By Kim McDarison
Fort Atkinson High School was transformed into a multifaceted performing arts venue Friday and Saturday as the district, in partnership with the VOICES parent organization, hosted the 26th Annual Fort Show Choir Showcase Invitational.
Over the course of the two-day event, some 3,000 participants passed through the high school’s doors, Superintendent Rob Abbott told an audience in attendance Saturday when he joined master of ceremonies Aaron Athas, an accomplished singer, music educator and a former member of the Fort Atkinson High School South High Street Singers, to hand out certificates of participation to 21 visiting high school choirs and name six preliminary round winners who would later that evening perform in the championship round.
Choirs and their accompanying bands traveled from across Wisconsin and neighboring states of Illinois and Iowa to participate in the event, Fort Atkinson High School Theater Managing Director John Collins said.
On Friday, Collins said, the venue was devoted to middle school performers. On Saturday, competing high school groups arrived.
All told, over the course of the two-day event, some 27 choirs performed. On Friday, three middle school choirs competed and the Fort Atkinson Middle School show choir, called the 4th Street Singers, performed in exhibition. At the high school level, along with the South High Street Singers, the Fort Atkinson High School Lexington Singers performed in exhibition.
As is “very customary,” Collins said, choirs do not compete in the invitational events they host.
The School District of Fort Atkinson typically hosts one invitational a year, he said, and the South High Street Singers participate in invitationals held at other schools about five times a year.
This year, the South High Street Singers will be performing at invitationals hosted by such high schools as Parkview, Milton, Sauk Prairie, Monona Grove, and Chicagoland while the Lexington Singers will be performing at Milton, Sauk Prairie, and Monona Grove, according to a printed program introducing event participants and outlining event activities.
According to Collins, 24 choirs, including middle school entries, and their accompanying bands competed in the competition. On Saturday, six high school level choirs moved from the preliminaries into the final championship round. By the evening’s end, around 11 p.m., Central Singers, Inc., of Davenport Central High School, was named Grand Champion in the show choir competition.
A full roster of events
Navigating the halls of the high school Saturday, which were teeming with students as they moved between planned activities, Collins noted that the arrival of each choir participating in the invitational was eagerly anticipated by the Fort Atkinson High School students hosting the event.
Classrooms were prepared in advance of each group’s arrival which served as a homeroom for the visiting performers. The space was used as an area where performers could store their belongings, unwind and get ready for their performances. Each classroom was decorated by the Fort Atkinson students to make their visitors feel welcomed, Collins said.
Explaining the process, Collins said, each visiting choir would compete in a preliminary round.
Each choir was allotted 25 minutes to perform. The time included any setup or takedown the choir might need as part of its performance.
Actual performance time typically runs about 16 minutes, Collins said.
Before their performance, choirs were scheduled to spend 25 minutes in a warmup room where they would find the same staging configurations as those provided on the main stage, constructed in the school’s gym.
In the warmup room, Collins said, choirs often used their time to perform vocal exercises or stretches to limber up their bodies.
Collins said Lighthouse Productions, a Green Bay-based audio-visual and platform staging company, was engaged to provide a platform system upon which choirs would perform in the gym.
A second stage was required, Collins explained, because a second competition, featuring soloists, was underway on Saturday in the school’s auditorium.
After their preliminary round performance, groups were invited to spend 25 minutes with a clinician who offered suggestions to enhance their performance. Choirs were encouraged to incorporate the suggestions into their championship round performances should they be selected as a finalist, Collins said.
In the final round, each group would deliver the same performance as that which was delivered in the preliminaries, but, this time, each would have the opportunity to enhance their performance with the clinician’s suggestions, Collins added.
On Saturday, the clinician meeting with choirs was Ben Schrank, who serves as the choreographer for the South High Street Singers and shares the role with Fort Atkinson music teacher and choir director Kiah Snow for the Lexington Singers.
A similar process was in place for the soloist competition, Collins said, noting that Solo Competition Adjudicator Laura Cable served as the clinician. Cable, according to the event’s printed program, is a graduate of New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Her bio notes worldwide performances and acclaim, and she has also performed at Fort Atkinson’s own Fireside Theatre where she has appeared in such productions as “Holiday Inn,” “Cinderella,” “My Fair Lady,” and “The Little Mermaid.”
“We are very lucky to have her,” Collins said.
Moments before the South High Street Singers took the stage for their exhibition performance, a group from Mundelein High School called “Sound,” was performing before the judges. Later in the evening, the group would be named as one of six finalists to perform in the championship round, placing in that round as the third runner up.
After Sound performed in the preliminary round, the audience waited as the South High Street Singers’ crew set up the stage.
Audience members, many of them performers with visiting choirs, danced in the bleachers.
During their exhibition performance, the South High Street Singers electrified a packed gym with their renditions of “Out in the Cold,” by Tom Petty, which included a solo performance by Jackson Sitkiewitz; “Steal the Light,” by Cat Empire; “Wintertime,” by Norah Jones, which included a solo performance by Logan Recob; “Spring Break Baby!,” original, featuring soloists Brian Valdez Chavez and Abbey Hoffman, and “I Got the Music,” by Julie and the Phantoms.
The choir finished its performance to a standing ovation.
During the ceremony that followed, Abbott thanked those in attendance for their contributions to the event.
“Three thousand people came through those doors. Music is one of those things that brings people together,” he said.
Winners of the “Fort Showcase” invitational, including middle school and high school participants are:
High school level winners
Grand Champion: Central Singers, Inc., Davenport Central High School
First Runner Up: Flight, Wheaton North High School
Second Runner Up: Executive Session, Sauk Prairie High School
Third Runner Up: Sound, Mundelein High School
Fourth Runner Up: Center Stage, Prebie High School
Fifth Runner Up: Choralation, Milton High School
Middle school level winners
First place: Soaring Sound, Sauk Prairie Middle School
Second place: Next Edition, Mayville Middle School
Third place: Crescendos, DeForest Area Middle School
A photo album depicting some of Saturday’s activities can be viewed by clicking the image below.
Click the above image to see our full album from the 26th Annual Fort Show Choir Showcase Invitational.
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