{"id":67556,"date":"2025-12-02T05:18:10","date_gmt":"2025-12-02T05:18:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/67556\/"},"modified":"2025-12-02T05:18:10","modified_gmt":"2025-12-02T05:18:10","slug":"lincoln-middle-school-thespians-selected-for-mainstage-at-florida-state-thespian-festival-earn-fourth-consecutive-best-in-show-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/67556\/","title":{"rendered":"Lincoln Middle School thespians selected for MainStage at Florida State Thespian Festival, earn fourth consecutive Best in Show award"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/alachuachronicle.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LMS-Thespians.png?ssl=1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"678\" height=\"301\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/LMS-Thespians.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-95607\"  \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Press release from Alachua County Public Schools<\/p>\n<p>GAINESVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Lincoln Middle School\u2019s Thespian Troupe 88521, under the direction of Jackie Collins, has achieved an unprecedented milestone with its selection to perform Mean Girls Jr. on the MainStage at the Florida State Thespian Festival. The troupe also earned Best in Show at the Florida Junior Thespians District 1 competition for the fourth consecutive year, continuing a remarkable streak of excellence.<\/p>\n<p>In October, the troupe\u2019s production of Mean Girls Jr. was adjudicated by two experienced judges from Florida. Out of ten productions submitted, only two were chosen for the honor of performing at the state festival in Orlando this February. Lincoln\u2019s performance will take place on February 6, 2026, in front of an audience of approximately 2,500 thespians from around the state. This marks the first time in history that a Gainesville-area middle school and District 1 representative (which is made up of 12 school districts, including Duval\/Jacksonville) has been selected for a MainStage performance at the Junior Thespian State Festival.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the MainStage honor, the troupe once again captured Best in Show at Districts, awarded to Amelia Walker and Jane Han for their Duet Musical performance of \u201cFreedom\u201d from The Mad Ones. These students will perform alongside 11 other district winners at the festival\u2019s Opening Ceremonies on February 5, 2026, for a live audience of 2,500, with additional attendees viewing on video screens outside the venue.<\/p>\n<p>This year, Troupe 88521 presented 28 performance pieces, earning 25 Superior ratings, 3 Excellent ratings, 12 Top Honors (perfect scores), and 5 Judge\u2019s Choice Awards.<\/p>\n<p>Top Honors Recipients (Superior Ratings with a Perfect Score)<\/p>\n<p>Best in Show, Judge\u2019s Choice, Top Honors, Superior \u2013 Amelia Walker &amp; Jane Han, Duet Musical: Freedom (The Mad Ones)<\/p>\n<p>Judge\u2019s Choice, Top Honors, Superior \u2013 Small Group Musical: Forget About the Boy (Thoroughly Modern Millie)<\/p>\n<p>Judge\u2019s Choice, Top Honors, Superior \u2013 Yeats Minson &amp; Julius Deutsch, Duet Musical: The Company Way (How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying)<\/p>\n<p>Judge\u2019s Choice, Top Honors, Superior \u2013 Ensemble Acting: The Internet is Distract\u2026 Oh Look a Kitten!<\/p>\n<p>Judge\u2019s Choice, Top Honors, Superior \u2013 Tess de las Alas, Solo Musical: Quiet (Matilda)<\/p>\n<p>Top Honors, Superior \u2013 Small Group Musical: All Girl Band (A My Name Is Alice)<\/p>\n<p>Top Honors, Superior \u2013 Small Group Musical: Edgar Allan Poe (Snoopy)<\/p>\n<p>Top Honors, Superior \u2013 Small Group Musical: In Color (Boop)<\/p>\n<p>Top Honors, Superior \u2013 Zoe Leontiades &amp; Nora Baiser, Duet Musical: Two Peas in a Pod (Grey Gardens)<\/p>\n<p>Top Honors, Superior \u2013 Amelia Walker, Solo Musical: Astonishing (Little Women)<\/p>\n<p>Top Honors, Superior \u2013 Ensemble Acting: The Bible in 30 Minutes or Less<\/p>\n<p>Top Honors, Superior \u2013 Ensemble Acting: 10 Ways to Survive the End of the World<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Press release from Alachua County Public Schools GAINESVILLE, Fla. \u2013 Lincoln Middle School\u2019s Thespian Troupe 88521, under the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":67557,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[232,234,233],"class_list":["post-67556","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee","tag-tallahassee-headlines","tag-tallahassee-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67556","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=67556"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/67556\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/67557"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=67556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=67556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=67556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}