BACT Students to Showcase New Musical at Junior Theatre Festival WEST

Students in the Bay Area Children's Theatre (BACT) Advanced Performers program have been selected to showcase a new musical at the first-ever Junior Theatre Festival WEST (JTF WEST), taking place February 10-12, 2017, in Sacramento CA.

Advanced Performers are East Bay students aged 9 - 17 who have successfully auditioned for BACT's traveling musical theatre team. The group will perform excerpts from Magic Tree House: Pirates Past Noon KIDS, a new musical for young performers based on the fourth book in Mary Pope Osborne's Magic Tree House adventure series. The new work is adapted for the stage by Jenny Laird and Will Osborne, with music by Randy Court and lyrics by Court and Osborne.

JTF WEST expands to the West Coast the popular Junior Theatre Festival (JTF) held annually in Atlanta, GA. JTF brings more than 4,000 students, teachers, and theatre professionals together in Atlanta each year for three days to celebrate musical theatre and learn from each other.

The new festival in Sacramento is expected to attract 2,000 participants for demonstrations, workshops, performances that will be professionally critiqued, and appearances by Broadway and Disney stars. JTF WEST is produced by iTheatrics.

"We are honored to have been chosen to set an example for how to use ensemble work to tell great stories on stage," said BACT Education Director Rebecca Posamentier

In addition to showcasing excerpts from Magic Tree House: Pirates Past Noon KIDS, BACT's Advanced Performers will present excerpts from Disney's Beauty and the Beast JR and Disney's The Little Mermaid JR that will be critiqued by musical theatre professionals. Two teams of Advanced Performers are preparing full versions of these productions for public performances March 10-12 at the Osher Studio, 2055 Center Street, Berkeley, CA 94704.

Advanced Performers come to BACT's Oakland headquarters for rehearsals from as far north as Martinez and as far south as Pleasanton.

"Our Advanced Performers are deeply committed to musical theatre-they have the heart for it," said Posamentier. "They don't complain about getting up early on a Saturday morning for rehearsals. They want to be with other students who are creative and share their love for performing."

Established in 2004, the Bay Area Children's Theatre, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization, serves more than 90,000 children and adults throughout the Bay Area, with main stage performances in Berkeley, Oakland, San Francisco and San Ramon; selected productions in local schools; and classes and summer camps in more than 10 East Bay communities.

Our Mission: To inspire young audiences with imaginative productions, introduce children of all backgrounds to the excitement of live theatre, and create an engaging, entertaining, and educational environment in which children and their families can explore and enjoy the arts.

How We Carry Out Our Mission:

· Bring high quality, professional theatre to children and their families, with artists who create vibrant worlds that are intriguing to young audiences

· Encourage young people to explore literature, language, and the arts by producing stage adaptations of great children's books

· Engage preschoolers in the world of theatre with productions specially designed for them

· Develop and perform exciting new work for the stage

· Reach out to children who might not otherwise experience live theatre with free tickets, special performances for school groups, and touring productions at local schools

· Create touring productions for young audiences nationwide

· Partner with communities to meet the need for theatre education

· Introduce children to the joy of performance through our theatre education program

Pictured: Advanced Performers with, left, Director Annie Clark and right, Choreographer Marissa Hockfield. Photo by Joshua Posamentier.

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