Dahlonega-Lumpkin County - 01-24-2008 Holly Children's Theatre 1st Place

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01-24-2008 Holly Children's Theatre 1st Place

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

The Holly Children's Theatre wins 1st Place at the National Performing Arts Festival in DisneyWorld

The Holly Children's Theatre Competition Troupe, comprised of twelve students ages 12-17, won first place at The National Performing Arts Festival in Orlando, Florida on January 19, 2008. This top honor won the troupe the privilege of performing on The Galaxy Stage in Tomorrowland at The Magic Kingdom on January 20th. The troupe's ensemble piece was "Schoolhouse Rock, Live!, Jr." In addition to their trophy for winning this Showcase 1st place award, the team also brought home a "Superior" ranking trophy and six individual medals. The competition was conducted by Travel Adventures in cooperation with Disney and judges were Disney vocal coaches and talent and professionals from NYC.

Carly Berg, a 16 year old sophomore at Lumpkin County High School, won two individual awards at the competition. Carly competed in the solo competition and won "Top Female Vocalist" for her performance of "Popular." In addition to this solo honor, Carly also won a medal for 'Best Stage Presence" in the Ensemble Performance. Carly was also the choreographer for this team and her dance and choreography skills were applauded on the adjudicators' feedback forms as top-notch with scores of 24-25 out of 25.

Benny Higgins, a 14 year old freshman at Lumpkin County High School, also won two individual awards at The National Performing Arts Festival. Benny recently performed in "Schoolhouse Rock, Live, Jr." for field trip performances for nearly 5,000 students last Fall with another cast from the Holly. At this competition, he sang "Conjunction Junction" in the ensemble piece, winning him a "Top Performance" award and he also competed in the solo competition with "Moving Too Fast," for which he won the "Top Male Vocalist" award.

Sarah Peavy, a 16 year old sophomore at Lumpkin County High School, also performed last Fall for field trip shows at The Holly. At the competition, Sarah sang the "Interjections" solo in the ensemble competition and won a "Top Performance" award for her role in "Schoolhouse Rock, Live, Jr." Sarah also earned a "Superior" ranking in the solo competition.

Kacey Willlis, a 14 year old sophomore at Horizon Christian Academy, entertained the crowds with her monologue "Braces" in the solo competition and won the "Best Monologue" award at The National Performing Arts Festival.

Ali Willis and John Boyes also earned "Superior"rankings for their monologues from "The Nanny Diaries" and the monologue "Class Act." respectively. Ali is a 17 year old Junior at Horizon Christian Academy and John Boyes is a homeschooled seventh grader from Sautee and Atlanta.

The other outstanding performers from this group are: Matt Fogleman (who also earned special notes of recognition for his solo performance of "Circulation" in the show), Emily Soroka, Lexie Brown, Anna Huffman, Georgia Stansell, and Kristin LaCount.

While not competiting in Orlando this past weekend, the team enjoyed all four Disney theme parks, took workshops from Disney's talent and casting agents, met teen celebrity Kyle Massey, and met up with former Holly Theatre Performers that are now employed as talent in Disney (Craig Lovell) and Nickelodean (Mari Ellen Burroughs).

The director of this show is Nathan Gerrells, a 23 year old fifth grade teacher at Longbranch Elementary School and a regular director and performer at The Holly Theatre. Last year, Nathan won a "Best Director" award from Disney and MTI at The Junior Theatre Festival, where the 6-12 year old competition team from the Holly won 3rd place in the nation under his direction. Nathan also recently directed "High School Musical" at the Holly and will be directing "Seussical" this Spring.

The assistant director of this troupe is Brooke Caldwell, a 20 year old student of theater and history at The University of Georgia and a Dahlonega native. Brooke recently directed the full show of "Schoolhouse Rock, Live!, Jr." at the Holly this past Fall. She plans to continue on with the Holly on the children's theatre competition direction team in the future.

The trip director and music director of this troupe is Kate McElliott, the Education Director for the Holly Theatre. Kate won a "Best Music Director" award from Disney and MTI at the Junior Theatre Festival last year and is thoroughly proud of both teams. Kate will be leaving the Holly Theatre in May to pursue a career as a Special Education teacher in the public schools, but will continue on volunteering as the competition team director. She plans to have team members meet monthly for social and philanthropist outings, to bring the 6-12 year old team back to Atlanta for the Junior Theatre Festival again next January, and to bring the 12-18 year old team to a festival in New York City in 2009.

For additional information on the Holly Children's Theatre Competition teams (including more photos of this trip) or other Holly Children's Theatre events, visit the Holly Children's Theatre online under the Theatre for Youth tab at www.hollytheater.com , or contact Kate McElliott at 706-864-3759 Ext 5 or be e-mailing This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .

The 2008 Competition Team was sponsored by Alstadter Wienstube & Biergarten and Co-Sponsored by QSource Networks and Delta Zeta Sorority from NGCSU.

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