Carson City area students win national awards at 2019 Junior Theater Festival West

Students from Wild Horse Children's Theater in Carson City won a Freddie G Award for Excellence in Ensemble Work and earned other recognition at the 2019 Junior Theater Festival West held recently in Sacramento.

which happened February 8-10, 2019 at the Sacramento Convention Center and the Wells Fargo Pavilion in Sacramento.

The Junior Theater Festival West united 2,000-plus students and educators from 44 educational musical theater groups representing 15 states and South Korea. The festival was Feb. 8-10 at the Sacramento Convention Center and the Wells Fargo Pavilion.

The Wild Horse Children's Theater students presented selections from Junie B. Jones The Musical JR. for Shay Rodgers, a choreographer who created and managed the Academy at Houston's Theatre Under the Stars for over a decade and who currently teaches at Wildfish Theatre and Houston High School for Theatre; Paul Brewster, managing director for Trusty Sidekick Theater Company and a Disney Theatrical Group teaching artist and Tali Allen, director of Education and Outreach at STAGES St. Louis.

Shay Rodgers said "Wild Horse Children's Theatre worked so well as a team creating an environment that was so fun for the audience." Tali Allen said "It was the most supportive and best performing ensemble of the day. They had great voices. It was a super fun performance."

Wild Horse Children's Theater’s Sydney Berg and Roslyn Williams 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, 100 of whom made it to the final call back 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.

Wild Horse Children's Theater’s Braden Holub and Camilla Beckwith 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 2,000 festival attendees.

Produced by the Junior Theater Group in partnership with iTheatrics, a leading educational theater company that creates innovative experiences and products for the public and private sector, the Junior Theater Festival West and its sister festival, the Junior Theater Festival Atlanta, are 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, Inc®. The 2019 Junior Theater Festival Atlanta united 6,600+ students and educators from 133 educational musical theater groups representing 28 states, Australia, China, New Zealand, and the U.K. The Junior Theater Festival was founded in 2003. In 2010 the festival became an annual event. In 2017 iTheatrics launched the inaugural Junior Theater Festival West.

Wild Horse Children’s Theater is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) 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 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 Broadway Junior shoots for “how-to” choreography videos for soon-to-be released Broadway Junior 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.