Elmhurst Teens Earn Awards In California Theater Festival

ELMHURST, IL – Elmhurst residents, Ava Turek (8th grader at Sandburg Middle School) and Liam Smith (7th grader at Bryan Middle School) recently returned from Sacramento, CA, where they competed and performed at the annual Junior Theater Festival, widely known as JTF West, with BAMTheatre's Junior Conservatory Ensemble Group. BAMTheatre, being one of only 2 participating groups from Illinois, had a very successful weekend, having brought home the coveted Freddie G. All-Festival Award for ‘Excellence in Ensemble Work’, along with 2 additional individual awards, for their performance piece of ‘Seussical Jr.’.

In addition to receiving accolades from the judges for their adjudication piece of ‘Seussical Jr., another exciting highlight of the group’s trip to JTF West was performing a cut of the new adaptation of Disney’s ‘Alice in Wonderland Jr.’ for an audience of over 2000 festival participants. Because of its prior ‘Outstanding Performance’ achievements at JTF West in 2022, and then at JTF Atlanta in 2023, BAMTheatre was invited to showcase this brand-new musical at the ‘New Works Showcase’, which is a major highlight of every Junior Theater Festival. This talented group of 35 performers trained and rehearsed for months and collaborated with iTheatrics and the JTF production team, resulting in a flawless and unforgettable experience.

Although based out of Hinsdale, BAMTheatre’s Junior Conservatory Ensemble Group has members from all over Chicagoland, with 2 of them from Elmhurst, who were both recipients of the 3 individual awards credited to BAMTheatre. Liam Smith was named 'All-Star' performer amongst the group for his portrayal as ‘Horton the Elephant’, and Ava Turek earned 'Outstanding Performance by an Individual' for her performance as ‘Cat in the Hat’ amongst the participating 44 theater companies.

The Junior Theater Festival is an annual International event, with participating groups from 14 states and five countries including Poland, South Korea, New Zealand and Australia, with sponsorship from Playbill, Disney Musicals and Musical Theatre International (MTI).