Lighting designer Ken Billington and sound designer Matt Kraus are also among the Broadway professionals who will work with teachers from across the U.S.
Jeff Calhoun and Jeanine Tesori
Tony Award-nominated director Jeff Calhoun (Newsies), Tony-winning composer-lyricist Jeanine Tesori (Fun Home, Soft Power), Tony-winning veteran lighting designer Ken Billington (Sweeney Todd, Chicago), and sound designer Matt Kraus (Kristin Chenoweth: My Love Letter to Broadway, Liza’s at the Palace) will lead workshops and master classes with theatre educators from across the U.S. this week as part of the ninth annual Freddie G Fellowship.
The four days of classes and activities honor instructors and teachers who are working to make a difference for their students and communities through the process of staging musical theatre productions in their schools and educational theatre groups.
Created by Music Theatre International co-chairman and Tony Honors for Excellence recipient Freddie Gershon and his wife Myrna, the 2018 event allows eight theatre educators the opportunity to immerse themselves in the New York theatre scene, working one-on-one with industry professionals in a fully funded weekend of seminars, master classes, and Broadway shows. In addition, each of the participating teacher’s schools receives $5,000 to enhance arts programs. The teachers are empowered to identify and select how their respective school’s theatre program can best utilize the funds.
The participants will also attend a workshop of The Drowsy Chaperone JR.
The Gershons, who created the Stephen Sondheim Inspirational Teacher Awards, underwrite the July 11–14 event. The Freddie G Fellows were selected from applicants attending the 2018 Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta, Georgia, and the Junior Theater West Festival in Sacramento, California.
This year’s Freddie G Fellows are Marianne Adams (Grandstreet Theatre School), Dr. Lamar Bagley (The SEED Public Charter School), Tina Barrus (Plaza Academy), Melissa Charles (DMR Adventures), Jenise Coon (Chico High School), Kate McElliot (Mill Springs Academy), Anne-Marie Pringle (Musical Mayhem Productions), and Cliff Thompson (Triple Threat Academy).
“The four days will fully engage the winning teachers in the Broadway musical theatre world and provide one-of-a-kind learning opportunities for them to take back to their schools, students and communities,” Gershon said in a statement. “These teachers perform inspiring work with limited financial resources. We want to give them the opportunity to live the Broadway experience and interact with qualified professionals to reward them for all they do to introduce the next generations to live theatre and simultaneously enhance their knowledge, skills and experience. The teaching Fellows act as peer to peer guiding lights, viz: teachers helping teachers in their quest to mount the best Junior shows. With 70 plus teachers as Fellows, they pass on tips and skills learned in New York during the week to others.”
Go Inside the Junior Theatre Festival! Darren Criss, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Ben Platt and All the Young Talent
Go Inside the Junior Theatre Festival! Darren Criss, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, Ben Platt and All the Young Talent
Stage and screen stars Darren Criss ("Glee," Hedwig and the Angry Inch), Andrew Keenan-Bolger (Newsies, Tuck Everlasting), Ben Platt (“Pitch Perfect”, Dear Evan Hansen), were among the talent at the 2016 Junior Theatre Festival (#JTF16). Take a look at the festival here.
63 PHOTOS
Playwright and founding chairman of iTheatrics and the Junior Theater Group Timothy Allen McDonald opens the Junior Theater Festival.
Marcus Woollen/Music Theatre International
Timothy Allen McDonald, founding chairman of iTheatrics and the Junior Theater Group talks to the 5,832 participants at the 2016 Junior Theater Festival.
Marcus Woollen/Music Theatre International
Susan Fuller, Lindsay Lupi, Marty Johnson, Steven G. Kennedy, Tammy McDonald, Laura Jo Schuster, Rob Rokicki, Jakob Plummer, Daniel Mertzlufft, Cynthia Ripley and Timothy Allen McDonald
Marcus Woollen/Music Theatre International
iTheatrics’ resident choreographer Steven Kennedy leads teachers in a rehearsal for an upcoming surprise dance performance of “Watch Me (Whip/NaeNae)/Uptown Funk”
Marcus Woollen/Music Theatre International
Andrew Keenan-Bolger book signing
Marcus Woollen/Music Theatre International
iTheatrics Resident Choreographer Steven G. Kennedy holds student auditions for future Broadway Junior shoots for “how-to” choreography videos for soon-to-be-released Broadway Junior musicals.
Marcus Woollen/Music Theatre International
Community Theatre of Greensboro in Greensboro, NC presents Madagascar JR. at the New Works Showcase, which previews new musicals which will soon be available for licensing.
Marcus Woollen/Music Theatre International
Bradley Academy Musical Theatre in Murfreesboro, TN, Roy Waldron Elementary Drama and University School of Nashville in Nashville present Peter Pan JR. for 5,800+ festival attendees as part of the New Works Showcase, which previews new musicals which will soon be available for licensing.
Marcus Woollen/Music Theatre International
Playwright and founding chairman of iTheatrics and the Junior Theater Group Timothy Allen McDonald and New York Times best-selling author Mary Pope Osborne introduce Eastern Shore Repertory Theatre in Fairhope, AL, for their performances of Magic Tree House: A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens JR. at the 2016 Junior Theater Festival. Ms. Osborne penned the internationally best-selling Magic Tree House book series.
Marcus Woollen/Music Theatre International
Students from Eastern Shore Repertory Theatre in Fairhope, AL, perform Magic Tree House: A Ghost Tale for Mr. Dickens JR. at the 2016 Junior Theater Festival. The soon-to-be-released musical is based on a book in Mary Pope Osborne’s best-selling Magic Tree House series in which Jack and Annie travel through time to Victorian England.
Marcus Woollen/Music Theatre International
Betty Buckley, Matthew Broderick, André De Shields, Jane Krakowski, Bernadette Peters, and Lillias White are also part of The York Theatre Company benefit.
Anthony Ramos, Daphne Rubin-Vega, Corey Hawkins, and more star in the film adaptation of the Lin-Manuel Miranda-Quiara Alegría Hudes Best Musical winner.