I gotta applaud London, Ontario’s Grand Theatre and the High School Project for continuing to nurture young talent and encouraging them to pursue a possible career in the performing arts

“For over 30 years, Zola Jensen taught choir in Idaho Falls, Idaho. Last spring, when word spread that she would be retiring from her position at the high school at the end of the year, her current and former students wanted to honor the teacher that brought so much music into their lives.”

A little over a year ago I had the privilege of writing about five young artists this country should know! I received a lot of excellent feedback about that article and thought it would be a cool idea to turn this into a yearly thing. There is nothing more rewarding than working with kids in theatre. There are some fantastic communities in this country that is producing some amazing young talent. Here are another five young artists you should know about in this country!   

Last December, I wrote a piece on the fact that Broadway Break Thru and its founder David Petro, had not paid its guest faculty for their work during their summer college programs.

Some of the guest faculty hadn’t been paid a dime despite some of them being owed upwards to $1,000.

After publishing the article, I had heard that Petro promised(in writing) that he would pay all monies owed by February 28th. I’ve been told by various faculty, that he hasn’t sent them a dime.

Iowa High School administrators demanded their spring musical get cancelled after they say parents and students complained about the content. Cast members say the content the school was trying to censor is the LGBTQ main characters.

Now the school is changing its stance and reinstating the production.

Last week, news broke in Redlands, CA that a high school drama teacher was arrested on suspicion of having sex with two underage students and possession of child pornography. Joel Everett Chandler Koonce was taken into custody on November 9th. While these accusations are terrible, what’s even more terrifying is that this is the third teacher accused of sexual abuse over the past five years and the number of victims coming forward is climbing.

A high school in Delaware is coming under fire over their response or lack thereof to claims of sexual misconduct involving a male staff member within its theatre department. Multiple students have come forward with claims of either being the target of inappropriate behavior or witnessing it firsthand. 

Once again it appears as though educators have failed their students as a high school production has been canceled due to copyrights not being secured.

Over the weekend, students at Nansemond River High School in Suffolk, VA were told that their production of Disney's The Lion King would not continue because rights to the show had not been obtained. The worst part is, they had already begun performances.