MUSICAL THEATER DIVISION

    The Massachusetts Educational Theater Guild’s Musical Theater Division promotes the value of musical theater in schools, celebrates emerging talent on stage, and recognizes the hard work and dedication of production designers, technicians, and producers that bring beautiful theater to life across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

    METG MUSICAL THEATEr AWARDS

    This Tony Awards-style program offers both middle and high school members a season-long opportunity to bring experienced adjudicators into their theaters, where they will receive professional feedback on their hard work creating musical theater productions. Participating students and teachers benefit from the educational expertise vital to improving their program. Each June, The Musical Theater Awards Ceremony recognizes student excellence across several performance, design, and production categories. Each year, METG adjudicators evaluate close to 75 Middle and High School musicals, recognizing well over 5,000 participating students. 

    Questions about the Musical Theater Awards? Contact mtdivision@metg.org for more information.

    THE JIMMY AWARDS

    As part of our work recognizing emerging talent on stage, the METG is excited to participate in the National High School Musical Theater Awards ® (NHSMTA)—also known as the Jimmy Awards ®. The Jimmy Awards are a national celebration of outstanding student achievement, recognizing individual artistry in vocal, dance, and acting performance and elevating the importance of theater arts education in schools. The Jimmy Awards are presented by The Broadway League Foundation.

    In Massachusetts, two high-school aged students (one best actor/actress) will represent the Commonwealth and go on a to New York City and participate in a week-long intensive experience, including coaching and rehearsals with industry professionals. The week culminates in a one-night-only showcase on Broadway, where a panel of judges crowns the nation’s top performers. The Jimmy Awards are named for legendary Broadway theater owner and producer James M. Nederlander. The METG is delighted to be sponsored by Broadway in Boston and to join the network of theaters across the country participating in The Jimmy Awards.

    MUSICAL THEATER SCHOLARSHIP CONTEST

    The METG Musical Theater Division is pleased to offer the annual Musical Theater Scholarship Contest. Open to any current high school student, this opportunity provides resources to help students continue their education, access professional productions, or support enrollment in camps or workshops. 

    Guidelines:

    • Any current high school student from Grades 9,10,11, or 12 may participate in the High School Musical Theater Contest Day.
    • Students should prepare a 1 minute cut of a musical theater song. This should showcase your voice and acting ability.
    • Songs should be memorized.
    • Please bring your sheet music prepared in a binder marked with where you would like to start and stop your song. You will be singing with an accompanist- no “a capella” singing.
    • Students will introduce themselves as their ID number and what song they will be singing and what musical it is from.
    • Students should dress appropriately for audition attire.
    • Only musical theater songs will be accepted. Please refrain from using pop songs or songs from films or television shows.
    • After the initial audition, a group of finalists from each session will be selected to present a one minute cut of a second piece later in the day. This piece should contrast with their first song.
    • Timing of the entire day will be announced after registration has closed.

    Students will be assessed on their work against a rubric.

    Rubric Areas:

    • Vocal Work- Musicality, Notes and Pitch
    • Acting – Storytelling through Song, Physical Choices, Expression, Presence, Understanding of Text and Subtext
    • Preparation- music marked, professional introduction, within time guidelines
    • Overall Impact- showcase of range, audition attire

    Once registration has closed, you will be contacted about your audition time slot. You will be in the same block as students from other schools and will have an opportunity to present your work in front of them. If you are entering multiple scholarships/contests, the METG will work to make sure that there is as little overlap as possible.

    METG MUSICAL THEATER ADJUDICATORS

    Emily Grove is a theatre director, actor, and educator living in the Boston area. She has directed such youth productions as: Singin’ in the Rain (Greater Boston Stage Company’s Young Co.), Goosebumps The Musical: Phantom of the Auditorium (BCT; East Coast premier), The Velveteen Rabbit (BCT), Once on this Island JR (Arlington Children’s Theatre), and The Elves and The Shoemaker (Marblehead Little Theatre). As a teaching artist, Emily has collaborated with such companies as The American Repertory Theatre, Greater Boston Stage Company, Company One, BCT, Arlington Children’s Theatre, and Kidstock! Creative Theater. Emily served as the Lead Teaching Artist for the Boston division of the Disney Musicals in Schools (DMIS) program, which taught public elementary school teachers how to develop sustainable musical theatre programs in their schools. With a distinct interest in using theatre as a tool for social justice, one of her favorite projects is serving as the director for the Fayerweather Street School’s theatre program (The Tempest, The Caucasian Chalk Circle, As You Like It, Radium Girls). As a performer, Emily likes to “Let It Go” on the weekends with the Snow Queen at Spark A Dream Princess Parties. Emily is a graduate of Salem State University and holds her BFA in Theatre: Performance.

    Weylin Symes is currently the Producing Artistic Director of Greater Boston Stage Company. He was extensively involved in the renovation of Greater Boston Stage’s building in 1999, and over the past 23 years he has overseen the growth of the theatre into one of Boston’s five largest performing arts organizations (Boston Business Journal). After serving as the theatre’s first Artistic Associate, Weylin assumed the role of Artistic Director in 2003 and was named as Producing Artistic Director in 2007. In his time at GBSC, he has directed over 50 productions for the Mainstage and The Young Company and adapted several pieces for performance on GBSC’s stage, including The Old Man and the Sea, Dracula, and It’s a Wonderful Life. He also wrote Last Night at Bowl- Mor Lanes and the story and book for the original musical Lobster Girl, both of which premiered on GBSC’s stage.

    Gina Beck is a full-time member of the Voice Faculty at the Boston Conservatory, former voice teacher at Emerson College and Walnut Hill School for the Arts. She was also a Senior Lecturer of “Vocal Techniques” and Creativity and Innovation classes “Finding Your Creative Voice” and “Revising Reality” at Suffolk University in Boston, MA for many years. Beck has established herself as a voice technician, cultivating understanding of physiology as she combines instruction of both classical and CCM (Contemporary Commercial Music) vocal production. She has also worked in the area of vocal rehabilitation with students diagnosed with various vocal impairments. She is known to inject an infectious dose of humor into her teaching, masterclasses, and her own vocal performances. Her current and former students are gracing stages on Broadway (Purlie Victorious), US national tours (Funny Girl, Frozen), and regional theaters across the country. She teaches privately in Natick, MA and over Zoom for students across the country.

    Peter Sampieri Prof. Sampieri is a director, playwright, musician, composer, puppeteer, and teaching artist. His professional directing credits include (Off-Broadway) the world premiere of On The Line at the Cherry Lane Theatre, The Sister Wall at Barrow St. Theatre, The Three Same Guys at The Public, and Space Laser, in Space! at The Vineyard. (NYC workshops): world premieres of Show Ho at Six Figures, Ars Nova, and Vendetta Chrome for The Dramatist’s Guild. (Regional Theatre): Wit, A Christmas Carol, and The Taming of The Shrew at Trinity Rep, and the world premiere of Yemaya’s Belly at Portland Stage Company. Red Noses, Crime and Punishment, The Pillowman, and the world premiere of Radio Free Emerson (Elliot Norton Award in 2008 for Outstanding New Play) at Gamm Theatre. Others include A Bright Room Called Day, Talk to Me Like the Rain…, Recession: The Musical, Decagogo, and King Stag for the Elemental Theatre Collective. He has taught and directed at New York University, Brown University, Huntington Theatre Company, New England Conservatory of Music, Providence College, University of Rhode Island, OperaWorks, and Northwestern University. This is his sixteenth year serving as a tenured Professor of Directing and Performance for the Theatre and Speech Communication Department at Salem State University where he’s directed Twelfth Night, Cabaret, Kafka in Tel Aviv, The Grapes of Wrath, The Master and Margarita, A Free Man of Color, Ragtime, The Long Christmas Ride Home, The Skin of Our Teeth, The School for Lies, and Something Rotten. His original plays include Kafka in Tel Aviv, Grass, The Painter in the Trees, Offended, and The Digital/Analog of Peter Sampieri. He graduated magna cum laude from the Honors Program at St. Michael’s College, receiving dual Bachelor of Arts Degrees in Theatre and English Literature; later he earned a Master of Fine Arts in Directing from the Trinity Rep Conservatory. Peter is the 2002 recipient of a Pell Award Scholarship for Artistic Excellence, and the 2014 recipient of 3 national awards from The Kennedy Center for his original play Kafka in Tel Aviv, including Outstanding Direction of a New Work, and The David Mark Cohen National Playwriting award. His multi-media production of The Long Christmas Ride Home in 2020 garnered 13 national awards from the Kennedy Center, including Special Achievement in Directing. He was an O’Neill Playwriting Fellow in 2014, received Salem State’s first-ever Distinguished Teaching Award in 2015, a Whiting Fellowship in 2017, and became a guest resident artist and teacher at The National Theatre Academy in Helsinki, Finland in 2017. He is a proud member of The Dramatists Guild, and SDC, a national labor union for directors and choreographers.

    Celina Burgueño Celina Burgueño is an MFA candidate in Theatre Education & Applied Theatre at Emerson College, an aspiring high school teacher, and has been an avid musical theatre goer since childhood. A retired zookeeper, Celina spent 8 years in the zoo industry and continues to explore the crossing points between drama and conservation education.

    Chloe Kounadis Chloe is a Greek American director, playwright, actor, and arts educator. This summer Chloe directed and choreographed Mamma Mia! at the Winnipesaukee Playhouse and choreographed Mean Girls at Weston Drama Workshop. New York City directing credits include Michael Long’s Do I Know You? and Gillian Beth Durkee’s On Trash Monsters. As an actor, Chloe was seen on the National Tours of Mamma Mia! (Ali) and A Charlie Brown Christmas (Lucy). Chloe’s solo show Approachable Face premiered in Fall 2022 at the Matthew Corozine Studio Theatre. Training: BFA Musical Theatre from The Hartt School at the University of Hartford. Chloe is a member of Actors’ Equity Association. She lives in Harlem with her husband, Jake, and their adorably anxious dog, Mia. www.chloekounadis.com

    Meg O’Brien is in her 16th season at The Huntington where she has been the Director of Education since 2017. Meg has worked professionally as an access coordinator, actor, dancer, singer, director, producer, finance director, arts administrator, and stage manager. Meg’s passion is to serve young people, and she does this through arts education and supporting all young people in their exploration of the arts, their imaginations, and their artistry. For 20 years Meg has made her living teaching students of all ages about the world of the theater. Since joining The Huntington in 2008, Meg was the Education Manager of Education Operations and Access Coordinator before her promotion in 2017. She has directed, stage managed, and/or produced more than 40 performances, showcases, and other events for The Huntington’s Education Department. Meg is a founding member of The Huntington’s Equity and Anti-Racism (HEAR) Task Force, serving since its inception in June 2020. As Access Coordinator, Meg has significantly expanded programming during her tenure, helping to make Huntington productions more inclusive and accessible, which included working directly with ticketing to successfully launch season ticket series for AD, ASL, and OC patrons, and shepherding the return of Open Caption performances in 2019 for the first time in 10 years. Wheelock Family Theatre named Meg an “Astonishing Woman” in 2020, and in 2019 Meg was awarded the Community Access Award from the Bay State Council for the Blind. In 2017 Meg was awarded the Huntington’s Cohen Award for Excellence. Meg was a national Network Co-Chair of the Professional Theatre Network with AATE (American Alliance for Theatre and Education) from 2018- 2022 and has presented at AATE’s National Conference many times. Meg was selected with Sydney Chaffee, Codman Academy’s 9th grade Humanities Teacher (and the 2017 MA and National Teacher of the Year) to present a master class at the 2016 EL National Conference (centered around their partnership in the classroom teaching theatre to bring their humanities curriculum to life in performance). Meg has been a guest lecturer at Harvard University, Emerson College, Boston University, as well as for pediatric residents at Mass General and Boston Children’s Hospital. Meg is currently on the board of directors of the Massachusetts Educational Theatre Guild (METG) and serves on their Development and Safety Committees. Meg also serves the METG as an adjudicator for their annual HS monologue competition, their annual Musical Theatre Festival, and their annual High School Drama Festival. After receiving her B.F.A in Acting from the University of Connecticut in 2004, Meg lived in Stockbridge, MA and was an Artist in Residence with the Berkshire Theatre Group. Meg was a member of the stage management team for BTG’s first three community productions (The Wizard of Oz, Alice in Wonderland, and Oliver!) each of which had casts with more than 125 children. In 2005 Meg helped launch BTG’s Richie Dupont Fund which still provides scholarships to students enabling them to pursue their dreams of being onstage and affords them the opportunity to participate in BTG’s education programs. Favorite professional stage acting credits include dozens of roles in Theatre for Young Audiences touring productions, Assassins (Emma Goldman), Amadeus, and A Christmas Carol (Mrs. Fezziwig, twice) at the Berkshire Theatre Group, The Taming of the Shrew (Biondello) and King John (Prince Henry) at Shakespeare & Company, as well as featured roles in Candide, Violet, Sweeney Todd, The Crucible, The House of Bernarda Alba, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Measure for Measure, and Seeing Laughter at the Connecticut Repertory Theatre. In addition to her work at The Huntington, Meg was a Producer, Actor, and the Managing Director at the award-winning Bad Habit Productions from 2011 – 2015, where she helped BHP develop and launch their popular family programming and sensory friendly performances. From 2015-2017 Meg served as the President of the Board of Directors at BHP, which closed in 2017 after 10 successful seasons.

    Jeri Hammond Director of Education & Community Engagement at the Wheelock Family Theatre at Boston University brings to her work over thirty years experience as an educator and a lifelong passion for the arts. An alum of Wheelock College, Jeri has degrees in education and special education, with a concentration in theatre arts. She also holds advanced degrees in Reading/ Literacy Development and Educational Leadership. Jeri has been part of the Wheelock Family Theatre “family” since the very beginning and has worked as a teaching artist, actor and director. A member of Actor’s Equity, Jeri was seen on the Wheelock Family Theatre stage in such roles as Mayella in To Kill a Mockingbird, Emily in Our Town, and Mary Warren in The Crucible. An experienced Director, Jeri works with actors of all ages. She loves her work as Director of Education where she plays a role in fostering empathy, creativity, and intellectual curiosity in the hundreds of students (pre-K-grade 12) who participate in Wheelock Family Theatre at Boston University’s Education Program each year.

    Vito Abate Vito is an award-winning actor, producer, director, writer, and videographer originally from New York City. After many years he left the city and spent four seasons working with the Tony-winning theatre company of the Denver Center for Performing Arts before relocating to Charlotte, NC. While in NC he performed with the nationally recognized Children’s Theatre of Charlotte and acted and directed throughout the Carolinas. Vito was a founding judge of Charlotte’s Blumey Awards and helped send Eva Noblezada (finalist) and Reneé Rapp (winner) to the Jimmy Awards. He served as Vice President of the North Carolina Theatre Conference and continues to adjudicate their high school play festival every fall. Vito has been a judge in the METG musical theatre division since relocating to Greater Boston in 2019. In 2023 he directed the musical A Man of No Importance at The Footlight Club in Boston. Favorite roles include Billis/South Pacific, Fester/The Addams Family Musical, Mitch/”Streetcar”. Directing highlights: Sylvia, A Funny Thing…, Steel Magnolias, Children of Eden, A Christmas Carol, Leading Ladies. Vito is an acting coach as well as a certified life and mental health coach. www.vitoabate.com

    Rachel Bertone is an award-winning director and choreographer with nearly 20 years of experience as a theater and dance professional. In 2022, she was appointed Reagle Music Theatre’s second Artistic Director since its founding in 1969 and is the first female-identifying Artistic Director in its history. Over the past decade, Bertone has staged more than 50 musicals, including Cabaret (IRNE Award: Best Direction, Best Choreography, Best Musical), Carousel (IRNE: Best Choreography), In the Heights (IRNE: Best Musical), The Wild Party (IRNE: Best Musical), Oklahoma (BCTA Critics’ Pick), West Side Story, Pippin, Gypsy, Little Shop of Horrors, Kiss of the Spider Woman, Billy Elliot, Barnum, Brundibar, Show Boat, HAIR, A Grand Night for Singing, South Pacific, Les Misérables, Joseph…Dreamcoat, among others. She has also worked on several New York-based projects, including co-conceiver and choreographer for Van Gogh: A New Musical, and director of a digital piece of theater for Kait Kerrigan and Bree Lowdermilk’s musical The Mad Ones. An established theater and dance educator in both Greater Boston and New York, Bertone has taught at esteemed institutions, including Boston Conservatory at Berklee, American Repertory Theater Institute at Harvard University, Emerson College, and Long Island University. She has also amassed an international student following for her variety of musical theater class offerings and professional development consulting services. Holding a bachelor of fine arts degree from Boston Conservatory at Berklee. Bertone currently splits her time between New York and Boston. rachelbertone.com

    Christopher Cavallo For over twenty years, Christopher has worked as a theatre educator, actor, director, audition/performance coach, vocal director and choreographer. He successfully led and implemented a comprehensive musical theatre curriculum and program at a performing arts school in Connecticut, with the culminating objective to prepare high school students for collegiate and conservatory training in musical theatre. Many of his students have gone on to study musical theatre in higher education, as well as working on national tours, in regional theatre, theme parks, and aboard cruise ships. Chris has also collaborated with Goodspeed Musicals, iTheatrics, The Hartt School, Broadway Artists Alliance, and the Musical Theatre Lab with FineLine Theatre Arts on various educational initiatives. Christopher is a member of the Musical Theatre Educator’s Alliance, Educational Theatre Association, Southeastern Theatre Conference, and the Broadway Teacher’s Workshop. He served as the department teaching assistant for the BFA Musical Theatre program at Emerson College, as well as a musical theatre adjudicator and workshop presenter for the Massachusetts and Northeast Thespian Festivals. Christopher currently directs and teaches at Wellesley Theatre Project as well as having worked at Boston University’s Wheelock Family Theatre, Lyric Stage Company of Boston, and the Pre-College Musical Theatre Program at Emerson College. He currently serves on the Massachusetts Educational Theatre Guild (METG) Council for the musical theatre division as well as an adjudicator for their musical and drama divisions. Most recently, Christopher was part of the directorial team of13 the musical which competed at the Junior Theatre Festival in Atlanta, winning Excellence in Acting. Some favorite past directing and choreography credits include: Edges, John and Jen, Little Women the musical, The Drowsy Chaperone, The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, Avenue Q, Once Upon A Mattress, Seussical, and Disney’s The Little Mermaid. He holds a Masters in Theatre Education with a focus in higher education in musical theatre from Emerson College. One of Christopher’s passions lies at the intersection between high school and higher education where he has worked with numerous students through the years navigating the college audition process.

    Victoria (Tori) Gitten is a Boston-based theatre educator and teaching artist, with an MFA in Theatre Education & Applied Theatre from Emerson College and a BA in Theatre Performance from Wagner College. Currently, she teaches theatre to grades 2–6 at the Dr. William W. Henderson K–12 Inclusion School in Dorchester, where she develops an inclusive curriculum and directs student performances. Her directing and choreography credits include Disney’s Finding Nemo Jr. at S.P.A.C.E. Camp, Newton, as well as choreography for The SpongeBob Musical: Youth Edition and Wonderland: Alice’s Rock & Roll Adventure at Kennedy Middle School in Natick. She has also led after-school workshops exploring social media and identity through devising and movement, and has worked as a private voice teacher, theatre workshop facilitator, cabaret instructor, and performer in new works, including T: An MBTA Musical! at the Rockwell Theatre. Tori is passionate about using musical theatre to foster creativity, collaboration, and confidence in young people.

    Adelaide F. Majeski is a local theatre artist & stage manager. She is a graduate of Salem State University and holds a BFA in Technical Theatre. In 2014, she was the American College Theatre Festival: Region 1 Stage Management Fellowship recipient to the Kennedy Center in D.C. She has worked on productions at Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Stage 284, Marblehead Little Theatre, The Peabody Essex Museum, YMCA of the North Shore, OWI Theatre Company, the Boston Early Music Festival, The Fayerweather Street School, Rebel Shakespeare Company, Walnut Hill School for the Arts, Greater Boston Stage Company and others. Adelaide was nominated for an EMACT/DASH award for her set & lighting design work for a production of Little Shop of Horrors in 2023. She has also stage managed a traveling production for the Sikh Research Institute, which toured around the U.S. and five major cities in India. Adelaide currently serves as the House Manager for Salem State University’s Theatre and Speech Department.

    Holly Stone Raised in rural Vermont, Holly Stone creates queer dance and theater in Greater Boston. Their gender-expansive partnering collaboration–INSIDER BALLROOM–with Michael Winward has played at the Providence Fringe Festival, the Dance Complex, and MAGMA in Gloucester. Holly’s original story ballet THE QUEEN OF NORI was presented at Starlight Stage, Windhover Center for the Performing Arts, the BCA, & Paliku Theatre in Hawaii. Holly has recently created theater with Boston Opera Collaborative, Greater Boston Stage Company, A Common Thread Theater, Arlington Children’s Theatre, and Tufts University. As a performer, Holly has also recently danced for Jo-Me Dance Theater, Dance Currents, and many others from their time in the American Ballroom Dance Industry. They have a B.S. in Bioengineering & Neuroscience from Syracuse University and an MFA in Dance from Florida State University–and continue their journey in higher ed as an adjunct at both Tufts University and Boston University, teaching dance, theater, and math for artists.