Moorestown Theater Company Takes Trophy At Junior Festival

MOORESTOWN, NJ — For the fourth straight year, the Moorestown Theater Company (MTC) earned the Freddie G Excellence in Acting Award at the iTheatrics Junior Theater Festival, MTC announced this week. It is the sixth time in seven years MTC has earned this honor at the world’s largest children’s musical theater festival.

MTC earned the award at this year’s festival — which was held at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta Jan. 17-20 — for “Once On This Island Jr.” There were 30 performers, with 25 staff/family members in attendance, according to MTC.

MTC performed the full show in June at the William Allen Middle School. The show focuses on a peasant girl named Ti Moune who makes a connection with a rich boy by the name of Daniel Beauxhomme. The show explores the themes of rich vs. poor.

For the competition, the cast performed a 15-minute version of the show in front of Broadway Veteran Steven G. Kennedy and Off-Broadway Director/Choreographer MK Lawson. Vocal Director Carol Ann Murray and cast member Nicholas Williams, making his final appearance at the festival, accepted the award on behalf of the cast.

Williams, 17 of Moorestown, played Tonton Julian, Ti Moune’s adoptive father, in the show. It is the sixth time Williams attended the festival, which has been referred to as the “Olympics of Children’s Theater.”

“Just attending the Junior Theater Festival is a life-changing experience for our students, even if we don’t win any awards,” MTC Artistic Director Mark Morgan said. “But to win an Excellence In Acting Award for the fourth straight year, and sixth time in seven years, is amazing, and it shows the caliber of actors that perform regularly with the Moorestown Theater Company. And to win awards for the whole cast so frequently, rather than just individual awards, shows that MTC raises and improves the performance level of all of our cast members, not just an individual or two.”

The Freddie G Awards are named after Music Theatre International (MTI) Co-CEO and Tony Award Winner Freddie Gershon. This is the 12th award MTC has won at the annual festival since 2013. Over that time, it has brought 10 casts to the event, including:

• Eight Academy B Casts (1st through 12th Grades, 2013 through 2020); and
• Two Academy A Casts (1st through 8th Grades, in 2018 and 2019; the rules have since been changed so no theater company can bring two casts anymore).

Seven MTC performers were also recognized individually this year. Kayman Brown, 18 of Edgewater Park, and 17-year-old Camryn Ragland, of Burlington, were named Broadway Junior All-Stars. Brown played Agwe, the God of Water, in the play. Ragland played Asaka, Mother of the Earth.

The All-Stars from each company had to learn and perform a song from a musical during the closing Awards Ceremony on the Festival’s final day for all 6,500+ attendees. They performed after just one hour of rehearsal.

Brown was also one of six cast members selected by the directors as Broadway Jr. Choreogeaphy Auditionees.

Alyssa Miles, 16 of Marlton, advanced from the audition to the call-back from iTheatrics staff, and then to the next round, in which she will go to New York City this summer to record future “how-to” choreography videos for Broadway Jr. musicals. Miles played Andrea Devreaux, Daniel’s promised wife.

The other cast members selected as auditionees included:

• Juliet Morgan (17, Moorestown, who played Mama Euralie);
• Valerie Goetter (16, Haddonfield, who played Papa Ge);
• Faith Sirdashney (18, Berlin, who played Erzulie); and
• Samantha Twisler (13, Mount Laurel, who played Storyteller #4).

The full MTC cast for “Once On This Island Jr.” can be found below:

• Cooper Albertini (Ensemble), 13, Hainesport ES, Gr. 7, Hainesport
• Mason Mattiacci (Ensemble), 8, Baker ES, Gr. 2, Moorestown
• Cassidy Barasch (Storyteller #5), 14, Moorestown Friends, Gr. 9, Marlton
• Alyssa Miles (Andrea), 16, Cherokee HS, Gr. 11, Marlton
• Olivia Barnes (Ensemble), 12, Moorestown UES, Gr. 6, Moorestown
• Sierra Milone (Storyteller #3), 14, Moorestown Friends, Gr. 9, Moorestown
• Kayman Brown (Agwe), 18, Camden Cath. HS, Gr. 12, Edgewater Park
• Juliet Morgan (Mama Euralie), 17, MHS, Gr. 11, Mooresttown
• Benicio Cardillo (Ensemble), 12, Moorestown UES, Gr. 6, Moorestown
• Mina Moriuchi (Storyteller #6), 11, Moorestown UES, Gr. 6, Moorestown
• Luciana Cardillo (Ensemble), 10, Moorestown UES, Gr. 5, Moorestown
• J. T. Mozes (Storyteller #2), 13, Lumberton MS, Gr. 8, Lumberton
• Gabriella Cosgrove (Ensemble), 12, A.I.M. Academy, Gr. 7, Riverton
• Connor Perr (Ensemble), 14, Medford Memorial MS, Gr. 8, Medford
• Jack Croce (Daniel), 18, Moorestown HS, Gr. 12, Moorestown
• Natalia Pozzi (Storyteller #8), 13, Wm. Allen MS, Gr. 7, Marlton
• Gianna DiGiovanni (Ensemble), 17, Cherokee HS, Gr. 11, Marlton
• Camryn Ragland (Asaka), 17, BCIT - Westampton, Gr. 11, Burlington
• Stefano Faltz (Ensemble), 14, Voorhees MS, Gr. 8, Voorhees
• Faith Sirdashney (Erzulie), 18, Eastern Regional HS, Gr. 12, Berlin
• Ryan Garber (Ensemble), 16, Eastern Regional HS, Gr. 10, Voorhees
• Meena Shah (Little Ti Moune), 12, Haddon ES, Gr. 6, Haddonfield
• Valerie Goetter (Papa Ge), 16, Haddonfield Mem. HS, Gr. 10, Haddonfield
• Samantha Twisler (Storyteller #4), 13, Harrington MS, Gr. 8, Mt. Laurel
• Nicholas Hehl (Ensemble), 12, Medford Memorial MS, Gr. 7, Haddonfield
• Jenna Vanston (Storyteller #1), 16, MHS, Gr. 11, Moorestown 1
• Madison Kavalunas (Ensemble), 15, Moorestown HS, Gr. 9, Moorestown
• Rehana Wells (Ti Moune), 16, MHS, Gr. 11, Moorestown
• Jack Mattiacci (Storyteller #7), 11, Moorestown UES, Gr. 4, Moorestown
• Nicholas Williams (Tonton Julian), 17, MHS, Gr. 12, Moorestown