Hampton area theater group earns national honors at Texas festival

Freeport Area eighth grader Jersey Diehl is good at being bad.

Just ask the judges of the Junior Theater Festival Texas, who in late-June awarded the 12-year-old as an acting All Star for her portrayal of Ursula, the purple-skinned wicked sea witch, in a performance of “The Little Mermaid” at the Sugar Land event.

Diehl and her cast mates from Gibsonia’s Jeter Backyard Theater were national winners of the Freddie G Excellence in Ensemble Work at the acting showcase.

“I had a lot of fun, and it felt awesome to know the judges thought we did a great job,” Diehl said.

In its first year, the Junior Theater Festival Texas brought together about 2,225 musical theater enthusiasts to participate.

Michael James Scott, who portrays Disney’s Aladdin on Broadway, performed the festival’s headlining concert.

Jeter Backyard Theater owner Christie Jeter said the rousing celebration of theater was a monumental event for her students.

The experience was meant to motivate and empower aspiring performers, she said.

The Texas festival is not the first where her students have earned success.

At the 2020 Junior Theater Festival West, Jeter Backyard Theater won a Freddie G Outstanding Production award and performed for all festival attendees during the closing ceremony.

Jack Duckworth and Meghan McKenzie were named to the Tech Theater All-Stars, a select group that worked side by side with seasoned professionals and served on the technical crew for the awards ceremony, Jeter said.

At the 2019 Junior Theater Festival Atlanta, students from Jeter Backyard Theater won a Freddie G Award for Excellence in Music and at the same competition in 2018, the group won a Freddie G Award for Excellence in Ensemble Work, and student Cameron Tino won a Freddie G Award for Excellent Individual Performance by a Male.

This year’s performance of “The Little Mermaid” was breathtaking, said Cindy Ripley, senior educational consultant for iTheatrics, who served as a judge at the Junior Theater Festival Texas.

“This young ensemble took the audience on a spectacular journey under the sea through their choreographic and vocal skills and energy,” Ripley said.

A second, older group of performers from Jeter’s also earned top honors with the Freddie G Excellence in Music Award for “Children of Eden Jr.”

Elijah Groves, 18, was chosen as the All Star of that show for his role as “Father.”

“To receive the award of excellence in music, as well as being chosen as a performance All Star was a very gratifying and humbling experience,” said Groves, a recent graduate of Lincoln Park Performing Arts Charter School in Midland.

Groves is gearing up to attend Shenandoah Conservatory in Winchester, Va., to earn his bachelor’s degree in musical theater.

“I am very thankful that the team at iTheatrics recognized me and my team for all the hard work we put in to be the best we could be,” he said.

Judge Kikau Alvaro from the Virginia Repertory Theatre said the performance was strong and the storytelling amazing, from beginning to end.

“They did a great job working together as an ensemble,” Alvaro said.

Fellow judge Steven G. Kennedy, iTheatrics vice president, said “this was one amazing piece of theater. I was so moved. I was breathless.”