Photos: City Springs Theatre Conservatory Concludes Year with Final Showcase

Over Memorial Day weekend, students of City Springs Theatre Conservatory’s Pre-Professional companies concluded their school year with The Greatest Showcase- a full-length song and dance extravaganza with (parts of) 80 songs from the whole scrope of the Broadway canon.

Check out photos from the production below!

In past years, two Pre-Pro companies performed in each showcase to demonstrate the skills students learned in their singing, acting, and dancing classes. This year’s show, spanning three performances, included all ages and skill levels, from elementary to high school. 

“We’ve never done an end-of-year showcase quite this big,” says Jenna Gamerl, the Conservatory’s director of education. “In the last year we have worked harder to bring our entire Pre-Pro Company together as one unit, and this performance is the culmination of that effort - sixty students all performing as one, in one giant musical revue.”

The Greatest Showcase was carefully curated by directors Bob Adams, Kristine Reese, Billy Harrigan Tighe (currently performing on Broadway in The Heart of Rock and Roll), and Katie Berger Wood, to celebrate three distinct aspects of Broadway history - iconic settings, New York City theatres, and the creative artists who have earned the right to be called “legends” of musical theatre. 

The first section of the performance, primarily featuring the Junior Company, cleverly incorporated songs about places, from “Good Morning Baltimore,” to “Somewhere That’s Green.” The second section centered around the Pre-Pro I Company, with songs from shows that played in specific Broadway houses, with the name of the theatre hanging above the performers. Pre-Pro Companies II and III starred in the second act, with montages of songs by Bernstein, Lin-Manuel Miranda, and more. 

But a bigger showcase isn’t all that was new for CSTC this year.

“Our Pre-Professional program is also celebrating the end of the first year of our Technical Theatre component,” says City Springs Theatre Company’s executive director Natalie DeLancey. And the theatre certainly put their money where their mouth was, allowing the ten tech students to run the showcase from a technical perspective.

“Professional training for the next generation of designers, electricians, and stagehands is just as important as is the next generation of performers. While there is professional adult instruction and supervision, every technical aspect of this showcase is really in the hands of students, on stage and off stage.” DeLancey also says that City Springs Theatre looks forward to hiring the tech students they have trained, once they are out in the real world.

“The Pre-Professional Company is about each student’s commitment to their education and growth as a musical theatre performer,” explains Gamerl. “And while there are obviously varied levels of age, experience, and talent among our students, it is that commitment that brings them together, on stage and off.”

The Greatest Showcase Production Team

Written and Conceived by Bob Adams, Kristine Reese, Katie Berger Wood

Choreography and Staging - Jordan Pretorius, Avery Gillham, Grace Arnold, Ryley Perry,

Nick Walker Jones, Billy Tighe, Kristine Reese, Bob Adams, Katie Berger Wood, Trevor “TJay” Groce (Student) 

Music Director - Holt McCarley

Associate Music Directors - LeRoy Kennedy, Paul Tate, Avery Britt (Student)

Music Arrangements - Holt McCarley

Co-Arranger - Avery Britt (Student)

Sound Designer/Mixer - Clay Garland

Lighting Designer - Mack Scales

Costume Designer/Supervisor - Corinea Austin

Stage Management Mentor - Gina Barone

Production Carpenter – Justin Gamerl

Production Manager -Clay Garland

About City Springs Theatre Conservatory Pre-Pro Companies

This year’s Pre-Pro Company is made up of 63 performing students and 10 technical theatre students. The mission of Pre-Pro Company is to provide students with rigorous, weekly training to prepare them for a career in the arts and beyond. The program is led by four highly qualified directors, Bob Adams, Kristine Reese, Billy Tighe, and Katie Berger Wood, as well as numerous dance faculty and tech theatre faculty. Students come from all over metro Atlanta ranging from Gwinnett to DeKalb counties. It is an audition-based program taking place from September through May each year. 

At the end of June, City Springs Theatre Conservatory will present The Wedding Singer as its annual summer musical in the Byers Theatre, which will feature over 35 performing students and another 15 technical theatre students. It is directed by Kristine Reese, choreographed by Colleen Roberts, and music-directed by Holt McCarley. The summer musical is not a part of Pre-Pro, although many Pre-Pro students do participate.

Photo credit: City Springs Theatre Conservatory

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