The Middletown Press (Middletown, CT)
Teen Talent Search welcomes public on Saturday
MIDDLETOWN — Oddfellows Playhouse is hosting the first Middletown Teen Talent Search on Saturday, Feb. 9. The public performance at 7 p.m. will feature the top 12 acts, selected from more than 23 auditions by young performers.
The talent search is open to local performers ages 12 – 19, and there will be cash prizes of $500 and $250 for the top acts, as well as other exciting prizes. The final round is open to the public and will be held at 7 pm on Saturday, January 19 at Oddfellows Playhouse in Middletown and will be hosted by Connecticut State Troubadour Nekita Waller.
All performance forms are welcome in the talent search – music, dance, circus, theater, magic – and guests can expect a diverse selection of talented local teenagers in the final round. All contestants – soloists as well as group acts—will perform in the afternoon for a panel of judges. The top 12 will be invited to the final round.
Tickets to the 7 p.m. finalist showcase are $10 for adults and $5 for kids. Anyone performing in the qualifying rounds who is not invited to perform in the evening will be given a free ticket to the 7 p.m. Finalist Showcase.
Nekita Waller, a Middletown resident, is a singer and songwriter who started her 3 year term as State Troubadour in 2018. She is working with Playhouse Artistic Director Dic Wheeler and a group of teenagers this spring to create an original, ensemblecreated theater piece with music for a mainstage production with the Teen Repertory Company in May of this year.
Judges for the final round include Middletown Arts Coordinator Kisha Michael, former Broadway actress/singer/dance Carolyn Kirsch, dancer and youth worker Felicia Goodwine-Vaughters, and Hip Hop artist Eric Quinones. Prize winners will be selected by the judges at the end of the evening performances. The Teen Talent Search is co-sponsored by the Community Health Center of Middletown.
Oddfellows Playhouse Youth Theater, founded in 1975, is Connecticut’s oldest and largest theater program for young people. The Playhouse has always been committed to making high-quality performing arts experiences available to all local young people, regardless of ability to pay, believing that access to the arts as a young person helps develop smart, creative and generous adults.
The Middletown Teen Talent Search Finals are re-scheduled from their original January 19 date due to bad weather that day. Tickets for the Talent Search Final Round may be purchased at oddfellowsplayhouse.ticketleap.com.
For information, go to www.oddfellows.org/teen-talent-search-2019 or call 860-347-6143.