Lakeland teen, Harrison graduate relishes introduction to Broadway at awards show

Feeling bored during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020, high school freshman JD Davis grabbed his father’s ancient Sony digital camera and started taking photos near his Lakeland home.

“Just birds, flowers,” he said. “There's cows in my neighborhood, so I got some of those. It was still COVID, so not many people were out. So I started with animals and just anything I could get a picture of that would stand still long enough for me to get one.”

Over the next three years, photography became an ardent passion for Davis, and he displayed an aptitude for capturing images of humans. Following a transfer to Harrison School for the Arts in Lakeland, his skill and rigor earned him a trip to New York City and a spot at the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, commonly known as the Jimmy Awards.

Davis, 18, was one of two applicants selected as student reporters for the awards ceremony, which took place Monday night at the Minskoff Theatre on Broadway. Standing on the red carpet, he interviewed such actors as Corbin Bleu and Eva Noblezada.

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Davis, who graduated from Harrison this year, hopes it won’t be his last brush with Broadway.

“I just want to make my art for a living,” he said by phone Wednesday morning from New York. “Yeah, that's pretty much it. Anything that involves doing awesome stuff with awesome artists, this is what I'm here for.”

The Jimmy Awards, established in 2009 and named for the late Broadway producer James M. Nederlander, honor musical theater students from throughout the country. The program has helped generate more than $5 million in educational scholarships, according to its website.

Awards alumni include Nolezada, twice nominated for Tony Awards, and McKenzie Kurtz, currently playing Glinda in “Wicked” on Broadway.

Soon after discovering photography through use of his father’s camera, Davis made a down payment on a camera of his own, drawing upon earnings from two jobs. He bought a Sony A7r3 mirrorless model and a Tamron 70-180mm lens and began pursuing opportunities to take pictures at sports events for Lake Gibson High School.

Davis credits former Lake Gibson football standout Jaylon Glover with convincing the school’s coaches to allow him on the sidelines at games. From there, Davis gained permission to shoot at events for Lakeland High School, Lakeland Christian School, the Lakeland Flying Tigers and the Tampa Bay United soccer team. His portfolio also includes images of singer Jeremy Rosado and from his family’s church, Free Life Chapel, and weddings.

Enrolling at Harrison for his senior year, Davis pursued a concentration in motion picture arts. He became immersed in the musical theater program, creating a documentary on the school’s production of “Mary Poppins.”

Making quick impact

Suzi Lambert, a voice teacher at Harrison, said Davis became a central presence at the school despite not having attended in previous grades.

“He was just at everything,” Lambert said. “I am, along with my husband, we're both theater managers, so we were at all of the events for all of the departments, and he just seemed to be present for everything, taking pictures at every moment, video, all kinds of stuff. So he had just been there a year, but he became very noticed. He just became friends with everyone in such a short amount of time, which was pretty unique.”

Lambert said she was going through emails on her lunch break when she saw one from the Straz Center seeking applicants for the student reporter program. Harrison has had theater students invited to the Jimmy Awards — in recent years, Janiyah McAllister and Ronald Spoto — but not a student reporter.

Lambert encouraged Davis to apply for the Straz Center’s Broadway Star of the Future program, a regional competition affiliated with the Jimmy Awards. Davis said he spent about a week at the Straz Center, creating photos and video of performers from schools in the Tampa Bay area.

More than 90 applicants for the Jimmy Awards reporting category created video clips describing how they would cover the program on social media, and a panel reviewed the videos and selected 10 to upload to the Jimmy Awards’ social media platforms.

The videos remained online for about three weeks, after which the judges chose two reporters, based on poise, professionalism and camera presence, according to the program’s website. The panel also considered web analytics, including page views and positive or negative reactions.

Davis said he began anxiously checking his phone on the day he expected the two winners to be announced. He was taking a shower when he heard an email notification. Reaching from the shower, he checked his phone and found an email of congratulations.

“I remember literally hopping out the shower and just losing my mind and calling one of my friends to tell them,” he said.

The other student reporter chosen was Katie Koslow of Connecticut.

A signature to his photos

The Jimmy Awards covered the cost of transportation to New York. Davis’ father, Jonathan K. Davis, accompanied him on the trip, arriving in New York on Saturday. JD said he visited The Julliard School, a prestigious conservatory, and received a tour of the studio of TV station WABC, a media partner of the Jimmy Awards.

Davis also visited the Minskoff Theatre, site of the award ceremony, and he met Andrew Barth Feldman, a former Jimmy winner who starred on Broadway in “Dear Evan Hansen” and appears in the new Jennifer Lawrence movie, “No Hard Feelings.” He also met cast members from “MJ: The Musical,” based on the life of Michael Jackson.

“So we got to meet all those amazing people and talk to them for a little bit and do some interviews with them,” Davis said.

Harrison graduate Quentin Darrington plays two roles in “MJ: The Musical.” Though he wasn’t present for the cast visit to the theater, Davis said Darrington met him for breakfast the next morning.

Photos from the event show Davis in brown slacks and a cream, double-breasted coat, looking relaxed and confident as he interviews Broadway performers, some of them former Jimmy Award winners. He also worked behind his camera, capturing images of the actors on the red carpet.

“He's very talented,” Lambert said. “And you can tell, he has a signature to his photography. Like, you could go, ‘Oh, that’s got to be JD.’ He just has it. When I was looking at the pictures being posted through the Jimmy Awards on their social media, I could tell what was his work just because of the energy that he gets from the people that he's working with. He just brings out a really genuine reaction to the moment.”

The trip marked Davis’ first visit to New York, and he has been eagerly sampling the sights. A devotee of Frank Sinatra, he made a pilgrimage to Hoboken, New Jersey, the crooner’s hometown, to see a waterfront park named for Ol’ Blue Eyes. Back in New York, he toured the Apollo Theater in Harlem and ventured to Washington Heights to see a bodega used in the filming of the movie musical “In the Heights.”

“I was like, ‘I need a picture here,’” Davis said. “It's only so often I'm going to be in New York.”

Gary White can be reached at gary.white@theledger.com or 863-802-7518. Follow on Twitter @garywhite13.

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Lakeland teen gets introduction to Broadway stage as student reporter