Applications Open For Cabaret Junior Fellows Program

Press release from the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center:

March 1, 2022

The Eugene O’Neill Theater Center will be accepting applications for the Cabaret & Performance Conference Junior Fellows Program starting March 1. Under the direction of concert artist, music director, composer, and teacher Brad Simmons (Camp, The Last Five Years, Lysistrata Jones, Hello Again), the program will take place August 8-21, 2022, on the O’Neill’s seaside campus. Simmons will be joined by Broadway arranger Michael Holland (12 Angry Men, Clue, Godspell). Applications will be accepted from March 1 through March 18, 2022, there is no fee to apply.

The premier pop music performance program for Connecticut's 15- to 18-year-olds, Junior Fellows offers a select group of students the opportunity for in-person professional vocal instruction, movement training, and hands-on artistic guidance in the art of performance. Students gain valuable interaction with world-renowned guest artists and professional faculty, and acquire skills needed to make performance an important part of their creative lives.

“Now in its thirteenth summer, the Junior Fellows have become the darlings of The O’Neill,” says Broadway music director Brad Simmons, who oversees the Junior Fellows program. “Studying the new American songbook has always been the focus. Studies have included The Beatles, Stevie Wonder, Dolly Parton, The Bee Gees, Kenny Loggins, Stevie Nicks, Billy Joel, The Beach Boys, and Queen. I am very excited to say that this year we will tackle the music of ABBA—for the immediately hummable hit songs, the vocal complexity, the costumes, the band, and the dance floor!”

The program includes two weeks of master classes and performance opportunities alongside the O’Neill’s professional guest artists at the 2022 Cabaret & Performance Conference.
Cabaret & Performance Conference Artistic Director John McDaniel says, "We are so excited to gear up for another incredible summer at the O’Neill. Our Junior Fellows program is definitely one of the highlights and we are thrilled to open auditions for this season’s cohort of this strenuous but exciting program.”

Junior Fellows alumni have gone on to further creative pursuits at: Royal Conservatory of Scotland, UC College-Conservatory of Music, NYU, UCLA, Northeastern University, University of Miami Theatre, Sony Music Entertainment, and NBC's The Voice.

Interested students should record and submit two short videos of contrasting ABBA songs (verse & chorus). To learn more and apply, visit theoneill.org/junior-fellows.

This press release was produced by the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. The views expressed here are the author's own.