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Arts & Entertainment

Educator Headed To The Big Apple

Walnut Creek's Youth Theatre Company has won an award that sends Nicole McGann to Broadway as one of the nation's top educators.

Youth Theatre Company’s Nicole McGann is packing her bags and heading for New York’s brightest lights.

That's because the Walnut Creek-based troupe won the 2011 Freddie G Broadway Junior Community Service award at the 2011 Junior Theater Festival in Atlanta last month, sending McGann, YTC’s choreographer, spinning all the way to Broadway.

The award, granted by Music Theatre International, the leading licensor of theatrical resources to schools, amateur companies and professional theaters worldwide, provides a weekend of professional workshops and instruction to the nation’s eight top educators.

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“We have earned this trip as a result of our 'By The Kids For The Kids' charity fundraising event,” McGann said, immediately acknowledging the students who direct, publicize, produce and perform in the annual one-night show.

Frances Hughes and Megan Fitzgerald were the founders and first producers/directors of BTKFTK, a tick-tocky acronym for the successful operation.

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McGann, who has been with YTC since 2002, said she was impressed by what the students have learned and implemented.

“At the time the program began, they were high-school juniors. They put on a mixed review of songs from popular musicals,” McGann said.

Rehearsals begin at the end of August, with the students meeting two nights a week until its traditional debut on the first Sunday in October.

The first year, $1,500 was raised; the second, $3,000. The proceeds provide scholarships for Friends of Civic Arts and raise funds for the Monument Crisis Center.

Rachel Pergamit, production coordinator for the company, wrote the project summary that YTC presented for consideration at the recent festival.

“The staff at [the festival] judged the community service projects. They had 30-plus eligible projects and narrowed it down to five companies, which they interviewed once we arrived in Atlanta. We were the top community service project!” she wrote in an email.

McGann said the weekend on Broadway was a surprise because no one on the staff knew about the prize when the company applied for the community service award.

“We just wanted to honor our students' initiative, benevolence and hard work,” she said.

But that doesn’t mean she’s not thrilled at the thought of being on Broadway Friday through July 17.

“I am excited for the workshops with Broadway professionals and the collaboration with the other theatre professionals to better my skills as an educator and become more aware of the happenings of youth theatre around the nation,” she said.

A staged reading of James and the Giant Peach will be particularly compelling for McGann.

“I hope to develop a better understanding of what goes into the creation of a script,” she said. “It is a piece YTC has worked on, so it holds a special place in my heart.”

Back at home, Pergamit will be busy, sifting through this fall’s song submissions to make sure they are appropriate for family audiences and preparing for another busy, dramatic season at YTC.

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