Over 160 NYC public school students will make their Broadway debuts… online when the 6th annual SHUBERT FOUNDATION HIGH SCHOOL THEATRE FESTIVAL for NYC Public Schools has its world premiere on June 15 at 7PM. This high profile and high-energy theatre education experience for students is presented by The Shubert Foundation and the NYC Department of Education Arts Office.
WATCH NOW:
And be sure to check out video from the 2019 High School Theatre Festival.
Jelani Alladin (FROZEN, HERCULES at the Public Theatre) will host this year’s sixth annual event, which has previously been performed live on a Broadway stage. Guest presenters include Adam Chanler-Berat (PETER AND THE STARCATCHER), James Harkness (AIN’T TOO PROUD), Carly Hughes (BEAUTIFUL, American Housewife on ABC), George Salazar (BE MORE CHILL), and Sherie Rene Scott (WHORL INSIDE A LOOP).
| Check out the Festival PLAYBILL: | |
 |
|
|
|
The Festival’s inspired virtual production excerpts reflect the professionalism, the focus and the passions of our NYC public school students from diverse backgrounds and identities who came together with at least one common ground—to tell stories and build bridges. Under widely challenging circumstances, each student artist found time and space to rehearse and record their individual performance on smartphones and laptops so audiences everywhere could enjoy their artistry and collaboration.
The Festival, a celebration featuring five outstanding high school student productions from the 2019-2020 school year who were selected from over 30 productions across the city by a panel of professional theatre artists and theatre educators. Over the course of the festival’s six-year history, school productions from all 5 boroughs have performed at the event. This year, student presentations from the following schools will present excerpted scenes and musical numbers in order as follows:
- Brooklyn High School of the Arts (Brooklyn) – FAME
- Curtis High School (Staten Island) – LUCKY STIFF
- Frank Sinatra School of the Arts (Queens) – HAIRSPRAY
- Repertory Company High School for Theatre Arts (Manhattan) – AIDA
- Talent Unlimited High School (Manhattan) – THE WOLVES
The High School Theatre Festival showcases the ongoing excellent theatre work currently taking place in NYC public high schools, as well as highlights the positive effects of theatre study on skills for the stage and in life: collaboration, artistry, discipline, focus, literacy, student voice, self-awareness, presence, active listening and empathy. The evening focuses on the impact that a full theatre program can have on students and school communities and enables students to see theatre and the arts as a potential career path.