What A Wonderful Time The Multi-County Talent Shows Are!

The 2nd Annual Multi-County Talent Show was a wonderful experience, and proved again this year that there is talent in the youth of this area!  As Jason Benjamin* expressed it, "I came here expecting the "normal", "run of the mill" small-town talent show, but I was blown away!"  

More about Jason in the next post.  He has been in movies, on TV, as an actor, and stuntman and coordinator, and will soon pass on what he has learned to the youth in our community.  Stay tuned!

He was right too.  The talent show at the Princess Theatre in Harriman, TN never fails to amaze those in attendance.  This area is full of talent just begging for a place to express it, and the Princess is just the place to do that!

Muse Watson was bursting at the seams with pride as he, and daughter Sophie, took the stage after intermission.  "This is what it's all about folks!"  He loves to see young people take the stage at the Princess, where he and Gary Baker first had "The Dream".  "The Dream" is being fulfilled in the youth of Roane, Morgan, Rhea, and other surrounding counties today.  These annual talent shows are the proof!

For those of you that don't know what "The Dream" is, here it it:

Please come out and support these wonderfully talented kids every time you can...they are truly worth the effort.

As Ms. Vera Scarbrough put it on Facebook:  "EVERYONE!!! HEAR THIS! The Talent Show is going to be the last FRIDAY in March every year.  MARK you calendar for 2016!!   Unless the Lord comes back, we will see you there.  We need your help: parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, friends, neighbors, businesses, schools.....to make the Princess Theatre a true performing arts center for our children!"

 

And don't forget that the "Sidewalk or Street Art" show is the Thursday evening before the big show.  It even went off this year during the rain.  There are lots of awnings up and down the street, so come out next year.  Maurice Lowery says we need to "paint" the whole street, so if we get enough interested, we'll expand this portion of the talent show!  Make it happen!

Now back to the Friday night show!

 

The 2nd Annual Talent Show kicked promptly at 6PM, with Emery Francis, last year's "Princess Idol", playing her piano and signing.  It turned out that she co-hosted the show with John Condrone, who also played guitar and sang while the votes were being tabulated.

 

 

So, getting right to it, this year's "Princess Idol" was Kelsey Cate of Sevier County!  Kelsey sang "Tennessee Waltz" and really impressed the audience.  I was even impressed with her beautiful boots!

As you can see, the news of our annual "Multi-County Talent Show" is spreading!  We might have to have multiple nights in the near future, and that would be grand!

Here is Friday night's program, so you can read the names of those participating.  I don't want to clearly identify our young talents, but they and their parents and grandparents will know who they are.

Regardless, the Princess Theatre Foundation, Roane State Community College, and everyone who had something do with this production is very proud of all of them.  It takes courage to step out on the stage they did so well.  They will get more and more used to in years to come, and maybe they will be encouraged to follow that "dream" on to bigger stages someday.

I must tell you here about how proud I am of the Princess audience.  One young lady was a little intimidated by the bright lights and faltered at the beginning of her duet.  A couple of people shouted, "You can do it!", and others began to applaud.  I was touched!  This gave encouragement to the girl and she went on to finish strong!

In a world today where making fun and "boos" are the norm, this let gives me hope that we still have good people in the world.

The Princess Theatre Foundation would like to thank the Roane and Morgan County Schools Directors, everyone at Roane State Community College, the Princess Theatre staff, and all the volunteers that help at each show, who make these events possible.

Here are the photos of everyone that was in the show, and if I left anyone out that performed, let me know.  I will add them to the post.  However, I think I have it covered!

Almost forgot Alex, who is taking a video course at RSCC.

I apologize for this post being so long, but I must try and get in everyone who was there and/or participated!