Haddonfield Plays & Players Win Acting Award In Online Festival

HADDONFIELD, NJ — Performers with the Haddonfield Plays & Players were recognized nationally during a virtual festival last week, the theater announced.

Students from Haddonfield Plays and Players in Haddonfield won a national Freddie G Excellence in Acting award at the 2021 Junior Theater Festival Online Extravaganza! (JTF OE), which took plae from Jan. 15-17.

Additionally, Haddonfield Plays and Players’ Abby Brown was cast to perform in a virtual sneak peek production of Jason Robert Brown’s “13 JR.,” while students Ava Favieri and Emma Scherz were cast in Disney’s “The Descendants.”

Videos of the performances and of the students celebrating their victory can be found below.

The festival, which is typically held in person in Atlanta every January on the weekend of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday, recognizes student-driven musical theater programs from across the country.

This year’s edition saw participation from 43 groups, 34 states and six countries (United States, Canada, South Korea, England, New Zealand, Australia). Students and teachers also attended the festival on the individual track.

The Haddonfield Plays and Players students presented selections from Roald Dahl's “James and the Giant Peach JR.” for actor Taylor Iman Jones (Head Over Heels and Groundhog Day on Broadway); music director and educator Derek Bowley (Kennedy Center tour and premiere of The Phantom Tollbooth), and choreographer and educator Shay Rodgers, who created and managed the Academy at Houston's Theatre Under the Stars for over a decade.

Each group at the festival joined a pod to enjoy, support, and learn from each other’s pre-recorded 10-minute performance of a Broadway Junior or Online Edition musical. Performing groups received live feedback on their performance from their adjudicators.

"This group had such beautiful ensemble work. You can tell they're really listening and supporting each other throughout their performance," Jones said.

"This small ensemble (just seven actors) was big on talent and heart,” Bowley said. “Their connection to the emotion of the scenes and songs came through in their performances. They delivered the tender moments, as well as the big brassy dance sequences with equal skill."

"What a beautiful production,” Rodgers said. “The Haddonfield Plays and Players gave us a sneak peek into the life of James and it was so special to watch. They really drew us into their world and made us feel for every character. Even wearing masks in an online festival, the actors never lost sight of their jobs giving the audience a wonderful experience that left me 'feeling.'"

The Junior Theater Festival Atlanta was founded in 2003. In 2010 the festival became an annual event. Last year’s event, held in person, united 7,000 students and educators from 128 educational musical theater groups representing 31 states, as well as Australia, New Zealand, and the U.K.

“At our Junior Theater Festival, young theatre-makers used their voices, talents, and perseverance to make a lasting and positive cultural impact on our planet,” iTheatrics and Junior Theater Festival Founder and CEO, Timothy Allen McDonald said. “They literally raised their voices in song with thousands of other students from all over the world who care about musical theatre as much as they do. This past year, we’ve seen students and teachers pivot to online rehearsals, turn storytelling limitations into opportunities, lean on each other for emotional support, and through it all keep a light burning at the end of a very long and dark tunnel. I’m proud that we spent three full days encouraging young people to make this world a better place in every way that they can.”

iTheatrics plans in-person festivals for the 2021 Junior Theater Festival West, happening May 7, 8, and 9, in Sacramento, CA, and the first-ever JTF Texas in Sugar Land, TX, June 25, 26, and 27.

iTheatrics also produces, hosts, and supports one-day Junior Theater Celebrations and Junior Theater Festivals in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. In 2020, nearly 15,000 people worldwide attended a Junior Theater Festival or Junior Theater Celebration.