Freddy Winners Film Documentary For Oprah Network

They sat in a semi-circle of nine chairs with an audience of family members behind them.

On stage, at the in Easton Friday night, the TV cameras filmed and the bright lights shined.

But there were no signs of stage fright. After all, these are performers.

Come Sept. 8 at 9 p.m., when their documentary airs on Oprah Winfrey's OWN network, these students from Freedom, Parkland and Emmaus high schools will become MVPs.

"Most Valuable Players," that was shot entirely in the Lehigh Valley, will make its television debut.

What will follow is what took place in the theater Friday: Students and teachers "reunited" for a discussion panel to relive their experience as they competed in the annual high school musical program on their way to the awards ceremony, dubbed the "Super Bowl" of high school musical theater, which takes place at the State Theatre.

"I'm so excited to be here," said Shelley Brown, executive producer of the Freddy Awards. "It's been three years since we filmed."

She was joined by Christopher Lockhart, who produced and wrote the documentary after learning about the Freddy Awards -- which recognizes outstanding high school musical theater in the Lehigh Valley -- on You Tube.

"This film is being used as a tool to get theaters around the country to organize and get their high schools involved," he said.

The film appeared in the International Documentary Association's DocuWeeks showcase in August 2010, as well as the Mill Valley Film Festival in California. The Oprah Winfrey Network has acquired the broadcast and video rights to the film.

And that's making stars of the students, even though some have moved on from theater to pursue other vocations.

"I would like to have theater in my life," said Amanda Kostalis, a performer at Freedom High School in Bethlehem who is now studying English and elementary education at Moravian College.

Kostalis was on hand along with fellow Freedom performers Danny Youngelman and John Andreadis and director Jennifer Wescoe; director Jill Kuebler and performers Katie Wexlerand Ali Mosser of Emmaus High School and director Mark Stutz, who was representing Parkland High School in Allentown.

The 95-minute documentary captures the spirit of competition and the friction caused by Emmaus and Parkland presenting the musical "Les Misérables" at the same time.

"Emmaus and Parkland are crosstown rivals," Stutz said. "There's always competition. But it's the quality of work that we all do. Not everyone goes to all the shows. We don't have to win. We just have to put on the best show that we can."

For Andreadis, a soccer player who opted for the stage, seeing the documentary was an "eye opener."

"When I saw the film, I couldn't believe it turned out to be something so great," he said. "My jaw dropped. It's a great movie. It's awesome."