Carson City area students from Wild Horse Children's Theater win at 2020 festival

Students from Wild Horse Children's Theater in Carson City won a Freddie G Excellence in Music national theater award and earned recognition at the 2020 Junior Theater Festival West, which happened Feb. 7-9, 2020 at Wells Fargo Pavilion.

The Junior Theater Festival West united 2,200 students and educators from 48 educational musical theater groups representing 15 states, the District of Columbia, Australia, England, and South Korea.

Wild Horse Children's Theater students presented selections from Disney's Frozen JR. for Nina Meehan, founder and executive artistic director of Bay Area Children's Theatre; and Australian actor, producer, and director Daniel Stoddart, founder of Hunter Drama in Australia.

Nina Meehan said, "The icicles ruled the day in this inventive Disney’s Frozen JR. with new shapes and pictures for every moment of every song." Added Daniel Stoddart, "I was amazed how — using only bodies — they created so many different variations of snow and ice."

Wild Horse Children's Theater’s Eleanor Davis and Kiera Moore 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 2,200 festival attendees.

Produced by the Junior Theater Group in partnership with iTheatrics, a leading educational theater company that creates innovative experiences and products for both the public and the private sector, the Junior Theater Festival West celebrates young people and the transformative power of musical theater. This year’s title sponsors were Music Theatre International, Disney Theatrical Group, and Playbill, Inc®.

Wild Horse Children’s Theater is a nonprofit organization formed to enhance and enrich the community through performing arts classes, high-quality live theater, outreach programs in local elementary and middle schools, and other educational programs in the theatrical arts. Its mission is to train and educate today’s youth through theater arts to achieve high artistic and personal goals, and to inspire them to become exemplary artists, patrons and citizens of tomorrow.

WHCT has a “no child turned away” policy and usually has 80-100 young people, ages 5-18, audition for its productions. Its scholarship program for families in economic need ensures every child can take part in the arts.

The group has enjoyed success at the Junior Theater Festival in the past. At the 2019 Junior Theater Festival West, Wild Horse Children's Theater won a Freddie G Award for Excellence in Ensemble Work. Sydney Berg, Roslyn Williams made it to the call-back for future shoots for “how-to” choreography videos for soon-to-be released musicals.

At the 2018 Junior Theater Festival West, Wild Horse Children's Theater won a Freddie G Award for Excellence in Music. Wild Horse Children's Theater’s Josh Mercer was named to Tech Theater All-Stars, a select group of Tech All-Stars who worked side-by-side with industry professionals on helping to run festival main stage events. Students Tony Gurrieri, Christina Van Greel, Cassidy Buchan and Serena Dantzler made it to the call-back for future shoots for “how-to” choreography videos for soon-to-be released musicals.

Wild Horse Children’s Theater traveled to the 2017 iTheatrics Junior Theater Festival West and student Alexa Haight won a Freddie G Excellent Individual Performance by a Female award. The group also had one student, Serene Dantzler, travel to NYC to participate in the choreography DVD production.

The 2020 Junior Theater Festival West was a monumental weekend of theatrical fellowship rewarding and empowering student-driven musical theater programs.

President and Producer of Disney Theatrical Productions Thomas Schumacher; Sierra Boggess (The Little Mermaid on Broadway, The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway); Jeff Calhoun (Newsies on Broadway, Between the Lines); Jason Gotay (Bring It On on Broadway, Between the Lines); Luca Padovan (School of Rock on Broadway); Rob Rokicki (The Lighting Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical on Broadway); Marcy Heisler & Zina Goldrich (Dear Edwina, Junie B. Jones), New York Times best-selling author Jodi Picoult (Between the Lines); Elyssa Samsel & Kate Anderson (“Olaf’s Frozen Adventure,” Between the Lines), Doug Besterman (The Big One-Oh!, How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying), and Dean Pitchford (Fame – The Musical, The Big One-Oh!) were some of the celebrities at the festival cheering on the students.

In addition to presenting selections from shows for adjudication, participants took part in interactive workshops led by Broadway and West End professionals, gained from professional development, watched outstanding performances by fellow students and Broadway stars and enjoyed theatrical fellowship.

Marcy Heisler & Zina Goldrich (Dear Edwina, Junie B. Jones) performed the Junior Theater Festival West’s headlining concert, with special guest Sierra Boggess (The Little Mermaid on Broadway, The Phantom of the Opera on Broadway).

Disney Theatrical Productions President and Producer Thomas Schumacher offered the festival keynote in collaboration with Jonah Ho’okano and Kaena Kekoa, who both perform in the Aladdin North America tour.

During the festival’s New Works Showcase, select groups performed songs from new or updated musicals: Roald Dahl’s Matilda JR. (the British Theater Academy, U.K.); Elephant & Piggie’s We Are in a Play! JR. (KidsAlive!, Oklahoma City, OK); The Drowsy Chaperone JR. (Poison Apple Productions, Martinez, CA); Disney’s Newsies JR. (Eastern Shore Rep, Fairhope, AL); and Disney’s Moana JR. (Spark of Creation, South San Francisco, CA). These titles will soon be made available as Broadway Junior musicals for licensing by Music Theatre International.

Based in New York City, for the last decade iTheatrics has established itself as the world’s leading authority on musical theater for young people. The company works with leading public and private companies around the world — including the White House, the Kennedy Center, NBC and all the leading theatrical licensors — to make sure that young people everywhere have access to quality musical theater programs.