Daniel Island teen wins international youth theatre award
iTheatrics, the organization responsible for the Junior versions of popular Broadway musicals, in partnership with Musical Theatre International, named DI teen Ainsley Western as All-Star Performer at the International Junior Theatre Festival, held in Atlanta recently. Broadway professionals award the All-Star honor to one actress and one actor from each theatre troupe admitted to the festival. The troupe, which includes DI youth performers Anna Grace Chang, Sarah Feller and Lexi Widenhouse, won the overall Excellence in Dance award at the festival.
The Mount Pleasant-based troupe, Musical Theater Center, performs at the Footlight Players Theatre and is made up of pre-professional teen actors who train rigorously in a conservatory-like setting in the areas of vocal technique, music theory, acting, ballet, tap, jazz and modern dance—in addition to rehearsing for mainstage shows.
All performances, including the upcoming first-ever South Carolina theatre performance of The Lion King, which opens in May, employ professional costumes, lights and sets, as well artistic and technical direction.
MTC’s resident youth company was among only 115 global elite youth theatre troupes, and the only troupe from South Carolina, selected via a demanding audition process to participate in the International Junior Theatre Festival, produced by iTheatrics and Musical Theatre International. The group performed selections from Legally Blonde and walked away with the Excellence in Dance award. (MTC won the Excellence in Acting award at last year’s festival, performing Shrek Jr.)
The troupe has performed numerous sold-out musicals at Footlight Players Theatre, Charleston Music Hall and Woolfe Street Playhouse and is a frequent guest of WCIV-TV’s Lowcountry Live!
Musical Theater Center is a nonprofit organization, providing youth performers with challenging, professional-caliber training in dance, vocal and dramatic performance. MTC’s studio is located at 1956 Long Grove Drive in Mount Pleasant.