On Monday, Jan. 20, the Boothbay Region YMCA Y-Arts group returned home from a remarkable weekend at the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta, Ga. It was a weekend filled with anticipation and enthusiasm as members of the Y-Arts group celebrated the arts with students from 93 different theater groups from all over the country.

Y-Arts, directed by Emily Mirabile and assisted by Joel Biron, consists of students from ages 8 to 18, with a wide range of experience. Many of the older performers returned for their fifth year at the festival, while most of the younger kids were attending the festival for the first time. Regardless of age and experience, everyone in the Y-Arts group had a fantastic time.

On Saturday morning, the group kicked off the festival with adjudication, where they presented a 15-minute competition piece from “My Son, Pinocchio Jr.” The judges were “wowed” by the performance. They truly appreciated the group’s hard work, as well as the feeling of family conveyed by the group, while accomplishing a passionate and uplifting performance. “(I was) overjoyed with how well the Boothbay kids performed for the adjudication,” Mirabile said. “Each and every one of them truly gave their best performance. I couldn’t be prouder!”

The Y-Arts’ group brought home a trophy for Excellence in Dance.

Ben Dewey and Sadie Yentsch were named “All Stars,” which gave them the opportunity to perform with the other “All Stars” on stage, in front of the entire festival.

“Being selected as an all star was a huge honor,” Dewey said. “It was an amazing experience to work with members of other groups.”

“(I) felt special being chosen out of all the kids there,” Yentsch said. “It was a great experience to meet new people and perform with them.”

Auditions for the Broadway Jr. Choreography DVD were given to Sophia Thayer, Devin Domeyer, Nate Friant, Kate Friant and Kate Hilscher. These five also received callbacks and returned for a second round of audition on Sunday morning. They will find out in March whether or not they’ve been invited to New York City for DVD shoot.

Of course, the Junior Theater Festival is not entirely about competition. It’s also about helping students learn and grow as performers. Saturday afternoon, the Y-Arts group attended music, acting and dance workshops, during which they made new friends and learned from each other, as well as the extremely talented leaders of the workshops.

Saturday night ended on a high note with the New Works Showcase. Select groups performed pieces from newly released Broadway junior shows, such as “Shrek Jr.,” “Legally Blond Jr.,” “101 Dalmatians Kids,” “Mary Poppins,” and “The Knight at Dawn Kids.”

The New Works Showcase is designed to give other groups a taste of the new shows that are now available. Following the showcase, the kids let off some steam at the JTF Dance Party, where they danced to their hearts’ content.

After such an exciting first day, the Y-Arts group eagerly began Day 2.

First up was the Broadway Jr. Slam. Students from various groups were selected to prepare a song in only an hour, that they would perform in front of the entire festival. From the Y-Arts group, Lincoln Hamblett and Aaron Densmore were chosen as actors, and Nate Friant and Courtney Chaney were selected to direct and choreograph a piece.

Nate Friant and Chaney’s fabulous work earned them the Broadway Junior Slam’s Best Director and Best Choreographer. “Directing rather than performing was an awesome experience, and being recognized for our work was a great feeling,” Chaney said later. “It was something new and exciting to end my time at the festival.”

The conclusion of the Slam was followed by Pathways to Success, which featured Andy Jones and Evan Ruggiero. Jones participated as a student in the Junior Theater Festival 11 years ago, and returned to tell the story of how he eventually landed a role on Broadway. Rick Hilscher reflected on Jones’ presentation: “It was great seeing Andy Jones at the Junior Theater Festival, because he was very relatable for a young male actor like myself, who wishes to succeed in the arts.”

Ruggiero had a unique story of his own to tell. The one-legged tap dancer shared how he overcame the amputation of his right leg, and continues to live his dreams of dancing everyday.

Two wildly successful songwriters, Benj Pasek and Justin Paul also paid a visit to the festival, where they played some of their favorite songs, including a selection of the music they wrote for “James and the Giant Peach.” Former Broadway star Carrie Menolakos surprised the crowd, singing a few songs with Pasek and Paul.

The Junior Theater Festival drew to a close with a fantastic performance by Broadway and Beyond, a variety show starring five well-respected Broadway stars.

Other highlights from the festival included appearances by Mary Pope Osborne, the author of “The Magic Tree House” series, Henry Hodges, a Broadway actor and author of “How to Act Like a Kid,” and Tim Federle, the author of “Five, Six, Seven, Nate!”  There was also a directors’ performance of “What Does the Fox Say?” which provoked an uproar of laughter in the theater.

To top off the whole experience, the Y-Arts group won the Playbill Community Service award for “Arts for All.”

“Arts for All” is a workshop for intellectually disabled adults and children, created by Emily Mirabile and Helen Meserve, who is assisted by volunteers from the Y-Arts group: Chaney, Hilscher, Lincoln Hamblett, Joel Biron and Nick Mirabile. 

At the end of the trip, Nate Friant, who attended his fifth and final festival this year, reflected on his time there. “The Junior Theater Festival has been something I have looked forward to all year since middle school.

“Now, as a senior in high school, what I loved most was, not only learning tons of new things about myself as a performer, but also being able to share more really special experiences with my best friends before we go our separate ways.”