Fort Bend Christian Academy Upper School Shines at JTF Atlanta 2026

Fort Bend Christian Academy Upper School students recently participated in the Junior Theater Festival (JTF) Atlanta 2025.  FBCA was proudly represented by a troupe of 34 tireless students--23 Theatre Production, eight ASL IV/V, two Stagecraft, and one middle schooler--who presented an adjudication piece that didn't just entertain; it inspired. 

Jeff Hall, Program Manager at Walt Disney Live Entertainment and one of the adjudicators, said, "You wait for the moment to find out when [a group] is going to do justice to the material, and for you folks, it happened when you breathed." Nina Meehan, founder of Bay Area Children's Theatre, said the adjudicators could "feel the piece," because "every single one of you chose [to commit and] say 'I'm in this'." She spoke of the "sophistication" of telling a story that was a "generational transfer of understanding". Darian Sanders, a Broadway performer and author who most recently appeared as Simba in the national tour of The Lion King, praised our lioness and ensemble work, and said that FBCA "didn't do [ASL] just to do it", that they "did it with such conviction and such justice." He said the performance was "entertaining, astonishing, and absolutely beautiful" and added, "I was able to put my faith, my walk, my journey into this show, and I know from where you guys are coming from, that I can say that. And I could see it and experience it. So thank you."

After the adjudication, two special guests in the audience, David Scott, Director of Licensing at the Disney Theatrical Group and his colleague, Lindsay, pulled Sarah Patterson aside to share their wonder for the unique culture of the FBCA program-- "a place that stokes a passion so radiant that it reverberates through an entire room and changes the lives and minds of those who see it." Mr. Scott and his colleague hope to make plans to travel from California to see our upcoming production, The Hunchback of Notre Dame. 

Throughout the weekend, FBCA staff and students were swarmed with compliments and accolades from other groups and VIP guests like Brittany Mack, Morgan Green, Isaiah Bailey, and the iTheatrics Team. FBCA was honored to have received All-Festival Performance, an opportunity to perform a number from our show on the mainstage at JTF's biggest festival yet, with 1,176 attendees and 141 companies. In total, FBCA was blessed to be awarded the following:

• All-Festival Performance (highest festival award, only 9 recipients)
• Excellence in Pod (awarded to the group with the highest scores in the pod - 12 total awarded across the festival)
• Outstanding Individual Performance for Gabby Anthony (24 students total awarded across the festival)
• Outstanding Student Choreography for Gabby Anthony, Joanna Anthony, Joellie Cadiz, and Trinity Simpson 
  (about 10 for the whole festival)
• All-Star Cast: Chase Harris and Asher Oliu
• iTheatrics video callbacks: Grace Baird, Harper Brown, Kelcy Nguyen, and Trinity Simpson (all 4 girls who auditioned received callbacks)

FBCA's two Technical Theatre students, Rebecca Wijnja and Austin Norton executed the sound mixing and cueing duties flawlessly, and our directors remarked that watching them call the cues from backstage at the Freddie G Awards Ceremony emphasized the importance of each player on the JTF journey. 

Inscribed on the inside of the 1000+ wristbands the FBCA group traded away to other companies (a longstanding JTF tradition) was this verse, a connection to the performance's closing number, "He Lives In You": 

Don’t you realize that all of you together are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God lives in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16). 

The Lord truly shone through and radiated His power and presence through each of these performers as they represented Him at JTF.

Link to JTF '26 Photos and Videos