Georgia Bulletin

The Newspaper of the Catholic Archdiocese of Atlanta

Matthew Bielak, second from left, is honored at the 2014 Junior Theater Festival with the Freddie G All Festival Male Performance Award. A student at St. Joseph School, Marietta, he was the only boy at the festival to receive this level of award. Shown with him, from left to right, are Jacob Brent, director, performer and choreographer; Skyler Cox, a St. Joseph student; and dancer Kelby McIntyre-Martinez.

Marietta

St. Joseph drama group wins festival awards

Published February 20, 2014

St. Joseph School students won national theater awards at the 2014 Junior Theater Festival, which happened Jan. 17, 18-19 at the Cobb Galleria Centre in Atlanta.

The performers from the Marietta school won a Freddie G Excellence in Dance group award, while St. Joseph student Matthew Bielak was the only male student awarded the Freddie G All Festival Male Performance Award.

The students, 11 to 14, presented selections from Annie JR. for composer, orchestrator, music director and producer David Weinstein (“Les Miserables”) and Kennedy Center director Deirdre Kelly Lavrakas, who directed two musical theater reviews for a state department tour of South Asia and has led drama workshops for teachers and students in Bahrain.

The St. Joseph drama program is a developmental program for middle school-aged children interested in all aspects of musical theater, including acting, directing, choreography, sound and light, stagehands and backdrops. The group has been honored with awards at the last four annual Junior Theater Festivals and began participating in the festival in 2003.