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Broadway Junior Set for Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts, 6/2
May 28, 2015

The 10th Anniversary celebration of The Shubert Foundation/Music Theatre International arts education Broadway Junior Program will take place Tuesday, June 2nd, 2015 at 10:30 a.m. at Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College (2900 Campus Rd.)

The event will be hosted by Mary Page Nance from Broadway's "Finding Neverland"

Students from Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Manhattan will perform song and dance numbers from their school versions of Broadway musicals. The shows include Guys and Dolls JR, Once on this Island JR, Fame JR, Annie JR, and Schoolhouse Rock Live JR.

The Shubert /MTI Broadway Junior Program 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, June 2nd, the New York City Department of Education Office of Arts and Special Projects Executive Director, Paul King will offer welcoming remarks and will introduce this Celebration's Broadway Junior host, Mary Page Nance, who is currently starring in the hit Broadway musical, "Finding Neverland"

In attendance at the Broadway Junior event will be prominent NYC arts educators, and leading members of New York's professional theater community.

"The arts teaches students the importance of revising, editing, rehearsing and joy in the pursuit of mastery - a lesson critical in the classroom and beyond," said School's Chancellor Carmen Fariña. "Expanding access to theater, and more generally arts education, helps inspire students, builds confidence and deepens their critical thinking skills. By taking advantage of the City's rich cultural resources, and partnering with great organizations like the Shubert Foundation, we will be able to continue to offer teachers hands on training and arts experiences and give our students access to a world class arts 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 so gratified, along with Team MTI to witness how this program has matured and expanded over 10 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. These are the great gifts to give a new generation, critical for success, and often atypical of traditional curricula," said Freddie Gershon, Chairman and CEO of MTI who conceived the Junior Musicals Program.

"The results achieved from Broadway Junior have been truly extraordinary. Many participating schools, with previously little or no access to the arts, 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. 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," according to Peter Avery, the event's Producer and the Director of Theater, NYC Department of Education.

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 Broadway Junior 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.

This 2015 Broadway Junior 10th Anniversary Celebration will present performances from middle school groups participating in the first year of the program:

ONCE ON THIS ISLAND JR

In Tech Academy MS/HS 368

ANNIE JR

PS/IS 30 Mary White Ovington

SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK LIVE JR

Mott Hall IV

ANNIE JR

New Design Middle School

ONCE ON THIS ISLAND JR

PS/IS 119 The Glendale

ANNIE JR

Seth Low I.S. 96

GUYS AND DOLLS JR

Hunter's Point Community Middle School

GUYS AND DOLLS JR

Shell Bank Intermediate School 14

ONCE ON THIS ISLAND JR

Middle School for Marketing and Legal Studies

FAME JR

Pablo Casals MS 181

ONCE ON THIS ISLAND JR

PS 5 Port Morris School

SCHOOLHOUSE ROCK LIVE JR

Corona Arts & Sciences Academy

ANNIE JR

Angelo Patri School

FAME JR

Academy of Medical Technology

Here is a link to all current participating NYC public schools and their boroughs: 2015 Shubert/MTI Broadway Junior Schools.

 

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