, Ousley Langworthy, Mallory McCorkle, Hannah Morrison, Lillian Odom, Grace Overstreet, Joey Paragone, Ashley Park, Kaylee Pulliam, Addison Ratliff, Annabelle Steele, Lauren Steele, Rachel Stewart, Claire Strong, Anna Frances Sullivan, Rainey Tanner, Amber Tate, Hannah Touchton, Lauren Westbrook and Caroline Williams.