A huge congratulations is in order to all 34 youth performers of the 2024 Y Arts Competition Team. The group, under the direction of Emily Mirabile, received highest honors at the Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta, Georgia. Only nine groups out of 125 groups from around the world were awarded “Outstanding Performance” and asked to perform on the mainstage. Our local performers won this award and with joy and tremendous talent took the stage to perform “Prepare Ye” in front of over 6,500 festival attendees.

This year the Junior Theater Festival took place at the Cobb Galleria and Omni Hotel from Jan. 11 to Jan. 14. The festival hosted 125 Student Musical Theater Troupes. 30 U.S. States and the District of Columbia were represented as well as groups from Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Y Arts was the only group representing Maine and competed with selections from “Godspell Junior.”

Spencer Pottle portrayed the role of Jesus in the 15-minute adjudication piece. His sincere performance won him an award for “Individual Outstanding Performance.” Only 25 students out of the entire festival received this honor!

Scout Martin and Sophia Mansfield were named festival all-stars for the Y Arts team. All-stars from each team were invited to a special workshop and talk back. When recalling the overall experience, Sophia said “I learned so many new things. The trip this year was unbelievable. I had so many emotions throughout the weekend and so many memorable moments that I will never forget.”

Each group at the festival performs their piece for a panel of judges. Y Arts was judged by Morgan Siobham Greene and Tom Jackson Greaves. Greene’s credits include Be More Chill on Broadway, and the National Tour of Hadestown. Greaves is a director and choreographer from the United Kingdom. He is an associate director of Theatre Royal Plymouth and an associate artist of the Watermill Theatre. Timothy McDonald, the founder and executive producer of Junior Theater Festivals worldwide, also attended the Y Arts adjudication piece, showing his support for our team and director.

Following the Y Arts performance Greaves commented, “Some of the things that really stood out to me were your absolutely brilliant work as a team. It felt like every single person was seeing every other person in the group. Everyone was supporting each other and there were beautiful detailed moments throughout the space. It just felt like you were the most cohesive team, just brilliant.”

Greene felt truly touched by the group’s performance, commenting how she believed “there was not a single weak link up here. I want you to know that all of you are stars because stars truly start in an amazing ensemble and that is what you are.”

Emily Mirabile first took a group to the Junior Theater Festival in 2009. Since then she has attended 12 times with teams of youth from our region. In 2010 she was awarded the first ever Freddie G Fellowship Award for Excellence in Directing. Y Arts has won the “Outstanding Performance” honor 5 times while consistently bringing home trophies every year for Excellence in Dance, Acting, and Ensemble Work.

The 2024 Y Arts team was comprised of Iris Adams, Imij Armstead, Violet Baldwin, Lily Billings, Scout Martin, Fiona Bishop, Cairine Morehouse-Blackman, Georgiana Blake, Collin Cantillo, Kyleigh Cole, Natalie Flagg, Agatha Harris, Ford Harris, Sarah Harris, Sophia Mansfield, Evelyn Michaud, Ian Michaud, Sofia Michaud, Andrew Minzner, Lina Minzner, Oscar Mirabile, Reese Achorn, Sloan Nelson, Hamilton Pierpan, Anderson Pierpan, Spencer Pottle, Josephine Shea, Allison Smart, Finn Sullivan, Isla Sullivan, Trey Tibbetts, Jessie Ullo, Kayla Watts, and Nathalie Wilson. The piece was directed and choreographed by Emily Mirabile with portions of Light of the World choreographed by Jeremiah Haley and assistant directed by Nick Mirabile.

Other memorable events at the festival included Ella Watts, Trey Tibbetts, Hamilton Pierpan, and Sarah Harris competing in the Tech Olympics, Josephine Shea and Imij Armstead auditioning for the iTheatrics Choreography DVDs with Armstead receiving a callback audition, Broadway’s Brittney Mack bringing down the house with “Get Down,” Taylor Iman Jones making everyone cry with her rendition of “She Used To Be Mine,” standout performances by Michael Wordly, Laty Geraghty, and Wren Rivera, and the celebration Concert featuring Broadway siblings Arielle Jacobs and Adam Jacobs.

The Boothbay Region YMCA will host a Celebration Performance for our Y Arts performers on Sunday, Jan. 28 at 5 p.m. in the YMCA gymnasium. Come out to see their award-winning adjudication piece and cheer them on as they receive individual awards. The event should last 45 minutes. 

The Y Arts Competition Team plans to attend JTF West in Sacramento in February of 2025. Registrations for this new team will begin next month. If you have interest in joining the team please reach to out Emily at emirabile@brymca.org