Kettleworks Performing Arts wins big at national theater festival
Published 8:45 am Sunday, February 22, 2026
Renton’s own Kettleworks Performing Arts has received awards and recognition at the 2026 Junior Theater Festival (JTF) West in Sacramento, California, where student-driven musical theater groups from 21 states, plus Canada and New Zealand, came together to celebrate theater.
The Renton-based youth theater program not only received the award for “Excellence in Acting,” but performers Edgar Stuck, a 5th grader at Apollo Elementary, and Kiana “Kiki” Graves, a senior at Gibson Ek High School, were named “Junior Theater Festival All-Stars,” a select group of outstanding performers.
“We are so delighted by our experience at JTF West ‘26! The Junior Theater Festival is something we look forward to all year; connecting with other musical theatre lovers from around the world was our favorite part, the workshops and performances were so inspiring, and winning an Excellence in Acting award was the cherry on top of a spectacular weekend. As a studio we are deeply proud of our hard-working students and the theatre family they have forged,” said Kettleworks founder and creative director Jenn Kessler.
These were not Kettlworks’ first wins at JTF, having won a “Freddie G Excellence in Acting” award (2025, 2023 at JTF West and 2021 JTF Texas), a “Freddie G Excellence in Music” award (2024 JTF West) and a “Freddie G Excellence in Ensemble Work” award (2020 JTF West).
At the 2022 JTF West, they won the “Tech Olympics,” where Kettleworks’ team members Cameron Browne, Reagan Graves, Zachary Northrup, and Kaylee Spates competed doing tech theater tasks such as setting props, swift costume changes and taping out diagrams.
Graves won a “Freddie G Outstanding Individual Performance” at 2022 JTF West while Liz Dean won it the following year. At 2024 JTF West, Tamiya Isla and Chloe Deleon were selected for callbacks at a special project audition.
At this year’s JTF West, which took place Feb, 6-8, each group performed 15 minutes of a Broadway JR musical. Kettleworks presented Roald Dahl’s “Willy Wonka Jr.” to a judging panel comprised of Broadway actors, artistic directors and choreographers, who all gave shining praise to the Kettleworks crew.
Tara Kostmayer, who played Nessarose on the “Wicked” national tour, said, “Such specific acting work! There is clearly a strong focus on acting and character building at Kettleworks Performing Arts. The principals worked through impressive dialects and had clear intentions through the piece.”
Judges’ notes from Backyard Kids’ Theater founder and artistic director Alexis Duermeyer praised Kettleworks’ teamwork. “These kids were inspired to keep going, even if their presentation wasn’t what they thought it would be when they arrived,” said Duermeyer.
Based in Kessler’s home in the East Renton Highlands, Kettleworks was founded in 2017 with students ages 9-17 participating in musical theater productions.
“I was so impressed by how confident and bold every single performer was on the stage. Each actor felt so alive and comfortable in their own skin and it was so beautiful to see their work on the stage,” said Josh Zacher, dance captain for the first national tour for “The Prom” and the associate choreographer for the “Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas” national tour.
“The sense of community artistry and education are undeniable with this group. It feels like a beautiful family that is allowing these students a place to develop and nurture in so many ways that will benefit them for the rest of their lives,” he said.
Other local youth theater groups also won big at 2026 JTF West, including Auburn Dance Academy, PNW Performing Arts, Northwest Theatre Lab and Seattle’s Performers.
