Johnston High School show choir is known for its powerful vocals, sharp dance moves, and history of competition success. The 2025 season was no exception to this legacy of greatness- with the teams accumulating a combined total of three grand championships, ten first-place division finishes, and nineteen caption awards. Beyond the competitive nature lies a deeper reason for putting on show-stopping performances: conveying powerful messages by means of music.
The program is represented by three show choirs: Innovation (varsity), Synergy (junior varsity), and Bella Voce (treble/unisex), all of which perform in both exhibition and competition settings from late summer through the end of March.
What began with simple choreography, costumes, and staging has evolved into shows with themes carried out by complex choreography, custom-designed costumes, and intricate staging.
“I think show choir in the midwest, and honestly in the country, has changed so much over the years,” Synergy director, Hannah Ryan, said. “It used to be much more simple; easier dance moves and easier vocals, and there used to not be the expectations of the lights, and the soundboards, and all the things. It’s just become more and more.”
In addition to the increased difficulty of shows being performed, the wide variety of costumes, staging, and repertoire give ensembles the freedom to create one-of-a-kind shows. New styles of shows are emerging – some remain more “traditional” show choir, while some take on more of a musical theater-esque approach: with an apparent storyline moved along with props and dialogue.
“I think right now, some [ensembles] are taking the approach of a more thematic show where a [main] character is kind of the [featured] person,” Innovation Director, Laura Grimm, said. “I think there’s everything out there, which I think is more interesting to watch [than] if everyone had the same type of show.”
The diversity of show styles reflects how different schools’ music programs function.
“Every school, every program has a way of doing things, if you will. Some of that is somewhat tradition, but also what they know their students will be successful with. I feel like over the years Johnston has just been known for some classic show choir, and I think Johnston students are really good at that,” Ryan said.
One way for directors to ensure that their choir stands apart from competition is to create a show with a unique overarching theme. Johnston show choir shows typically have a loose theme that is portrayed through music and costumes, and sometimes feature unique staging elements such as props and backdrops. This year’s show themes are Prometheus Unbound (Innovation), Heroes (Synergy), and Rewrite Your Story (Bella Voce).
Show themes typically take months to develop and usually begin with an idea for an overarching message, or sometimes a specific song that a director wants to include in that year’s repertoire. Innovation’s shows typically stem from a specific song chosen as the “ballad’- a song in the middle of the show that is often slower and performed with minimal choreography. Ballads allow choirs to showcase their vocal and choral abilities without the distraction of choreography, making it a crucial moment in the show regarding both storytelling and competitive scoring aspects.
“I usually find [Innovation’s ballad] first and then kind of go off that idea. I think it just kind of evolves, and [I] find songs that fit and form a story,” Grimm said.
Synergy’s show began with a theme idea that uniquely came to Ryan.
“Every year is a little bit different on how I come up with things. This year, the theme, believe it or not, actually came to me at church. The sermon was about heroes, and it was a more religious connection to heroes,” Ryan said. “I thought, ‘That’s a great concept’.”
After deciding on the message she wanted the show to convey, Ryan chose songs and costumes to bring the theme of Heroes to life onstage.
In contrast, Bella Voce Director Justin Vis didn’t have a specific method for planning his ensemble’s show.
“Everyone wants things to be more organic. So I can’t say that the theme chose the songs or the songs chose the theme. I think it just kind of happened, it just slowly kind of pulled together,” Vis said.
Innovation
In addition to being Johnston’s premier show choir, Innovation was ranked second in the nation for the 2025 season by HomeRoom Show Choir. The team’s success began with a novel idea for a show theme: telling a story of Greek mythology, featuring themes that remain relevant today. The concept of featuring a strong, prevalent storyline throughout the entirety of a show differs from previous Innovation sets, however, the result was immensely successful.
“I just felt like we were ready for something a little bit different,” Grimm said. “We’ve done themes in the past, but I was excited to kind of add a storyline into it this year.”
Innovation’s show, Prometheus Unbound, follows the journey of the Greek God Prometheus following the defeat of humans in the Titan War, banishing them into darkness. Prometheus then disobeyed Zeus by showing love and mercy for mankind. He stole fire from Olympus and gifted it to humans, resulting in an angry Zeus chaining him to a mountainside for eternity. Innovation tells this story through their creative use of costuming, props, and various backdrop scenes. The story comes to life before the audience, and its effects go beyond the entertainment factor alone.
“In the end, Prometheus was a person who showed mercy and love to the humans. I feel like that’s like a relevant message today, as our students can learn values from it and apply it to society today,” Grimm said. “It’s important for [students] to stand up for what they believe in, do what is right and just, and show compassion to others and live in unity.”
Innovation members embody the idea of showing love and compassion to others through their volunteering efforts in the community.
“Usually once a month on a Tuesday, we go to the Johnson partnership [to] volunteer, and we help people get their items to take home,” Innovation member, Jonathan Tomahn ‘25, said.
Innovation members gifting their time and talents to the community isn’t an occurrence exclusive to the 2025 season.
“Last year we went to this thing called the Special Santa Event, and it’s an event for the deaf community,” Tomahn said. “Last year [our] theme was [that] you have a voice even though you can’t really speak, you can still have a voice. And that didn’t change, we went there again this year to that same event. Regardless of what our theme is, we still help a lot throughout the community.”
Innovation members exemplify the importance of showing love, sharing wisdom, and “rising up” to conquer new challenges both onstage with their high-level performance, and in their day-to-day lives by growing as individuals- exactly as Grimm intended when implementing this show theme.
“Showing compassion to people, being kind, supporting people, and realizing that when you work together, you can achieve great goals, which is definitely the message I want the kids to feel and learn from. And the audience too, I want them to be entertained and feel joy and feel love and feel connected to our message,” Grimm said.
Each performer is able to reflect on their hardships and channel them into a genuinely unique performance, leading to lasting bonds and friendships between teammates.
“The camaraderie of the group is just so amazing and everyone is involved,” Tomahn said. “It just shows everyone’s personality, and with our risers, they’re insanely tall and everyone is seen and everyone is able to tell the story in their own way. That definitely brings us closer together because everyone has their own issues, everyone has their own problems, and everyone has gone through something different. Being able to express that on stage and being able to be vulnerable and share our emotions with the audience, that definitely brings us closer with the audience and also as a team.”
Synergy
Synergy’s show theme for the 2024-2025 season is Heroes. The show is centered around a quote from Gandhi: “A true hero is not defined by their strength, but by their ability to lead and inspire others”.
This sentiment affected Synergy members both during their performance onstage and in their relationships with one another.
“I really thought about how I can be a hero for others, and how we can all be heroes for other people to help uplift them.” Synergy member, Katelyn Gallagher ‘25, said. “[The show] wasn’t about superheroes. It was about how we can be heroes in our world and make the change and be the difference.”
The show begins in a dark, almost dystopian setting. The intense choreography of the first two songs is paired with foreboding lyrics- setting a scene that represents how hardships often lead to feelings of hopelessness and despair. 
The show’s turning point is its ballad titled, “Hold On To Me”, which is a reminder of the importance of having someone to reach out to during difficult times.
“[In] our ballad, we talked about, ‘who do you hold onto in difficult times in your life?’ Not necessarily who, it could be what. It could be an activity, it could be a pet, it could be a person, it can be anything,” Ryan said.
The ballad showcases the power held in relationships that foster feelings of hope, joy, and strength. After the ballad, the show is concluded with bright costumes and fun, high-energy songs including the crowd-favorite Seven Nation Army.
Synergy has had a tremendously successful competition season; placing first in the prep (JV) division at all four competitions they attended, making finals at two of those competitions, and earning a special evening showcase spot by scoring higher than all other teams in both the prep and unisex divisions at the Omaha South competition.
“We ended up earning [the spot], and honestly that was one of my favorite memories because we worked really hard to earn [that] spot,” Gallagher said. “It was just a great memory with the team.”
The success of Synergy’s season isn’t exclusively measured by their competition success.
“I feel like we’ve all become better people by being in this show and have learned a lot of things about ourselves,” Gallagher said.
Although the season has concluded, the lessons and sentiments instilled throughout their experience will likely remain with Synergy members.
“I think that these are life lessons that we can learn. While we might be on stage singing and dancing, I think that the life lessons that we can learn through show choir are deeper than just becoming a better singer and dancer,” Ryan said.
Bella Voce
Bella Voce is a unique ensemble, as it is comprised entirely of treble singer/dancers. Their 2025 show theme, Rewrite Your Story, reflects the idea of individuals with their own strengths uniting to bring out the best in each other.
“I think this theme has been really special because of the people in it: the wide array of backgrounds, ability levels- it’s just really special to have this family and I think that’s kind of where the theme came from, [it’s] just the nature of this group and what we do,” Vis said.
Bella Voce is Johnston’s newest show choir, and in the seven years since its inception, the group has experienced tremendous growth. This season, Bella Voce made program history at the Dallas Center-Grimes competition by placing first in the Prep (JV) Division, advancing to finals, and placing fifth overall.
“We did not think we were gonna win [the] prep [division],” Bella Voce member, Harper Irwin ‘26, said. “ It was a crazy experience, and then making finals was something I didn’t think we were getting to experience this year and it was absolutely incredible.”
The team’s success wouldn’t be possible without the individual contributions and talents of each team member- a sentiment that is directly reflected in the show’s repertoire.
“I think the feeling that I want to instill is ‘importance’. Everyone in this world is important, and I think not enough people say that on a day-to-day basis. So that’s what this show is getting at is everyone is important, everyone is valuable in all sorts of different ways,” Vis said. 
The individual contributions of Bella Voce members impacted the team’s dynamic both on and off the stage.
“We were all friends. Every single one of our rehearsals we had just such a good time. I think we were so successful because we all truly liked hanging out and truly like being with each other,” Irwin said.
The team’s relationships with each other leading to the overall success of the season perfectly exemplify the messages Vis hoped to instill throughout Rewrite Your Story.
“I think this show is meaningful because it capitalizes on our differences as people and really focuses on pulling everyone together for a common goal, and that’s what show choir is all about,” Vis said.
