Young thespians win awards at national competition

FAYETTE/WOODFORD CUNTIES, Ky. (WTVQ/Press Release) Students representing ACTivate and InnOVATION Arts Academy in Lexington and Woodford Theatre Young Artists in Versailles won national awards and earned other recognition at the 2022 Junior Theater Festival Atlanta in student-driven musical theater competitions online and in-person last weekend in Atlanta.

ACTivate won a won the Tech Olympics.  InnOVATION Arts Academy won a Freddie G award for Excellence in Ensemble Work and Kowen Poteet won a Freddie G award for Outstanding Performance by an Individual.

At the festival, each group performed 15 minutes of a Broadway Junior® musical for adjudicators.

ACTivate presented Shrek the Musical JR. for judges including Broadway Actor Krystina Alabado (Gretchen Wieners in Mean Girls, American Idiot); Kenny Shepard (Professor, Musical Theatre and Dance Departments: Ball State and Anderson University and Choreographer for The Children’s Museum’s Lilly Theatre/Indianapolis), and Bradford Theatre educator and director Holly Stanfield (national student premieres of Aida School Edition, Thoroughly Modern Millie School Edition and Rent School Edition).

InnOVATION Arts Academy presented Into the Woods JR. for judges who included music director and iTheatrics Master Teacher Derek Bowley and Michael J. Bobbitt, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Woodford Theatre Young Artists presented Meredith Willson’s The Music Man JR. to judges including Broadway Actor Katy Geraghty (Groundhog Day Original Broadway Cast), director, choreographer, and educator Kikau Alvaro (University of the Arts), and educator and adjudicator Nicholas Sostillio (Warner Robins High School theater director).

ACTivate students Shaniyah Brown, Harrison Hamlin, and Ava VanMeter, InnOVATION Arts Academy students Ava Wallett, and Woodford Theatre Young Artists students Mallory Grimm, Emma Hatcher, and Jenna Johnson made it to the callback for future video shoots for “how-to” choreography videos.

ACTivate students Ava Van Meter and Bella Spencer, InnOVATION Arts Academy students Harper Gorham and Harper Rice, and Woodford Theatre Young Artists students Emma Hatcher and Lola Prewitt were distinguished as All-Stars