11th Annual BROADWAY JUNIOR™ Student Finale
11th Annual BROADWAY JUNIOR™ Student Finale
TUESDAY, MAY 17th ONSTAGE AT BROADWAY’S IMPERIAL THEATRE
Hundreds of NYC Public School Students Performing Musical Numbers in Theatre Outreach Effort
The Shubert Foundation and Music Theatre International’s 11th Annual Broadway Junior™ Student Finale will take place on Tuesday, May 17, 2016 at at 10:30 a.m. at Broadway’s Imperial Theatre (249 W. 45th St.). The event will be hosted by “Tuck Everlasting” star Andrew Keenan-Bolger.
Students from Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Manhattan will perform song and dance numbers from their school versions of Broadway musicals. The shows include Disney’s The Lion King JR, Fame JR, Guys and Dolls JR., Annie JR, Hairspray JR, and Shrek the Musical JR.
The Shubert Foundation / MTI Broadway Junior™ partnership is a groundbreaking musical theatre mentorship program that builds self-sustaining theatre programs in public schools that have limited arts programming. The program is sponsored by The Shubert Foundation, Music Theatre International (MTI) and the New York City Department of Education (NYCDOE).
At the event on Tuesday, May 17, the New York City Department of Education Senior Deputy Chancellor, Dorita Gibson and Music Theatre International’s Chairman and CEO, Freddie Gershon will offer welcoming remarks.
Shubert Foundation President Michael I. Sovern will introduce this year’s Broadway Junior host, Andrew Keenan-Bolger, who is currently starring in the hit Broadway musical, “Tuck Everlasting.”
In attendance at the Broadway Junior™ Student Finale will be Philip J. Smith, Chairman of the Shubert Organization, Robert E. Wankel, President of the Shubert Organization, members of NYC Schools Chancellor Carmen Fariña’s cabinet from the Department of Education, prominent NYC arts educators, and leading members of New York’s professional theater community.
“In the arts capital of the world, it’s so important that all our students – regardless of their zip code – have access to a great arts education, which teaches them to create, rehearse, and revise in the pursuit of mastery. That’s why the City is investing an additional $23 million in the arts annually,”said School’s Chancellor Carmen Fariña. “In particular, we want our students to interact with our cultural institutions, including Broadway. I thank the Shubert Foundation and Music Theatre International for their invaluable partnership, and for their work broadening and brightening our students’ education.
"Michael I. Sovern, President of The Shubert Foundation, stated, “Every year, the Broadway Junior celebration is a joyful burst of youthful talent and energy that lights up Broadway. The long-running success of this program clearly demonstrates the value of The Shubert Foundation’s ongoing support for arts education programs in our New York City public schools.”
"I am enormously gratified, along with Team MTI to witness how this program has matured and expanded over 11 years. The unanticipated long term impact on the students, schools and local communities has gone beyond what any of us could have envisaged as the participating students are learning life skills, indispensable to their futures. These include the ability to collaborate, follow direction and instruction, practice self-discipline and work ethics, and use their imaginations while honing their verbal communication skills and developing social skills which will serve them well in navigating life. These are the great gifts to give a new generation, critical for success, and generally atypical of traditional curricula," said Freddie Gershon, Chairman and CEO of MTI who conceived the Broadway Junior Musicals Program.
“Many participating schools, which previously had limited arts programs, have come to consider themselves arts schools. Even beyond the direct effect on students, principals have commented on the larger learning culture that Shubert/MTI Broadway Junior promotes and helps develop,” according to Peter Avery, the event’s Producer and the Director of Theater, NYC Department of Education. Similarly, teachers, who didn’t realize they had talent as a theater director, musical director, choreographer or designer, have become arts leaders in their schools and communities.”
The Shubert Foundation / MTI Broadway Junior™ program engages students in all aspects and areas of the arts, utilizing master teachers and expert production advisers from the educational theatre organizations, iTheatrics and ArtsConnection.
In the first year of the program, teachers and students are guided step-by-step through the process of producing a first-ever musical in their schools. In the second year, teachers and students continue to receive support and encouragement on their second musical, but take ownership over their productions. In the third year and beyond, schools present a musical independently, and serve as inspiration for other schools involved in earlier cycles of the program.
The 2016 Broadway Junior 11th Annual Celebration will present performances from middle school groups participating in the second and third year of the program:
Disney's The Lion King JR.
Angelo Patri School
Hairspray JR.
In Tech Academy MS/HS 368
Annie JR.
Pablo Casals MS 181
Disney's Beauty and the Beast JR.
PS 5 Port Morris School
Fame JR.
Mott Hall IV
Shrek the Musical JR.
Seth Low I.S. 96
Hairspray JR.
Shell Bank Intermediate School 14
Annie JR.
Middle School for Marketing and Legal Studies
Seussical JR.
PS/IS 30 Mary White Ovington
School House Rock Live! JR.
New Design Middle School
Guys and Dolls JR.
Academy of Medical Technology
Disney's High School Musical JR.
Corona Arts & Sciences Academy
Hairspray JR.
Hunter's Point Community Middle School
Disney's The Little Mermaid JR.
PS/IS 119 The Glendale
Annie JR.
Spring Creek Community School
Disney's The Lion King JR.
Lyons Community School
Fame JR.
Global Technology Preparatory
Disney's The Little Mermaid JR.
Thurgood Marshall Academy for Learning and Social Change
Disney's Aladdin JR.
PS 23Q (QCPC)
Graduated Schools participating in the Shubert/ MTI Ensemble
Soundview Academy for Culture and Scholarship
Jordan L. Mott, JHS 22
Ron Brown Academy MS 57
Carroll Gardens School for Innovation
Math and Science Exploratory School
Dr. Gladstone H. Atwell M.S. 61
PS 241 STEM
Catherine and Count Basie Middle School 72
Collaborative Arts Middle School
East New York Middle School of Excellence
New Heights Middle School
The Shubert Foundation
Since 2005, The Shubert Foundation has provided more than $3.2 million to the New York City Department of Education for Arts Education/Theatre programs. This year marks the Foundation's 11th year providing funds for The Shubert Foundation/MTI Broadway Junior program which was founded during the 2005-2006 school year. To date, 60 schools and more than 10,000 students have participated in the program. Currently 58 schools are involved in the program. In 2015, The Shubert Foundation introduced a new program in partnership with the NYC Department of Education, The Shubert Foundation High School Theatre Festival for NYC Public Schools. The annual event features highlights from NYC public high school productions of plays and musicals, performed on a Broadway stage. The Shubert Foundation, Inc. is the nation's largest private foundation dedicated to unrestricted funding of not-for-profit theatres, with a secondary focus on dance. In 2015, The Shubert Foundation annual grants program awarded a record total of $24 million to 488 not-for-profit performing arts organizations across the United States. The 2015 grants marked the 33rd year in a row that the Foundation’s giving has increased.
Music Theatre International
Music Theatre International (MTI) is one of the world's leading theatrical licensing agencies, granting schools as well as amateur and professional theatres from around the world the rights to perform the largest selection of great musicals from Broadway and beyond. MTI works directly with the composers, lyricists and book writers of these shows to provide official scripts, musical and dynamic theatrical resources to over 70,000 theatrical organizations in the US and in over 60 countries worldwide. MTI’s Broadway Junior™ collection of musicals, are developmentally appropriate 30 and 60-minute shows for elementary and middle school-aged performers. Since 1996, over 100,000 Broadway Junior™ productions have taken place around the world involving over 500,000 educators and over 5 million student performers. For more information, visit www.mtishows.com.
New York City Department of Education
The New York City Department of Education is the largest system of public schools in the United States, serving about 1.1 million students in more than 1,750 schools. The Department of Education supports universal access to arts education through the ArtsCount initiative, which tracks and reports student participation in arts education and holds schools accountable for meeting New York State Instructional Requirements for the Arts.
