On Friday, June 4th, WNY students and teachers participated in the 2021 Virtual Junior Theater Celebration. Live activities included workshops with Brion Marquis Watson (Hamilton Puerto Rico/San Francisco), a keynote speech from Cindy Ripley (iTheatrics and MTI), and pre-recorded performances of WNY students performing in the world premiere of Dot and the Kangaroo, co-written by Tik Tok sensation and iTheatrics team member Daniel Mertzlufft!

Next year’s Junior Theater Celebration is currently scheduled for Friday, February 4-Saturday, February 5, 2022.

Each year since 2014, Shea’s Performing Arts Center and iTheatrics has collaborated to offer middle schoolers the opportunity to participate in Shea’s Junior Theater Celebration. All WNY schools and organizations that produce a musical with upper elementary and middle school students are invited to apply!

This FREE event is created and artistically supervised by iTheatrics, the premiere creative consultants in educational musical theater based in New York City, and offers students and teachers a chance to interact and learn with others who share their passion for musical theatre in a professional environment.

During the Celebration, students from each program perform one musical number on the stage of Shea’s 710 Theatre for their peers. The iTheatrics team then gives feedback to the students about their ability to tell an engaging story, their performance skills, and their work as an ensemble. Students and teachers also participate in interactive workshops with the team, and everyone comes together at the end of the day to perform a big closing number!

Shea’s thanks James Eagan for his continued generosity and support for this program.

To learn more about the Junior Theater Celebration, email Jen Mysliwy or call 716-829-1171.

Founded in 2006, iTheatrics is the world’s leading authority on musical theatre education. They adapt Broadway musicals for young people to perform and have over one hundred different titles currently available. It is estimated that over 36 million people attend a performance of an iTheatrics adaptation each year, which is three times the number of people who see a Broadway show. Additionally each year iTheatrics trains thousands of teachers to become skilled musical theatre educational practitioners, and works to build sustainable musical theatre programs in underserved schools across the world with the goal of making the world a better place, one musical at a time.

Click here to visit the iTheatrics website.