Theatre for Youth Festival 2018 Report

The ACT Theatre for Youth Division held a Middle/Elementary School festival on April 7, 2018 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. James School, Montgomery, AL.  Lonny Harrison of St. James hosted while Cheryl Pointer Jones served as Division Chair. ACT Board Members from the Community Theatre, Secondary, and College/University divisions came out to support the event.

Participating organizations included: Albertville City School, Brewbaker Middle School, CAST Kids, CharACTers Children’s Theatre, Cloverdale Playhouse, Florence Academy of Fine Arts, Holtville Middle School, Fort Payne Middle School, Lee-Scott Academy, Pell City School-Duran North, Pike Road Historic School, Pleasant Grove Middle School, Prattville Junior High School, Saint James School, Springwood School, The Westminster School at Oak Mountain, UMS-Wright Preparatory School, and the Virginia Samford Theatre. One hundred and forty students registered as either novice (4th – 5th grades) or varsity (6th – 8th grades) to compete in six events: solo acting-novice; solo-acting-varsity; duet acting-novice; duet acting-varsity; musical theatre-novice; musical theatre-varsity. Participation numbers doubled from last year’s festival.

Judges for the events included Cheryl Pointer, Brittany May and Declan Fitzpatrick (Solo Acting); Kecia McAlpine, Kayleigh Smith, and Matthew Klinger (Duet Acting); and Kristy Meanor, Emily Honey, and Josie Roseberg (Musical Theatre).

Dustin Helmer of ASFA conducted 3 workshops during the event.

Festival Host Lonny Harrison handled the logistics of finding judges, assigning rooms, and creating the schedule. Festival Director Sue Ellen Gerrells handled the event publicity, registration, fee collection, on-site sign in, name tag and other printed materials preparation, and catering for the event. Dawn Gerrells assisted with on-site activities.

The following awards were presented:

Solo Acting Novice Winners:

1st place – Jay Collins, Lee-Scott Academy

2nd place- Noah Henninger, Cloverdale Playhouse

3rd place – Campbell Thomas, Lee-Scott Academy

Honorable Mention- LeAnne Hall, CAST Kidz

Solo Acting-Varsity Winners:

1st place- Tristen Gressett, Pell City School

2nd Place – Landon Perdue, Cloverdale Playhouse

3rd place – Maliya Gregg, Albertville City School

Honorable Mention – Zoe Zink, Cloverdale Playhouse 

Duet Acting-Novice-Winners:

1st place — AvaRose Brown and Lisa Jones, Albertville City Schools

2nd place — Jay Collins and Reese Colley, Lee-Scott Academy

3rd place — Chloe Goggans and Kendall Binkley, Fort Payne Middle School

Honorable Mention — Emily Jo Matthews and Aubree Brown, Springwood School 

Duet Acting-Varsity-Winners

1st place — Kameryn Ballard and Rebecca Schannep, Prattville Junior High

2nd place — Tucker and Griffin Simmons, Albertville City Schools

3rd place — Zoe Zink and Landon Perdue, Cloverdale Playhouse

Honorable Mention — Cooper Townsend and Jesse Darnell, Florence Academy of Fine Arts

Musical Theatre-Novice- Winners

1st place — Lisa Jones, Albertville City Schools

2nd place — AvaRose Brown, Albertville City Schools

3rd place — LeAnne Hall, CAST Kidz

Honorable Mention — Grace Jacobs, Albertville City Schools 

Musical Theatre-Varsity-winners:

1st place: Jadon Davis, CharACTers Children’s Theatre

2nd place: Anna Colson, St. James School;

3rd place: Griffin Simmons, Albertville City Schools;

Honorable Mention: Tristen Grissett, Pell City Schools