Young Actors Playhouse Students Earn Theater Praise

Local STUDENTS EARN PRAISE AT 2019 JUNIOR THEATER FESTIVAL ATLANTA

Students from Young Actors Playhouse in Canton earned praise and other recognition at the 2019 Junior Theater Festival Atlanta, which happened in January in Atlanta. The 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 Young Actors Playhouse students presented selections from Junie B. Jones The Musical JR. for Karma Camp, resident choreographer at The Signature Theatre and choreographic consultant for The Graduate on Broadway, and performer, teacher, and choral director David Rogers-Smith (Ubaldo Piangi in the International and Australasian tours of The Phantom of the Opera, Brujon/Valjean cover for the International tour of Les Misérables).

Karma Camp said, “Young Actors Playhouse is a greatly talented group who, in turn, shared a great story.” David Rogers-Smith added, “Young Actors Playhouse is such a triple threat, they are wonderful young people with fantastic teamwork!”

Young Actors Playhouse student Vivian Watson 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, 181 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.

Young Actors Playhouse Christian Lozano and Vivian Watson 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 6,600 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 Atlanta is 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 Junior Theater Festival was founded in 2003. In 2010 the festival became an annual event.

Young Actor's Playhouse (YAP) is a six-year-old not-for-profit children's theater organization that specializes in teaching our students performing arts skills, and nurturing an environment conducive for creative expression and growth. There are many different aspects to the organization, including after school drama programs which put on school plays for various schools in Cobb County, a home-school drama program which meets during the day, on-camera programs, improv, summer drama camps, and its production-based acting classes in which students learn how to perform by actually being in a play.

The group has enjoyed success at past Junior Theater Festivals. At the 2018 Junior Theater Festival Atlanta, Isabelle Lovejoy won a Freddie G award for Excellent Individual Performance by a Female.