Moorestown Theater Company Continues Success At National Festival

MOORESTOWN, NJ — The Moorestown Theater Company’s success at the iTheatrics national Junior Theater Festival (JTF) continued last month when the theater company captured an Excellence in Acting Award, the theater company announced.

The cast of “Beauty and the Beast, Jr.” won the title at the ninth annual awards ceremony, held in Sugarland, Texas from June 24-28. It is the fifth straight year they won the award, and the seventh time in eight years.

The 14-member cast performed a 15-minute version of the musical for adjudicators Cindy Ripley (iTheatrics Senior Education Consultant) and Richard Frazier (Artistic Director of Theatre Macon in Macon, GA).

The group included eight seniors, two of which (Juliet Morgan and Rehana Wells) have joined MTC for all nine trips since 2013. Jenna Vanston has made the trip eight times, according to Artistic Director Mark Morgan.

Morgan was named an all-star for the third time this year, joining Aren Duffy as the only two MTC performers to accomplish that feat, Morgan said.

The award-winning members included:

• Gianna DiGiovanni (Marlton)
• Owen Lawton (Moorestown)
• Andrew Shaffer (Moorestown)
• Ryan Garber (Voorhees)
• Maximus Gorman (Moorestown)
• Madison Kavalunas (Moorestown)
• Jenna Vanston (Moorestown)
• Juliet Morgan (Moorestown)
• Rehana Wells (Moorestown)
• Elise Lawton (Moorestown)
• Nick Hehl (Haddonfield)
• Hannah Brodt (Mount Laurel)
• Malana Homan-Hepner (Mount Laurel)
• Rocco Ruccolo (Moorestown)
• Director: Mark Morgan (Moorestown)
• Vocal Director: Carol Ann Murray (Moorestown)
• Choreographer: Jody Haggerty (Berwyn, PA)
• Tech Director: Jack Morgan (Moorestown)

The success goes beyond the cast awards. MTC has attended every JTF event since 2013, and its 11 casts have won 13 acting awards, including seven for casts and six individual awards.

The event is usually held in January in Atlanta, but was pushed back and moved to Texas due to the pandemic. MTC now has a shorter time to prepare for next year’s competition, but some plans are already in place.

It performs “Disney’s Moana, Jr.” in the fall, and is set to take that performance to JTF ’22 in Atlanta, GA during MLK, Jr. Weekend (Jan. 13 to 17, 2022).

It’s a show MTC was preparing to perform in April 2020 before the coronavirus pandemic led to the widespread shutdown of the state. Anyone who was going to perform in the April 2020 production will retain their spot, and any spots left open by departing seniors will be filled by tryouts. To join this production, visit moorestowntheatercomany.org.