In January, Artistic Director Michelle Kuntze took a Fort Myers Theatre competition team to Atlanta for the 2026 Junior Theatre Festival, where they earned the Excellence in Acting Award for their performance of a mashup of songs from “Matilda.” Called the Super Bowl of musical theater, the festival was attended by more than 7,000 middle and high school students and their families.
“It's just a really fantastic celebration that ignites a fire and encourages kids to keep training and to be inspired,” said Michelle Kuntze, founder and Producing Artistic Director of Fort Myers Theatre.
On Saturday, Kuntze left with a team of 20 competitors for the United Kingdom to compete in Junior Theatre Festival Europe on May 19.
“It's a one-day festival, but then they also get to go take workshops on the West End,” Kuntze pointed out. “It's really neat because you get all the actors and directors from the West End productions and they talk about their experience on working in that venue and it's just neat to see the differences there.”
The Fort Myers Theatre team will perform a 10-minute medley of songs from “Newsies.'”
“We let the kids vote for the show they wanted to do on the West End,” said Kuntze.
They’ll be scored by a panel of West End theater professionals in the areas of music, acting, dance and overall performance. The adjudicators will offer the team constructive criticism to encourage further learning and growth.
The competitors will also attend music, acting and dance workshops taught by West End professionals, get a sneak peek at two new Broadway Junior shows and make lifelong friendships and connections that will provide support should they decide to pursue careers in theater or film.
The team will return to Fort Myers May 29.
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Produced by Music Theatre International in partnership with iTheatrics from New York, Junior Theatre Festival Europe is Europe’s largest celebration of musical theater for young people.
During the adjudications, two students from each competition team will be selected as AllStars. AllStars will participate in exclusive workshops and rehearse and perform a featured number at the awards ceremony on the main stage.
Outstanding performances are also selected from the morning’s adjudications, and those teams get to perform their numbers on the stage for the entire assembly.
Awards are given for achievements in dance, music, acting and ensemble as well as outstanding individual performances. Special guest stars will also perform on the main stage as a special treat to those attending the event.
Junior Theatre Festival Atlanta
For 18 years, Kuntze has been taking teams to the Junior Theatre Festival. Some have been in London. Others in San Diego. But most have taken place in Atlanta.
Kuntze conceded that it’s a lot of work. But the results validate the gargantuan effort.
“I believe that it really does take the kids to the next level,” she said. “They end up seeing kids perform from all over the world. So, you might be the big fish in the little pond, but when you go there, you see how amazing the talent is in this world and hopefully the kids get inspired to keep training and to see all the opportunities that are out there.”
She comes back inspired as well.
“They have teacher workshops that are just fantastic and you come back and you're like, OK, I'm ready to do the next show and to make it even better than before. It opens your mind. You get to see how other people direct. You learn different techniques that you bring back to your theater and you see different movements and formations. You're just so inspired by everyone and how they put it together and they open your mind to new choreography or new movement to a show you've directed 10,000 times but never thought to do it that way. So, you come back and you're like, oh, we've got to try this and it's just really great.”
Another benefit derived by both competitors and their directors is the industry contacts they make.
“All the teachers get their own workshops, so you get to talk to other people about what they're doing,” Kuntze noted. “The reason I started Student Ambassadors, which is our student leadership program, was because another teacher at the Junior Theater Festival was talking about how amazing their program was. I started talking to them and was like, oh, we should try that, and so now we have this whole leadership program where kids come in and help choreograph and assist and do backstage and it has changed our program and really helped it grow and have the younger kids looking up to the older kids.”
Teachers and competitors exchange phone numbers and email addresses, which enables them to talk to others who may be going through a similar challenge or who may have previously directed, choreographed or performed in the same show.
“You just never know who you’re sitting next to,” Kuntze added. “One year we discovered that someone from the Nickelodeon Network was in the row behind us and we struck up a conversation with him.”
Fort Myers Theatre typically holds auditions in May for the competition teams they’ll take to Atlanta and England the following year, but they don’t begin rehearsing in earnest until about two months before the festival.
The size of the teams varies.
“We’ve taken as many as 55 kids to Atlanta,” Kuntze noted. “We usually take 20 to England because it’s a two-week trip and a lot more expensive.”
The competitors and their families engage in several fundraising events to cover the costs of airfare, hotels and meals. Fort Myers Theatre also provides scholarships made possible by sponsors and other donors.
“Our goal is to never turn a student away because of finances,” Kuntze asserted. “Growing up, my mom was a single mom and it was really tough. We used to do garage sales to afford my dance lessons. So, my goal is to find ways so this is not a financial burden to any family. Of course, Atlanta is not as bad because you can drive to Atlanta, Georgia. That’s not an option for JTF Europe.”
More results from January’s JTF Atlanta
In addition to earning the Excellence in Acting Award, Fort Myers Theatre’s JJ Freitas and Alani Bryan were named Junior Theatre Festival All Stars.
Composer/lyricist Matthew Lee Robinson (TV’s “Dance Academy” and TheatreWorksUSA’s “The Magic School Bus”) was one of the adjudicators for Fort Myers Theatre’s performance of Roald Dahl’s “Matilda the Musical JR.” He said, “Fort Myers Theatre nailed it with their commitment, character and vivacity! The training here is so strong and there are so many very young artists who are sure to contribute vast amounts to the arts and to their theater community.”
Fort Myers Theatre has been attending JTF since 2010. In that year, they won the Excellence in Music Award. They received the Achievement in Music Award at JTF Europe in 2024 and, most recently, the Excellence in Ensemble Work Award at JTF West in 2025.
[For more, hear/read, “Canterbury Middle student JJ Freitas takes steps toward his Broadway dream.”]
Support for WGCU’s arts & culture reporting comes from the Estate of Myra Janco Daniels, the Charles M. and Joan R. Taylor Foundation, and Naomi Bloom in loving memory of her husband, Ron Wallace.
