Interview: 2021 Triangle Rising Star Award Winners Elena Holder & Joshua Messmore

Last month, the 2021 Triangle Rising Star Awards took place (albeit, virtually) through the Durham Performing Arts Center. This regional competition brings together high school musical theater students from Central and Eastern North Carolina to perform and compete for the chance to represent the Triangle in The National High School Musical Theater (otherwise known as The Jimmy) Awards in New York City on July 15th. The national competition celebrates outstanding student performances in high school musical productions from all over the United States. The day after the Triangle Rising Star Awards, I had the great pleasure of interviewing both of this year's winners, Elena Holder of Durham School of the Arts and Joshua Messmore of St. David's School.

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To start things off, congratulations on your victories. We are now about 24 hours removed from the competition. How are both of you feeling right now?
EH: I feel awesome. I've been getting a bunch of really supportive texts and I've been getting some really nice messages. It's been a very positive vibe.

JM: Yeah. Pretty much exactly the same. It's crazy to think, like leading up to this, what was going through my head, and what I'm feeling now are two very different things, but it's so exciting. I can't believe it's happening.

Going back to the beginning, how did each of you get involved with this year's Triangle Rising Star Awards?
JM: I had a few family friends send things my way about the open call for these awards. I had heard of the program for a few years now. So I was like, sure. We're in a pandemic, I don't have much else to do, so I'll send you an audition video. That's how it all happened for me.

EH: I was in the Triangle Rising Star Awards during my freshman year, and I've been involved in the program since then through my school. But when it came out that there was going to be a virtual one this year, I was super stoked and I applied myself. So it was really cool.

Would you mind telling us about what went into deciding your song selections?
EH: For me, every time I've applied to Triangle Rising Stars, I've coincidentally applied as a character who was a child. This time I was like, "you know what, since I get to pick this year, we're going to be the opposite of a child, the anti-child." So I picked The Witch from Into the Woods.

JM: For me, my school had just announced that they were doing Little Women when the audition information came out for Triangle Rising Stars. So I was already preparing all this stuff for the character of Laurie for that audition. So I thought, "well, I have this song ('Take a Chance on Me') connected to this character, might as well apply with it."

A majority of this year's show was pre-taped with the winners being announced live. What was the process like of getting to film your performances?
JM: It was strange. I have not done anything like this before where you're performing for nobody but a camera. It was really exciting and I can't believe it looked as good as it did. I was super happy with the result. It was definitely a new experience, but it was also so much fun.

EH: I thought it was going to be so nerve wracking going in there with a professional film crew and stuff, but they were so sweet. Everyone was so supportive and it was a great environment to be a part of. It also came out super well. It looked so professional and amazing.

As Clay Aiken was reading off the lists of finalists in both categories one last time before announcing the winners, what was going through your minds?
EH: I was so nervous. I was like breathing funny, but I was shocked when he called my name. It was like, "Oh my gosh, really?" I'm super excited. This summer is going to be awesome.

JM: With all the nerves going on, it's like the names weren't registering in my head., it's more than just syllables. So I was kind of waiting and then I heard my name announced and then suddenly it means something again. It was super exciting, but yeah, words didn't make sense to me in that moment.

How excited are the two of you to be going to New York City this summer to compete at the Jimmy Awards?
EH: It's going to be insane. I'm so excited. I think we're doing it virtually this year, but virtual New York will be amazing.

Makes sense because while we may be slowly coming out of this pandemic, it probably is still safer to do big events like this virtually for the time being.
EH: Yeah. They look like they have a really good set up for it. It'll be really fun.

Moving forward, is musical theatre something each of you would like to pursue as a career?
JM: Absolutely! I've fallen in love with musical theatre over the past couple of years. I'm going to college to double major in theater and legal studies. So with both of those skills, hopefully, if I end up in a place where I feel like a theater career can be sustainable, that I will be able to pursue that. So I'm very excited.

EM: I'm going to college next year for vocal performance and psychology. I hope to use a bulk of performance theory to kind of pursue musical theater after college. I want to go to New York and do the whole audition circuit. That would be super cool.

It is worth noting that some of the previous Triangle Rising Star Award winners include English Bernhardt, who went on to do the workshops for Dear Evan Hansen, and appeared in the national tours of If/Then as well as Mean Girls. There's also Ainsley Seiger, who can now be seen as a series regular on Law & Order: Organized Crime.
JM: Yeah. It's super exciting to see the trajectories of different people who have attended in the past. We might get to meet them virtually this year. So that would really cool as well.

EH: Yeah, that would be awesome. I've worked with English before. I went to a master class with her and she was so cool. It's so exciting that we get to go through something that was kind of formative for her because she is so incredibly talented.

I thank each of you very much for devoting your time to this interview. It was great getting to talk to both of you.
Both: Thank you so much!

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The 2021 Jimmy Awards will be presented virtually on July 15th. For more information, please visit: https://www.jimmyawards.com/winners-and-nominees/2021-jimmy-awards/

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