Mountain City Center for the Arts Students Receive Kudos at Junior Theatre Festival

Students from Mountain City Center for the Arts won National awards and earned recognition at the 2019 Junior Theater Festival Atlanta at the Cobb Galleria Centre.

The festival united more than 6,600 students and educators from 133 educational musical theater groups representing 28 states, Australia, China, New Zealand and the United Kingdom.

Mountain City Center for the Arts won a Freddie G Award for Excellence in Music. Student Abby McLaughlin received a Freddie G Award for Excellent Individual Performance by a Female.

MCCA educator Coty Forno was selected for the ninth annual Freddie G Fellowship and will be one of eight teachers to receive an all-expense-paid trip to New York in the summer to collaborate with fellowship recipients and work one-on-one with Broadway greats.

Each winning teacher receives a $5,000 grant to put toward the theater program. The event is underwritten and hosted by MTI Co-Chairman Freddie Gershon and Myrna Gershon and is a thank you for all the teachers do to introduce the next generation to Broadway and musical theater.

The Playbill Community Service Award was presented to MCCA, which will receive $1,000 to support continued charitable efforts along with a free custom Playbill from PLAYBILLDER.COM an online program that allows organizations to personalize and print an authentic Broadway-quality Playbill for their production or event.

MCCA students presented selections from “Shrek The Musical JR” for director Holly Stanfield, who said, “The cast works well as an ensemble. This group has great storytelling.”

John Prignano, chief operating officer and director of education and development at Musical Theatre International, added, “Mountain City Center for the Arts brought a big bright beautiful production that was perfectly staged to tell the story.”

Students Emma Hughes and Clayton Muir made it to the call back for future Broadway Junior Shoots for “how-to” choreography videos to be taped in New York City in the summer.

The final cast will be determined later this year. The videos will be used in tens of thousands of schools across the country and internationally.

Hughes and John McConnell were named to the Junior Theater Festival All-Stars and performed a song during the closing ceremony.

Produced by the Junior Theater Group in partnership with iTheatrics, the Junior Theater Festival Atlanta is the world’s largest festival celebrating young people and the transformative power of musical theatre.

This year’s title sponsors were Music Theatre International, Disney Theatrical Group, and Playbill Inc.