Nothing makes me believe in the power of the arts like attending the DPAC Rising Star Awards. The evening celebrates achievement in high school theater in the Central North Carolina region and serves as a qualifier for the National High School Musical Theatre Awards, which take place every summer in New York City. The Jimmy Awards, as they’re more often called, allow high school students from around the country to compete and perform on a Broadway stage.

Alongside an all-expenses paid trip to New York to take part in the Jimmy Awards, the winners of Best Actor and Best Actress also receive a $2,000 scholarship. In New York, they get to train with Broadway actors, directors, and producers, culminating in a performance at the Minskoff Theater, where The Lion King has been running for many years.

Some big names in local theater take part in the DPAC Rising Star Awards. David Henderson served as Acting Director, Mark Hopper as Music Director, and Freddie Lee Heath as Director of Choreography. The finalists were judged by Alan Campbell, Chauntee’ Shuler Irving, and Terri Dollar, after being nominated by the large team of judges who attend the eligible productions throughout the year.

The DPAC Rising Star Awards were hosted by Clay Aiken for the sixth year in a row. (A few minutes into his opening, he noted, “I’m Clay Aiken, by the way.”) The singer-turned-politician lives locally and seems to relish his time onstage honoring the local high schoolers. From participating in the opening musical number to ad-libbing the transitions between songs and awards, he kept the energy high.

The show opened students from the thirty eligible schools performing “A Musical” from Something Rotten! It was a great gesture to involve students beyond just those who were nominated for Best Actor and Best Actress and really showed off the breadth of talent we have in the area.

One of the best parts about this year’s awards is the continued emphasis on student involvement beyond the finalists taking part. A student-run production team helped with the technical elements of the show, while a pop-up gallery in the lobby showcased the work of local young visual artists.

The finalists were placed in four groups to perform a medley of songs with each performer singing something from the role for which they were nominated. They performed in their costumes, which was a great reminder of which role they had played in their school’s show.

There were three sets of finalists who had been nominated for playing the same role. Riley Auman, from Durham Academy, gave a great rendition of “Lament” from her role of The Witch in Into the Woods. Alex Fluker played the same role in Panther Creek High School’s production, but sang “The Last Midnight,” demonstrating her powerhouse vocals.

Enloe High School’s Ryan Gregory and Longleaf School of the Arts’ Aydan Eatchel both portrayed Marius in their schools’ productions of Les Misérables, and both sang “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables.” Similarly, Nate Jones from Durham School of the Arts and David Hatcher from Panther Creek High School both sang “No More” from their role of the Baker in Into the Woods.

It was amusing that there was so much overlap within just twenty finalists, a reminder that schools tend to recycle the same shows despite the breadth of the musical theater canon. However, there were also a handful of more unique productions whose cast members made it into the finalists, like Amari James Wynne for playing The Lion in The Wiz and Dylan Georges for his portrayal of Grover in The Lightning Thief: The Percy Jackson Musical.

Other notable performances included Trinity Hall’s heartfelt “The Winner Takes It All” from Mamma Mia, Isaiah Knight’s hilarious “The Moon and Me” from The Addams Family, and Emma Gaddy’s passionate “I Dreamed a Dream” from Les Misérables. Gaddy’s costar, Conor Kruger, took one on of musical theater’s hardest songs, “Bring Him Home,” Jean Valjean’s big Act 2 solo. He did a tremendous job with it, though hearing a teenager sing the line, “I am old” did make me giggle.

Another set of talented costars were from Weaver Academy’s production of Something Rotten! Sabine Langer brought strong vocals and cheeky humor to Bea’s “Right Hand Man,” while Aidan Armstrong was hilariously arrogant yet still charismatic in Will Shakespeare’s “Hard to Be the Bard.”

In between and after the medleys of finalists, the audience was treated to a behind-the-scenes video recapping the preparation for DPAC Rising Stars and a video recapping the 2023 Jimmy Awards. The group gave an energetic performance of “Time to Dance” from The Prom and opened Act 2 with “The Ballad of Sweeney Todd” from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street. Last year’s winners, Noah Colvin and Lilly Pritchard, returned to help announce the winners and to sing “Suddenly Seymour” from Little Shop of Horrors together. It’s a song that’s sung perhaps too often, but they made it feel fresh with well-placed riffs.

The awards were spread across many schools, with Weaver Academy’s Something Rotten! taking Best Ensemble and Knightsdale High School’s The Spongebob Musical winning Best Student Orchestra. The design awards for Best Set Design, Best Lighting Design, and Best Costume Design were given to Durham School of the Art’s Into the Woods, Green Level High School’s The Lightning Thief, and Apex Friendship High School’s The Addams Family, respectively.

Best Choreography was awarded to Carrboro High School’s Anything Goes, and Audrey Lewis took home the Best Dancer Award for her work in Broughton High School’s 9 to 5: The Musical. David Hatcher, of Panther Creek High School, was voted the DPAC Shining Star, an award that is all the more meaningful because it’s voted for by the finalists themselves.

Unsurprisingly, considering their track record and the three finalists nominated from their production of Les Misérables, Enloe High School brought home the award for Best Musical. All of the speeches were touching, but it was particularly lovely to hear from Koko Thornton, Enloe’s beloved theatre teacher who is retiring this year.

Continuing Enole’s success, senior Conor Kruger won the Best Actor award for his portrayal of Jean Valjean in their production of Les Mis. In his speech, he told Thornton, “You’ve helped me become the man I am today.” He also shared that his experience at DPAC Rising Star two years ago made him realize he wanted to pursue musical theater professionally.

Alex Fluker, a senior from Panther Creek High School, won Best Actress for her portrayal of The Witch in Into the Woods. She expressed “extreme gratitude for everyone in my life” and encouraged others to chase their dreams.

When I caught up with the pair after the show, they were still buzzing with excitement. Alex said her favorite part of DPAC Rising Star was “the people, hands down.” She loved the sense of community amongst the finalists, but also working with their directors. She explained, “I really value that everyone lifts each other up and it’s a really supportive environment.” Conor seconded Alex’s praise of the people involved in DPAC Rising Star and added that “the feeling of the crowd of 1500-plus people hitting you when you’re doing the opening number is unlike anything else.”

Both Alex and Conor took on some of the most daunting roles in musical theater, that even professional adult performers are intimidated by. “Going into the role of the Witch was definitely the biggest task of a role I’ve ever taken on ever in my life,” Alex said. She stressed that her performance wouldn’t have been possible without her director, music director, and voice teacher. She elaborated, “I would not have been able to accomplish the Witch that I did without the help of so many people who helped me discover what it means for me to be the Witch.”

Conor shared that his two dream roles were Marius and Jean Valjean in Les Mis. He played Marius two years ago, so getting to finish his senior year by playing Valjean was a perfect opportunity and one he thought “will probably never happen.” “It was an honor,” he said, “and a huge challenge that really did take a lot of work.”

What will they take from their experience in DPAC Rising Star? For Conor, it’s “how important it is to have this many unique people contributing to one thing because everyone on that stage was different and beautiful in their own way.” Alex echoed the importance of community coming together to create something, stating that her takeaway was “how important it is for you to be grateful for everybody who’s in your life.”

You certainly could feel the love in the theatre community in DPAC that night, as there was the loudest applause I’ve ever heard at DPAC. But more so than just celebrating these amazing performers and school productions, DPAC Rising Star is pivotal to “keeping the arts alive in our school systems,” as Megan Rindoks, DPAC’s Director of Community Engagement, stated.

In a time where too many schools are diverting or cutting their arts programs’ budgets, the DPAC Rising Star Awards are a great reminder of how much a theatre program can influence a young person’s life. It’s not just about the opportunities that developing talent can bring, like the chance to compete in the Jimmy Awards and perform on a Broadway stage, but also about getting to be part of a community of theatre lovers who cheered each other on and lifted each other up.

Congratulations to Alex and Conor on their wins, and we look forward to hearing about their experiences at the Jimmy Awards at next year’s DPAC Rising Star.

You can find out more about the DPAC Rising Star Awards here.