The annual Heller Awards for Young Artists are back April 19 at the Long Center in Austin, and the CP theatre department is returning with five nominations from their production of “Big Fish.” These nominations include best choreography, best musical direction and best featured ensemble performer, as well as two best male lead performers with junior Aidan Cox as Edward Bloom and senior Brady Allen as Will Bloom.

“Getting nominated felt incredibly surreal,” Cox said. “I felt a really strong personal connection to [my character], and more than anything I just wanted to be able to do him justice. I’m so glad that I was able to do that, and getting nominated with Brady just felt like the work we put into the show all paid off in the end. It was truly amazing and the moment we realized we were nominated is something I’ll hold onto forever.”

The Heller Awards, or HAYA’s, is an award ceremony held for high school productions aimed to celebrate students involved in their theatre departments across Texas. Judges are sent to each participating school to score and take notes on their shows and award the top nine scoring individuals with nominations. These nominations are separated into school or individual nominations that are based on production value or talents shown by the performers.

Last year the department obtained six nominations for their production of “Something Rotten.” One of those being best production, which meant they had to perform one of their musical numbers on the Long Center stage. Due to their two best male lead nominations, Allen and Cox will revisit that same stage for their Lead Medley, performing once again for one of the biggest audiences of their career, according to the actors.

“It’s probably the biggest crowd I will ever have performed in front of,” Allen said. “It’s just really weird hearing people I’ve never known talk about me, it’s a really new experience. I feel like a mini-celebrity. I remember last year being at the show and our school got nominated for best production so we were in it and just seeing all of the broadway level lights, mics, there’s all your own stage crew and you get your own dressing room. I’m really excited to be in that environment where it feels like it’s almost my job.”

Though lead roles and speaking parts aren’t the only ones who were recognized for their performance. Junior Kira Griffin was nominated for both featured ensemble and best choreography, alongside her choreo counterpart, senior Audrey Johnson. Griffin is also involved in Select Ensemble, a group of student actors who are featured during the awards ceremony who have been working towards their performance on the Long Center stage, which according to Griffin is a big change of scenery for them.

“The stage itself is much bigger than our PAC stage,” Griffin said. “The wings and backstage are also huge; it’s just a much bigger scale in general. The production company told us it’s a much bigger stage than most broadway theatres. It seats thousands of people and those seats are normally filled for hellers because it’s all these schools, parents and students that are coming to watch these kids potentially win an award. Last year when the curtain opened it was a huge rush of sound because it’s just so many people and they’re all screaming at you, it’s literally a wave that hits you. It’s so exhilarating just hearing that noise for the people on stage, especially if one of them is you, it’s crazy.”

Rehearsals for male leads have recently started in preparation for their lead medley in the show. The medley consists of the nine male leads and nine female leads performing to a mashup of the songs each lead sings in their own shows.

“I was in awe watching both of the leading medleys last year,” Cox said. “I remember watching the leading male medley and just wishing that someday I would be able to be in something like that. I’m really nervous to be working with all of these incredibly talented people. It’s going to be an incredible experience, but I just get nervous that I’m not going to live up to expectations. I just keep reminding myself that I’m there for the same reason they are, and that helps a lot with it.”

According to Allen, getting to work in a professional environment has been a highlight of the process. During the rehearsal process for their category, Allen and Cox are working with their fellow nominees in a way they haven’t practiced before, according to Allen.

“At school I work with really talented people,” Allen said. “But it’s crazy having some really strong performers all working together on one show. I always talk to other kids from different schools about theatre and choir but it’s really nice finally being able to work with them on one cohesive thing and not having competitions or deciding who’s better. It’s really nice finally getting to work with all of them.”

According to Griffin, the same goes for Select Ensemble. Because they perform in many acts of the award ceremony, the environment has been set with a tone of professionalism in order to perform to a high standard, according to Griffin.

“I’m excited about performing on such a larger scale,” Griffin said. “The Dell Hall at the Long Center seats thousands of people, and working on that stage means a very different level of professionalism and excitement. It definitely feels more like an out of school environment because it’s not the same people you work with every single day, it’s new people, new directors, new production team.”

Since these awards cover such a large group of schools, not just limited to the LISD area, students see them as a great opportunity to branch their school’s out to different communities. This year, since there are many nominations in different categories, students like Cox feel as though they have a large opportunity to grab the attention of these different schools.

“Being in one of the medleys or best production numbers means that every school in the area will see you perform on a massive stage,” Cox said. “It broadcasts the best of everyone’s abilities since we’ll all have been working ridiculously hard on it. That means that every theatre kid in the area will see your accomplishments, and those accomplishments mean that not only could the theatre department get more attention within the school, but also from schools from all over!”

The ceremony is full of musical numbers and performances throughout the awards that keeps with the theatre theme. With the ceremony not held until April 19, students like Cox are left anticipating the show, he said.

“It’s an incredible show,” Cox said. “Being in our number for Best Production last year was dreamlike with the wall of sound and applause from thousands of theatre kids and people from all over. All of our hard work will absolutely pay off when we hear the full orchestra and see the massive crowd of people there to watch it all happen. We’ll be using lighting and mics that Broadway touring companies have used, and performing with an orchestra larger than some Broadway orchestras. I can’t even describe how excited I am to experience that, I cannot wait to get to work with all of the other elements of the show, and see everything come to life. Being on that stage feels like you’re on top of the world, and I’m sure it will feel so much more magical than I ever thought possible.”