Students from Waynesboro and Charlottesville took part in the 2025 Junior Theater Festival Atlanta with Studio Wayne and DMR Adventures.
JTF Atlanta was a weekend of singing, dancing, acting and learning held Jan. 17-19.
In total, 136 groups from 30 states, as well as Washington DC, Canada, the United Kingdom, Poland, Australia and New Zealand participated in the festival.
The weekend is dedicated to rewarding and celebrating student-driven musical theater programs. At the festival, each group performed 15 minutes of a Broadway Junior musical for adjudicators.
It was the first year Studio Wayne participated in the festival. DMR Adventures has participated in the festival for more than a decade.
Studio Wayne (Wayne Theatre, Waynesboro)
Studio Wayne was created as the education department of the Wayne Theatre in 2019. Studio Wayne curates five to six student led performances a year and offers up to 20 performing arts classes a season, offers workshops to local schools, professional development for local arts educators and houses the regions only teen improv troupe, The Improvisators.
Studio Wayne presented The Drowsy Chaperone JR. to Rob Rokicki, a Broadway composer and educator and Lotte Wakeham, artistic director of the Octagon Theatre and former associate director of Matilda The Musical in the West End and on Broadway.
“This performance was so much fun,” said Rokicki. “Great expressive faces and energy. The actors worked well together and gave 100 percent. Their program fosters strong ensemble work and a great sense of teamwork.”
“I thoroughly enjoyed this performance; the staging had lovely attention to detail, including a human ‘record player’ and impressive choreography, especially in the Adolpho song,” said Wakeham. “I also really admired the students’ comic energy, their sophisticated performance choices and their teamwork. Congratulations on a wonderful presentation.”
Studio Wayne was honored with:
- The Excellence in Ensemble Award
- Hudson Northern and Violet Nesbit made the Junior Theater Festival Performance All-Stars, a select group of outstanding performers
- Maddox Knoor, Hudson Northern and Violet Nesbit made it to the choreography callback for a special project promoting musical theater in schools
DMR Adventures (Charlottesville)
DMR Adventures has been providing professional performing arts training from professionals since 2009. DMR is comprised of several pre-professional programs, a touring competition team, an after-school program, a youth leadership program, more than 15 summer camps and year-round training programs.
The group has enjoyed success at the Junior Theater Festival in the past.
DMR Adventures presented Something Rotten JR. to Robert Hindsman, adult programs manager at Alliance Theatre and John Clay III, a New York-based actor who appeared in “Raising Kanan.”
“Their performance allowed so many of the actors to shine in individual ways,” said Hindsman. “It was a fantastic showcase of the incredible talent at DMR Adventure. These actors understand comedy better than most professional adult actors. Their performance was rooted in honesty and nuance allowing such rich comedic moments.”
“His group had a great sense of comedic timing with mature material,” said Clay. “It shows that they are committed to taking risks with students and allowing them to flourish in their best creative light.”
DMR Adventures was honored with:
- The Excellence in Music Award
- Amalie Hendricks and Eli McNaull made the Junior Theater Festival Performance All-Stars, a select group of outstanding performers
- June Jones was named a Tech All-Star
- Amalie Hendricks, Sally Kashatus, Sylvia Moses and Katya Copeland made it to the choreography callback for a special project promoting musical theater in schools
- Sally Kashatus earned an award in Outstanding Student Direction and Choreography
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Crystal Graham
