Thomas Schumacher with very excited festival participants Photo

From: Photo Coverage: Thomas Schumacher at Atlanta's Junior Theater Festival

In conjunction with the second edition of his hit book How Does the Show Go On?, Broadway producer Thomas Schumacher gave the keynote address at the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta. The national festival dedicated to groups working with elementary and middle school aged young people, ran from January 16 -18, 2009. Schumacher's presentation (on Sunday, January 18), much like his book, enlightened more than 1,500 theater lovers about what goes into putting on a Broadway show. Child actor Henry Hodges, who starred as ?Michael Banks' in the original Broadway cast of Disney & Cameron Mackintosh's Mary Poppins joined Schumacher. Schumacher's much heralded book, How Does the Show Go On?, was originally released in 2007 and went on to sell over 50,000 copies. A second edition was released in late 2008 and has been updated to include Broadway's The Little Mermaid and the stage production of the mega-hit High School Musical. A library edition of How Does the Show Go On? is also available. The book, written with Jeff Kurtti, gives readers the opportunity to meet the cast of characters who work onstage and behind the scenes to deliver unforgettable performances, and explore the inner workings of the theater building itself.