Record Number of Young Students Take the Stage Next Week for the Annual Broadway Junior Theater Celebration

Blumenthal Performing Arts’ annual Broadway Junior Theater Celebration will bring 48 elementary and middle school groups from eight counties, totaling 1,900 students and teachers, to Knight Theater at Levine Center for the Arts on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday (March 30-April 1). This is a record number of participants in the program, which has taken place every spring for the past eight years.

Each day, students will perform one song from their school’s show on the professional stage of the Knight Theater, as well as participate in workshops led by theater professionals from New York City.

Blumenthal has provided the means for children in the community to experience the thrill of performing in a show with their after-school drama clubs, music and theater classes and school performing arts programs.

Blumenthal Director of Education Ralph Beck says the event is incredibly moving and speaks for itself year after year.

“It is truly amazing to see the attentiveness of the elementary and middle school students from these schools as they watch and listen to the other groups taking their turn on stage,” explained Beck. “After each school's musical presentation, one of the iTheatrics pros joins the students on stage to offer guidance. The kids in the audience are silent as they listen intently to the helpful critique being offered while mentally adapting the instruction to their own performances. I've never experienced a school-related exercise or activity in which students more eagerly internalize and adapt information. This is a great example of how the arts prompt analytical thinking.” 

Blumenthal also purchases comprehensive theater kits for schools, which are for fully licensed 30- or 60-minute versions of Broadway shows such as Into the Woods, Legally Blonde, Disney’s The Lion King, The Little Mermaid and Peter Pan. The kits have everything schools need for their students to put on a production, including scripts, director’s guides, musical accompaniment CDs, choreographer’s guides and more.
Publix Supermarket Charities and Team Creatif USA are first year sponsors of the program. The Doctor Family Foundation and Kearns Saldinger Family Foundation also both provided generous support again this year. Many other donors pitched in to help raise the $21,000 needed to purchase the musical show kits for schools that otherwise could not afford them, as well as the transportation costs for students to attend the celebration.

Workshop Leaders include:
Tim McDonald
Tim is the Founder and CEO of iTheatrics and the Executive Director of the Junior Theater Festival. In 1997, Tim was recruited by Music Theatre International’s Chairman/CEO Freddie Gershon to lead the launch and development of the then brand new Broadway Junior Collection®. During his tenure at MTI, Tim launched and led the development of MTI’s Broadway Junior Collection, School Edition and TYA musicals and has supervised the adaptation of over 62 different musicals ranging from Annie (JR. and KIDS) to Xanada JR. and everything in between. In 2007, with Freddie’s blessing and encouragement, Tim formed iTheatrics. The company’s mission is to ensure young people everywhere have access to quality musical theater programs. iTheatrics’ clients include Music Theatre International, Disney Theatrical Productions, Tams-Witmark Music Library Inc., The Rodgers and Hammerstein Organization, the Roald Dahl Estate, NBC, the Jim Henson Company, and the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities.  Tim is also an award-winning playwright of musicals including The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley, Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka, The Ant and the Elephant, Frankly Ben, Jim Henson’s Emmet Otter’s Jug-band Christmas, and Roald Dahl’s James and the Giant Peach. Tim is currently working on a new musical based on a book by the New York Times bestselling author, Jodi Picoult.  None of this would have been possible if Tim’s middle school choir teacher Mrs. Dolores Bowman hadn’t taken a chance and cast a kid with serious focus issues in the 7th grade musical.

Marty Johnson
Marty first became involved in the world of musical theatre when he was 10 years old and his 4-H club put on a truly amazing rendition of Peter Pan. After a bit more schooling, including a graduate degree in Theatre for Youth from the University of North Carolina-Greensboro, Marty is now Director of Education and Resident Director at iTheatrics. He oversees all workshops and educational programs at iTheatrics including their Junior Theater Academy, the Shubert Foundation/Broadway JR program, and the Make
A Musical program which helps build sustainable musical theater programs in under-served schools. Over the past fourteen months, Marty has been teaching workshops for the President’s Committee for the Arts and Humanities’ Turnaround Arts program and last May was thrilled to see his students from this program perform at the White House as a part of the first White House Talent Show. This past fall, Marty was honored to direct the inaugural show for New York City Children’s Theater, the world premiere of Laurie Berkner’s new musical, The Amazing Adventures of Harvey and the Princess. He is currently a proud board member of TYA/USA, the leading organization for the advancement of Theatre for Young Audiences in the world.

Steven G. Kennedy
Steven has performed in New York and touring productions including; Me and My Girl, Oklahoma!, Crazy For You, 42nd Street, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, West Side Story and The Toy Shoppe (in which he had the distinguished honor of acting with and backingup the one and only “Gambler,” Kenny Rogers). Through cutting edge projects such as Inspire Change (collaborating
with the Tony Award-winning musical Memphis), the NYC Department of Education and NBC’s SMASH!: Make A Musical, Steven has enjoyed introducing arts educators and thousands of under-served young people to the arts! Steven has worked with Music Theatre International and iTheatrics developing a series of show specific choreography DVDs and serves as the Choreography Supervisor for MTI and iTheatrics. Steven has a distinguished list of credits for his work on live musical theatre performances, including the honor of working with the President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities for the first-ever White House Turnaround Arts Talent show for our First Lady, Michelle Obama with Sarah Jessica Parker, the opening gala for the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts’ Family Theater, starring Kristin Chenoweth and Andrew Lippa, the U.K. premiere of Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka, the National Tours of The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley, The Ant and The Elephant, Cassandra’s Angel and A Year With Frog and Toad. Steven was thrilled to choreograph the Off-Broadway smash-hit production of Dear Edwina, produced by six time Pulitzer Prize winning producer Daryl Roth.

Cindy Ripley
Cindy Ripley is currently the Senior Educational Consultant for iTheatrics, leading workshops with kids and teachers across the country, as well as the “go to” guru for Music Theatre International’s online Show Support for the Broadway Junior Collection. Cindy piloted the first Broadway JR. production of Annie JR., and developed the first Broadway JR. Director’s Guide. She was proud to be selected for USA Today’s All Star Teacher Team for 2005 and most recently has served as a teaching artist for The
President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. Cindy finds the recipe comprised of young people, teachers, parents, musical theatre and enthusiasm priceless!

Derek Bowley
Derek Bowley is a DC-based theatre educator and music director, currently in his sixth year as Middle School Speech & Drama Teacher at The Congressional Schools of Virginia in Falls Church, VA.
Professional credits include the pre-Broadway production of Glory Days at Signature Theatre and the
Kennedy Center premieres of Katie Couric’s The Brand New Kid, The Phantom Tollbooth, and Jason Robert Brown’s The Trumpet of the Swan: A Novel Symphony. Derek works closely with iTheatrics as an adjudicator and workshop leader for their Junior Theater Festival and as a music director, where he has had the honor of working on the premier productions of many new Broadway Junior shows including Ragtime School Edition, Disney’s Aladdin JR, Xanadu JR., Elf JR. and many others. Derek is also an avid cook.

Participating schools include:
Banks Trail Middle School
Benton Heights Elementary School of the Arts
Carmel Middle School
Clover Choristers
Cornelius Elementary School
East Elementary School
Elon Park Elementary School
Ida Rankin Elementary School
Long Creek Elementary School
Northwest School of the Arts
Porter Ridge Elementary School
Queen's Grant - Elementary School
Queen's Grant - Middle School
Ranson Middle School
Ridge Road Middle School
St. Pius X - Elementary School
St. Pius X - Middle School
Trinity Episcopal School (2 groups)
Alexander Graham Middle School
Grand Oak Elementary School
Hawk Ridge Elementary School
Iron Station Elementary School
Jay M. Robinson Middle School
Martin Luther King, Jr. Middle School
Marvin Ridge Middle School
McKee Road Elementary School
Metrolina Regional Scholars Academy
Mountain Island Charter School (2 groups)
Union Academy
University Park Elementary School
Antioch Elementary School
Charlotte Country Day School
Charlotte Preparatory School
Clater-Kaye Theatreworks
Community House Middle School
Hickory Day School
Kensington Elementary School
New Town Elementary School
Parkwood Middle School
Polo Ridge Elementary School
Porter Ridge Middle School
Prospect Elementary School
Springmore Elementary School
Sun Valley Elementary School
Sun Valley Middle School
Waxhaw Elementary School