The Buena Park Youth Theatre Spotlight Performers, a group from the Buena Park Youth Theatre, founded by retired school teacher Ruth Walp, nearly 35 years ago, took 1st-runner-up in the “open division” of the “FAME Hollywood Show Choir Competition,” Saturday, March 1.
The BPYT Spotlighters are directed by Karen Labok coached vocally by Kristin McGuire, who herself is a former member of the BPYT and choreographed by Chris Barfield.
The Buena Park Youth Theatre Spotlight Performers, a group from the Buena Park Youth Theatre, founded by retired school teacher Ruth Walp, nearly 35 years ago, took 1st-runner-up in the “open division” of the “FAME Hollywood Show Choir Competition,” Saturday, March 1.
The BPYT Spotlighters are directed by Karen Labok coached vocally by Kristin McGuire, who herself is a former member of the BPYT and choreographed by Chris Barfield.
The competition, a first for the Spotlighters, was held at the Luckman Fine Arts Complex at California State
University Los Angeles. According to Labok, the BPYT Spotlight Performers is a group of young people who are invited ‘by audition’ to perform with the group that began in 2005.
“We started the group as a way of promoting the Buena Park Youth Theatre and to act as goodwill ambassadors for the city of Buena Park by entertaining within the community and surrounding
areas with musical theatre production numbers,” said Labok.
Labok said that FAME is an annual event:
“FAME Productions has produced special events and tours for performing arts groups of all ages for more than 20 years; the emphasis is on education, coupled with industry relationships and professionally-managed tours and events, which have earned us the reputation of being the most reliable and respected in the business. FAME Hollywood competition is the most popular and prestigious event in the west for show choirs.”
According to Luckman’s Executive Director Wendy Baker, “Luckman is a visual and performing arts center that celebrates the unique cultural diversity that lives in each of us and reaffirms our human condition. It’s the strength within; that connection that allows us to gain an incomparable way of understanding one
another,” she said. “Access to the arts provides hope, opens minds, fosters progress, and even saves lives – It’s my hope that you discover
yourself in the arts and that this season you discover yourself at the Luckman.”
Labok said the next competition for BPYT Spotlighters is the “Encore Musical Theatre Festival and Competition,”
Sunday, May 4, at the Fullerton College Campus Theatre. Labok said he Spotlighters pay a yearly
fee that covers their basic costuming and materials and then the BPYT people say they do lots of fundraising for all other costs. “We sold See’s Valentine’s Candy to raise funds for this competition, which included entry fees, costuming and props.,” said Labok, and they recently held a fundraiser at Red Brick
Pizza in Buena Park Sunday, March 23, from 6 to 9 p.m. where a percentage of receipts went to the Spotlighter group.
