Youth with Carson City Wild Horse Children’s theater win honors at festival

Young thespians from Carson City took home honors at the Junior Theater Festival West held in Sacramento, Calif., in February.

The performance troupe from Wild Horse Children’s Theater, a nonprofit theater program founded in 2007 in the capital city, performed a 15-minute abridged version of Disney’s “Beauty & the Beast, Jr.” and were judged by three Broadway professionals and scored on choreography, singing, voice, and storytelling.

The theater program took 22 young performers to the competition. Out of the 1,500 students who attended, Alexa Height was one of five girls to win the “Excellent Individual Performance by a Female” award.

Other honorees include: Timothy Winter, named a Broadway Junior “All-Star;” Trenton Lynn and Sydney Berg, selected to perform in the Broadway Junior “Slam” performance; Cassia Guistra, Serena Dantzler, and Alexa Haight, called back for Broadway Junior choreography videos to be taped in New York City this summer; and Alexis Schreiber and Sabastian Krueger competed in “Tech Theater All-Stars.”

Judges’ comments included: “Impressive work,” “nuanced performances and great voices” in addition to special commendation to Roni Ellison for her soprano voice and Xander Berg for his “sensitive performance as the Beast” that almost had one adjudicator in tears.

The festival is billed as the world’s largest celebration of young people and musical theater.

Produced by the Junior Theater Group and under the educational and artistic supervision of ITheatrics, the event brings students, teachers, and Broadway professionals together to celebrate outstanding student musical theater productions.

Events include adjudications, workshops, meeting Broadway professionals, awards ceremonies and the largest collection of musical theater professional development under one roof.

For information about Wild Horse Children’s Theater, go to http://www.wildhorsetheater.com.