ELK GROVE, CA (MPG) - Students representing Musical Mayhem Productions and Katherine L. Albiani Middle School received awards and recognition at the 2025 Junior Theater Festival Atlanta on Jan. 17-19, a weekend festival dedicated to rewarding and celebrating excellent student-driven musical theater programs. 

At the festival each group performed 15 minutes of a Broadway junior musical for the judges. 

Musical Mayhem Productions, an educational non-profit located on Kent Street, received the festival’s excellence in Dance Award, and the troupe’s Anthony Cochran and Henry Pullen were named Junior Theater Festival All-Stars. Pullen also earned awards for Outstanding Individual Performance and Student Direction and Choreography. 

Musical Mayhem Productions presented “Disney’s Finding Nemo Jr.” to Kenny Shepard, assistant teaching professor of Theatre and Dance at Ball State University and resident chorographer of the Children’s Museum of Indianapolis. 

“The presentation featured a wonderfully supportive cast with a lovely Nemo and Dori, and extraordinary Dad (Marlin),” Shepard said in a news release. “These students showed great imagery throughout. The way this ensemble looked after each other is indicative of a strong program.” 

Rosemary Newcott, Alliance Theatre artistic director of Theatre for Youth and Families, also judged the performance, calling it a “fantastic underwater journey.”

“The choreography and staging for this production were beyond impressive. The use of the actors as waves, barnacles from a boat, a shipwreck, and coral reefs was so smart and so engaging,” Newcott said in the news release.

 “This was definitely a standout performance for me and shows what musical theater is all about: teamwork, storytelling, and a shared focus to engage and move an audience. Musical Mayhem Productions is turning out triple threats like Anthony Cochran, Henry Pullen, Juna Anderson. This talented ensemble is also learning valuable skills in musical theater in all disciplines. What a treat to see them in action!”

Katherine L. Albiani Middle School received the Excellence in Acting award, and Ryan Karver and Owen Maclatchie were named Junior Theater Festival All-Stars. 

The middle school presented “Something Rotten Jr.” to Gordon Greenberg, Broadway writer and director of “The Heart of Rock and Roll” and “Dracula: A Comedy of Terrors.”

Greenberg called the performance “delightfully daffy.”

“Each student delivered an animated performance,” Greenberg said. “It certainly seems like they have fun in the rehearsal room, and you can see how that translates on stage." 

Jenn Katona, executive director of Educational Theater Associations also judged the performance, along with Derek Bowley, iTheatrics master teacher. 

Katona said the actors demonstrated “great comedic timing,” while Bowley noted the production showed that the students are learning not only to deliver a joke, but also the skills to sing and dance their way through big, old-fashioned musical theater numbers.

“Through skillful connection of faith and voice, they nailed the jokes and had the audience rolling with laughter,” Bowley said.