SCERA's Acting Up Sweeps 2013 Musical Theater Competition of America

For the fifth consecutive year, Acting Up, SCERA's high school performing company, has taken the Overall Sweepstakes Award at the Musical Theater Competition of America. They vied with hundreds of competitors for the award, including theater groups and performers from Connecticut, Arizona, California, Washington, and Canada.

Additionally, many performers in the 40-member group prepared solo and duet numbers and either won or placed high in individual categories.

"These kids were so great and worked so hard," says Kathryn Little, director of Acting Up. "The thing that pleased me so much is how well they represented themselves. I'm not a real competitive person, so while the win is nice, how the kids acted is especially heartwarming."

The competition included taking a full musical and bringing it down to 12 minutes. Little selected the classic "West Side Story." Another ensemble competition piece was to highlight a body of a composer's work - she selected a medley of Ahrens and Flaherty. Acting Up took first place in both ensemble categories.

Winners, in addition to the overall victory, were Courtney Read, 4th place, freshman solo; Monica Smith, 2nd place, sophomore solo; Jennifer Bate, 2nd place and Kelsey Phillips, 3rd place, junior solos; T'naiha Ellis, 3rd place, senior solo.

In duets, Jacob Donaldson and Caleb Gardner, 3rd place, junior duet; Anne Kawai and Skyler Kawai, 2nd place, junior duet; Ellie Benson and Kyle Vorkink, 1st place, junior duet; and Kelsey Phillips and T'naiah Ellis, 1st place, senior duet.

Outstanding individual performers included T'naiah Ellis as Outstanding Triple Threat Overall; Ammon Loveless as Outstanding Performer in an Ensemble and Outstanding Dancer; and Will Pritchard as Outstanding Vocalist in Musical Review.

In addition to the competition, which was held at Cal State Fullerton College, Acting Up also took professional workshops at The Edge Dance Studio in LA and at Disneyland, and performed their fireside "The Light of Christ" at the Garden Grove LDS Stake Center.

"It is so gratifying to see how well Acting Up performs in competitions," says Adam J. Robertson, SCERA's President & CEO. "We've always known how talented they are, but the judges couldn't say enough good things about their talent and about the great spirit they bring."

Photo Credit: Acting Up with all their trophies at the Musical Theatre Competition of America in California. Photo courtesy SCERA.