Coast to Coast at the 2025 Junior Theater Festival
Coast to Coast at the 2025 Junior Theater Festival
At MTI, the beginning of the year heralds two major events: the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta and JTF West in Sacramento. These annual celebrations of our Broadway Junior® program bring students, educators, parents, crew members, and theatre professionals from around the world together for a weekend full of harmonizing, kicklines, wristband-swapping, and standing ovations.
As March is Theatre in Our Schools Month, and March 27th is World Theatre Day, let's take a look at these joyful tributes to theatre education.
The year, 6,800 attendees gathered in Atlanta from 37 states, as well as Australia, Canada, Czech Republic, New Zealand, Poland, and the United Kingdom.
At the New Works Showcase, we got a first look at 9 to 5 JR. (City Springs Theatre Conservatory), Madagascar KIDS (Wellesley Theatre Project), She Persisted JR. (Pace School of the Arts), and Shrek The Musical KIDS (Children's Theatre of Cincinnati).
We had the privilege of watching the world premiere of Disney's Dare to Dream JR., performed by Inspiration Stage (Richmond, TX), North Texas Performing Arts-Fairview Youth Theatre (Fairview, TX), and Plaza Academy (Cleburne, TX).
Just a few weeks later, JTF West drew 2,463 attendees to Sacramento. The 54 groups in attendance represented 16 US states, Canada, China, New Zealand, and South Korea.
At the JTF West New Works Showcase we saw the following performances: 9 to 5 JR. (Preston Center Dance), Madagascar KIDS (Boothbay Region YMCA: YARTS), She Persisted JR. (Ovation Academy of Performing Arts), and Shrek The Musical KIDS (Christian Arts and Theatre). We also saw another outstanding collaborative performance of Dare to Dream JR., this time with Musical Mayhem Productions (Elk Grove, CA), Spark of Creation Studio (South San Francisco, CA), and Woodland Opera House (Woodland, CA).
During both Junior Theater Festivals, panels "Direct from Broadway" and "Growin' Up Broadway" gave attendees an exclusive look inside show business with special appearances by Alan Menken, Jeff Calhoun, Taylor Iman Jones, Morgan Siobhan Green, Disney Theatrical Group Chief Creative Officer Thomas Schomacher, and more!
After every Junior Theater Festival, we leave with a renewed sense of passion and purpose for the work we do. This year was no different. Thank you to every teacher, student, chaperone, crew member, and sponsor who joined us for #JTF25! Until next time!
Interested in going to JTF next year? You can register now!
