Students representing Melody Lane Performing Arts Center received recognition and awards at the 2026 Junior Theatre Festival. The festival is an annual competition dedicated to celebrating student-driven musical theater programs. It took place in January at the Cobb Convention Center in Atlanta.
“It’s the theater Superbowl, pretty much,” said Melody Lane Artistic Director Dana Alvarez. She noted that this year 141 teams from 31 states, Washington D.C., England, Scotland, Wales, France, Malta, Australia and New Zealand participated in the weekend festival.
“There are a lot of performance festivals available within the school system, but for community theater groups and performing arts centers, there really isn’t anything like that besides JTF,” Alvarez noted. “Part of it is recognition. Part of it is exposure. Part of it is learning best practices.”
Courtesy of Melody Lane Performing Art Center
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Artistic Director Dana Alvarez, Melody Lane Performing Art Center
Melody Lane Performing Arts Center Artistic Director Dana Alvarez.
The judges are Broadway producers, directors and performers.
“The adjudication looks at several categories,” Alvarez explained. “The No. 1 thread throughout those categories of acting, singing and dancing and ensemble work is storytelling. So really getting back to the main point of theater, which is telling a story. The motto that they use at JTF is ‘changing the world one musical at a time,’ which is a really special way to look at things. It’s not just about the skill that you have and the talent, but how you use those talents.”
The adjudicators divided the 141 teams into 15 pods of nine teams.
“Within the pods, they give out an award for excellence in acting, in singing or music, excellence in dance, and excellence in ensemble work,” Alvarez continued. “Those are the four group awards. Then they give individual awards for outstanding performer in the pod, which this year was Jonathan Serrat, who played Aladdin. They also do two all-star students per team.”
Melody Lane received the Excellence in Ensemble Award. Sophia Robertson and Alexa Caneccia were named Junior Theatre Festival All Stars and Jonathan Serrat earned the award for Outstanding Individual Performance.
Courtesy of Melody Lane Performing Arts Center
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Artistic Director Dana Alvarez, Melody Lane Performing Arts Center
Melody Lane Performing Arts Center perform number from ‘Disney’s Aladdin JR’ for Brion Watson, Jacob Harvey and Katy Geraghty.
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More about JTF
The Junior Theater Festival is the largest gathering of young performers in the world.
Called a “rousing celebration of theatre” by The New York Times, the Junior Theater Festival applauds and empowers young people and educators creating student-driven musical theater around the globe.
“Initially, it was held every other year,” said Alvarez. “Then in 2000, JTF became an annual festival and this year was the 26th annual Junior Theatre Festival.”
In excess of 7,000 people attend the festival each year, including competitors, teachers, family, friends and the public.
Competitors are given 15 minutes to perform a medley of musical numbers from a junior musical theater production. They then receive feedback from the adjudicators.
One huge benefit that comes from competing in the Junior Theatre Festival is the opportunity for students to attend workshops with Broadway’s best and brightest.
Students also enjoy a New Works Showcase of performance selections from upcoming Broadway Junior musicals presented by JTF groups, and other mainstage performances featuring powerhouse Broadway guests and those who took part in the workshops.
“This year, there was Jasmine Amy Rogers, who was just Tony-nominated for playing Betty Boop in ‘BOOP! The Betty Boop the Musical.’”
Other Broadway luminaries making mainstage appearances at JTF Atlanta in January included Isaiah Bailey (“Phantom of the Opera”), DB Bonds (“Kinky Boots”), Frank DeLeila (NY1), Tyler Joseph Ellis (“Shucked”), Katy Geraghty (“Into the Woods”), Max Antonio Gonzalez (“Huzzah!), Morgan Siobhan Green (“Hadestown”), Beau Harmon (“So You Think You Can Dance”), Briga Heelan (“Once Upon a One More Time”), Cori Jaskier (“Lyle, Lyle, Crocodile”), Taylor Iman Jones (“Hamilton”), Beath Leavel (“The Drowsy Chaperone”), Kelly Lomonte (“Chicka Chicka Boom Boom”), Brittney Mack (“Six the Musical”), JTF alum Nicholas Matos (“Smash”), Jodi Picoult (NYT Best Selling Author), JTF alum Amanda Reid (“Hell’s Kitchen”), Matthew Lee Robinson (“Atlantis”), Rob Rokicki (“The Lightning Thief Musical”), Darian Sanders (“The Lion King”), Kay Sibal (“Six the Musical”), Jacob Ryan Smith (“Shelter Me”), Mark Sonnenblick (“KPOP Demon Hunters) and Brion Marquis Watson (“MJ The Musical”).
“There are audition opportunities too,” Alvarez added. “So it’s a really large weekend of theater, of having the best of the best all gathered. It really doesn’t feel like a competition. It’s more of a celebration.”
Courtesy of Melody Lane Performing Arts Center
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Artistic Director Dana Alavarez, Melody Lane Performing Arts Center
Melody Lane’s 2026 JTF Atlanta competition team.
The logistics of taking a team to JTF Atlanta
This year, Melody Lane Performing Arts Center took a team of 25 students to Atlanta for the festival.
“We like 25 to 30,” said Alvarez. “Last year, we had 42 on our ‘Newsies’ team. We had 12 kids when we took some of our younger students to JTF West in California. But 25 to 30 is not only a good manageable number, it is also big enough to create a whole sound and a big, beautiful picture.”
Alvarez not only directs the students in their JTF production, but also makes all their travel plans.
“We have to reserve blocks of rooms at the hotel, share information about flights and figure out where to eat in a city flooded by 7,000 other people who are also looking for a place to eat. It gets a bit crazy when everyone’s fighting over the same Cheesecake Factory or P.F. Chang’s and you’re on a tight schedule. It takes a lot of planning,” said Alvarez, who has now taken teams to 12 Junior Theatre Festivals. “I have become like a travel agent who has to do a lot of research and work out all of those little details.”
Courtesy of Melody Lane Performing Arts Center
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Artistic Director Dana Alvarez, Melody Lane Performing Arts Center
Melody Lane Performing Arts Center 25-member competition team cuts up a little at Junior Theatre Festival in Atlanta.
Alvarez is known for her color-coded schedules and itineraries.
“You can’t survive a weekend like that without being that way,” she added.
But Alvarez said the benefits far outweigh the extra work and responsibilities.
“It’s a way of finding out how we measure up and how we can improve,” Alvarez pointed out. “It helps to reinforce what we’ve been doing all year. So, it is something that’s really exciting and that the teachers, the families and the students look forward to every year.’
Courtesy of Melody Lane Performing Arts Center
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Artistic Director Dana Alvarez, Melody Lane Performing Arts Center
Melody Lane Performing Arts Center competition team performs number from ‘Disney’s Aladdin JR’ at JTF Atlanta.
Covering the costs of travel, lodging and meals
It is expensive to take 25 to 35 students, teachers and chaperones to Atlanta for three days. While some parents elect to drive their kids to Atlanta, others fly. But everyone has the expense of lodging and meals.
“We do a lot of fundraising,” Alvarez reported. “We do a really big fundraiser that is usually a cabaret show that is paired with a raffle. Lots of businesses in the area will donate restaurant gift certificates, spa packages and usually a big ticket item like a hotel stay, a vacation stay. This year we got a resort on Fort Myers Beach to donate a weekend, which was really nice. The students sell those [raffle] tickets for $5 each and people can win any of those 30 to 40 prizes and the students keep 100% of what they raise. So a lot of our families raise at least $100 that way, some of them $1,000 that they can put directly against their expenses.”
They supplement the cabaret and raffle with fundraising days outside of grocery stores the way that sports teams do.
“Those are really lucrative and it’s amazing how generous people in Southwest Florida can be,” said Alvarez.
But there are still some expenses that the kids’ parents have to cover, but Melody Lane strives to ensure that finances don’t get in the way of any student making the trip to Atlanta.
Courtesy of Melody Lane Performing Arts Center
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Artistic Director Dana Alvarez, Melody Lane Performing Arts Center
Jonathan Serrat received award for Outstanding Individual Performance as Aladdin.
Why Melody Lane chose to perform a medley of songs from ‘Aladdin’
Alvarez and her Melody Lane creative team ultimately decide which show to feature at the festival. But they do seek input from their students.
“We often poll the students and ask them what shows they’re interested in performing,” Alvarez said. “’Aladdin’ was in the top five last year, but we went with ‘Newsies.’”
But events outside of JTF played a major role in Alvarez choosing “Aladdin.”
“What was that when Johnny [Serrat] came into audition for ‘Hunchback,’ he sang an ‘Aladdin’ song. The next student who auditioned sang an ‘Aladdin’ song too. We were still in the process of choosing a production for JTF and it was just this lightbulb moment of, you know, ‘Aladdin’ would be really cool. The students are interested in ‘Aladdin.’ So let’s do that. It’s kind of like, okay, I get it.”
Picking a show is tricky because at the time Alvarez makes the final decision, she doesn’t know who’s going to audition to be on the competition team. It can be challenging to get students who are suited to each of the roles in the show.
“We do choose the show before the students audition, but we have a lot of students who come back year after year,” Alvarez noted. “So we have a rough idea of who’s likely to audition for our team. Besides, we also like to challenge our students, to set the bar high for what we want to accomplish. But the title we select has to be something creative that we can do and something that kids are going to want to be a part of.”
Courtesy of Melody Lane Performing Arts Center
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Artistic Director Dana Alvarez, Melody Lane Performing Arts Center
Melody Lane’s 25-member competition team performs for judges during JTF Atlanta in January.
Award of Excellence in Ensemble
Melody Lane presented “Disney’s Aladdin JR” to Brion Watson, who performed on Broadway in “Hamilton,” “Wicked,” and “MJ the Musical,” Jacob Harvey, Managing Artistic Director, Fine Arts Building and Studebaker Theater, and Katy Geraghty, who performed on Broadway in “Into the Woods” and “Groundhog Day.”
They awarded Melody Lane Excellence in Ensemble in their pod.
Said Watson,” From the moment they stepped on the stage, they worked together to create clear pictures that helped support the story. It’s clear that this group knows that hard work pays off in the long run. Their presentation showed us that strength lied in their ability to use their entire body to tell the story.”
“This ensemble is a powerhouse!” said Jacob Harvey. “The staging was so fun. The vocals were impeccable. The acting was top notch! Great performance all around. The very definition of ensemble. Each member of the cast is a standout. Amazing teamwork. Just wow!”
Katy Geraghty added, “I was blown away from all the incredible and creative storytelling. They are a true triple threat program – they focus on it all and it shows.”
“It’s not just about the skill that you have and the talent, but how you use those talents,” said Alvarez. “Are you just dancing precisely and trying to achieve some sort of robotic perfection or are you getting down to the heart of what the story means and what that means to the characters and how you can apply it in your life?”
Courtesy of Melody Lane Performing Arts Center
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Artistic Director Dana Alvarez, Melody Lane Performing Arts Center
Melody Lane’s 25-member ‘Aladdin’ competition team.
Outstanding Production
In addition to the awards within each pod, the judges select nine teams to perform on the mainstage on Sunday during the awards ceremony.
“Melody Lane has won that award twice in the past, which is really exciting to get the kids up on the main stage showing everyone what they were able to accomplish,” said Alvarez. “It’s a little bit nebulous how it’s all decided, especially because if you have 15 pods but you’re only choosing nine groups, it’s hard to know how they arrive at those decisions. But it’s generally because there’s something unique about a particular performance. Maybe it’s the choreography or they’re doing sign language or something that’s very special.”
Melody Lane was named New Works Showcase Group in 2022 and received awards for Excellence in Dance in 2025, Excellence in Music in 2023 and 2024, and Excellence in Acting in 2024 and at JTF West in 2022.
At the 2021 Junior Theatre Festival Texas, Melody Lane received a Freddie G Outstanding Production award. Student River Reed received a Freddie G All Festival Individual Performance award. The group also received a Freddie G Outstanding Production award at the 2019 Atlanta JTF and performed for all attendees at the closing ceremony. At the 2020 JTF Atlanta, Melody Lane received a Freddie G Excellence in Ensemble Work award. Additionally, Alvarez was awarded the Freddie G Fellowship, which recognizes exceptional contributions to arts education. Student Christine Mazuryk received a Freddie G Award for Excellent Individual Performance at JTF 2019.
“So, the Freddie G Teaching Award is based on Freddie Gershon, who was the founder of Broadway Junior,” Alvarez explained. “So Broadway Junior, it’s been 30 years since they decided to create adaptations of musicals that young performers will be able to put on. So he’s the founder of all of that. And then since then, I believe it’s been the past 15 years, they’ve started this teaching fellowship where they choose three teachers from each JTF. So, since there’s two festivals, there’s West and Atlanta now, there’s five to six teachers that every year they win this fellowship where they get to go to New York for a weekend and go to a teaching workshop, see lots of shows, work with iTheatrics and get that kind of boost. There’s also a grant of $5,000 for your program. So, I did end up winning that award in 2020 but didn’t get to do the New York trip until 2022 thanks to the pandemic, of course.
Courtesy of Melody Lane Performing Arts Center
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Artistic Director Dana Alvarez, Melody Lane Performing Arts Center
Melody Lane Artistic Director Dana Alvarez was awarded the Freddie G Fellowship in 2020, recognizing her exceptional contributions to arts education.
Deliverables
While it takes a tremendous amount of work and money to field and take a competition team to the Junior Theatre Festival, Alvarez said that Melody Lane derives numerous benefits.
“It opens up this network of directors from all over the world,” she said. “We have a Facebook group. We get on Zoom calls once a month to just talk about ideas and discuss what’s happening over here and how other directors and teachers are dealing with common challenges and issues. So it’s been a wonderful blessing.”
In addition to networking and collaborative opportunities, participation in JTF attracts students who are not just interested in going to Atlanta.
“They’ll come to audition for JTF and find out, oh, this other show is going on and then they want to be part of other productions. The prestige of of winning awards at JTF also set you apart a bit. So in that way, it’s very practical to participate in JTF because that gets that kind of attention.”
Other area competitors
This year, three teams from Lee County competed at JTF Atlanta. In years past, Lee has sent as many as six teams to the festival.
Although Collier had not teams at JTF this year, it has sent competition teams to the festival in the past, as has Sarasota, Manatee, Hillsborough and Orange counties.
“And many from the east coast,” Alvarez added.
Look for upcoming stories on Lee County’s JTF competition teams from Fort Myers Theatre and Gypsy Playhouse.
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.