After three months of rehearsals and two weekends of shows the work of the Pippin cast and crew has paid off. 

The MacTheatre Pippin cast and crew received 15 nominations from the Heller Awards for Young Artists (HAYA) for their 2023 Spring Musical Pippin including Best Production and Best Ensemble as well as five individual actor and actress nominations. The nominations were announced virtually via livestream on March 5.

“The Heller Awards for Young Artists are the premiere recognition for musical theater programs at the high school level in our greater Austin area, so it’s a really big deal bringing that recognition to musical theater,” theater director Bonnie Brookby said. “We have the UIL play competition right now that recognizes straight-theater so it is really cool to have an opportunity to showcase the hard work and accomplishments of musical theater as well.”

Certain nominations were especially rewarding for the Pippin production team. 

“I think obviously being nominated for Best Production as well as Best Ensemble is exciting and speaks to the effort of the whole group,” Brookby said. “Any time you have a big award like ‘Best Production’ and ‘Best Ensemble’ that really speaks to the strength of, not just the stand-out individuals, but the whole group working together. [Pippin] was most definitely an ensemble piece.”

The other general nominations that Pippin received included Best Choreography, Best Lighting Design, Best Scenic Design, Best Technical Execution and Best Orchestra. The pit orchestra was led by band director Carol Nelson whose students produced music for the entirety of the two-hour musical. 

“I think that we are very blessed here at McCallum [to have] outstanding musicians,” Nelson said. “Our preparation time is probably less than a lot of other high schools because our students are able to read and produce [music] quickly. We put in lots of hours but had the musicians not have been so wonderful we would have had to put in much more time than we had. Our kids read well and pick up style and rhythms very quickly, so it is just a pleasure to conduct them.” 

On top of general nominations, the Pippin cast and crew had many students stand out to receive individual recognitions. Multiple students were nominated in the Student Achievement category, including Anna Fox for design, Ava Deviney for marketing and Zoe Gravois for stage management.  

Pippin was also the only musical to receive three nominations for Best Supporting Actress, including senior Savannah Chavarria (Catherine), senior Charlotte Blackmon (Berthe)  and junior Ellie Loudermilk (Fastrada). Other individual nominations include senior Nick Bohle (Charles) for Best Supporting Male Actor and senior Lauren Ryan-Holt (Leading Player) for Best Leading Female Performer.

Senior nominee Ryan-Holt recalls the moment of learning the results of her nomination.

“A couple of friends and I had a watch party at my house where we streamed the nomination video on my TV,” Ryan-Holt said. “Once I got nominated I felt really accomplished and relieved because I was super nervous during the days leading up to the ceremony. Leading up to the exact moment my grandmother was gripping my hand and right after my name was announced she gave me a huge kiss on the head and my phone got bombarded with congratulations.” 

Bohle shared a similar experience to Ryan-Holt when he viewed the HAYA nominations live stream.

“I watched with my mother and when my category popped up I got nervous, but I was the second name announced and I got a flood of congratulations texts right after it was announced,” Bohle said. “[My mom] was more excited than I was, she was doing happy screams and pacing around.” 

As a Best Production nominee, the Pippin cast will be performing the number “Magic To Do” at the HAYA ceremony on April 19. Individual cast members that earned nominations will also perform in a medley with the other student nominees in their categories. Whether the students win or not, Brookby is proud of what the cast has already achieved.

“It’s really exciting [to gain 15 nominations],” Brookby said. “I think it shows the breadth of talent and hard work that went into the show and the collaborative effort it was from our orchestra to our technical elements to our choreography to our performers themselves. It was a huge production and to have so many students and faculty being recognized for that hard work, it just really hits home what a collaborative opportunity it was for our Fine Arts Academy to come together.”