CHINA GROVE — The smiles on their faces and the way they told of their experience at the Blumey Awards Celebration spoke volumes about the passion and dedication two local students have for theater.

Lillian Trail and Clint Efird, both seniors at Jesse C. Carson High School, were chosen to represent Rowan-Salisbury Schools at the 10th Annual Blumey Awards Celebration held Jan. 13 at the Belk Theater in Charlotte.

The Blumey Awards, as noted on the Blumenthal website,  “recognize, reward, and encourage talent and achievement in musical theater among high school students within the Charlotte region. The program highlights the importance of musical theater and arts education within the community.”

The celebration served as a fundraiser benefiting the newly established Blumey Inspire Fund, which “supports talented students and teachers in our community with resources for professional training, mentorship and more,” as noted on the site.

This is the first time that either Trail or Efird had received this particular distinction and both said they were at school when they learned of their being selected.

Trail shared she was in her first block of upper level theater class last semester and was notified by her theater teacher, Chuck Carte. She said he told her, “you have been chosen to represent Carson and nominated for this ceremony because you have dedication to the performing arts, not only chorus and theater but also the technical theater.”

She responded by jumping up and down and screaming and making phone calls to family. “It was great. There were so many emotions,” she said.

For Efird, he said he was in chorus and got pulled out of the class and informed of the selection because of, like Trail, his dedication in theater and chorus. While he said he didn’t know what it was at first, he quickly agreed to participate.

Thinking he would be singing as part of a choir, Efird said when he learned what it was all about and he would be dancing as well and performing in front of a huge crowd at a special ceremony, his response became “Oh my. I didn’t expect all that, but it was a very pleasant surprise because I’ve always wanted to do something like that. So it was very cool.”

In a letter sent to the parents from the Blumenthal, it was shared that the students would “join 47 teachers, 66 current students and 25 alumni representing 34 Charlotte-area schools LIVE on the Belk Theater stage performing a medley of songs with direction by David Dabbon (Broadway composer/arranger) and hosted by Brigida Mack (award-winning TV journalist) and Thomas Laub (Tony Award-winning Broadway producer and Blumey alumnus, Providence Day School), all while celebrating a decade of success and toasting to the next chapter.”

Trail mentioned they had three numbers to perform, and Efird added they were to dance and sing all of them. Rehearsals for the big one-night event and fundraiser began Jan. 25 and continued for a week.

Trail noted that at first it was eight hours of practice, to which Efird added that practice was held from 5-9 p.m. each of the other days, except for Tuesday when the big storm hit that week.

“It was an intense process,” Trail said. “Everybody that we were around was super focused. They knew what they had to do and it was a great environment to be around.” 

Both of the students shared that the theater is what they want to focus on as a future career; and therefore, this experience was a very good one for them.

“I didn’t expect for a bunch of high schoolers to be so professional about it,” Trail shared. 

Being around people who were intent on working and helping one another was a good experience, she continued, to which Efird added, “it was really fun to be with a bunch of different people who didn’t want to slack off, who didn’t want to procrastinate, they wanted to get it done, and everyone was so nice and welcoming.”

When the work was done and practices turned into the performance, it was a special set of emotions for both as Trail said they were in the opening number and she was positioned near the top of the stage. When she heard the announcement, “Welcome to the 10th annual Blumey, I was like, this is really happening.”

For Efird, his reaction to the big performance was “it was really crazy. I’ve never really done anything on that scale before,” but it was also very good, he added.

He admitted to being nervous, but this, he said, is the way he feels for any show he participates in until it starts.

“It’s just the anticipation waiting for it to build up to like the curtain opening and seeing all the people.”

While it was lots of work preparing for the big event before a packed Belk Theater, both students shared they made friends during their time there and that it was fun.

“It was some of the most fun I’ve ever had with theater in such a short amount of time,” shared Efird.

“It was so much fun, and I got to meet so many fantastic people,” Trail noted.

Hard work and dedication to the task at hand plus lots of fun translated into some important lessons learned from the experience as well.

For Efird, he noted that it gave him a taste of working in this particular field.

“It really showed what it would be like,” and while he heard someone say they didn’t know if they could do this again, his thought was “I live for doing this stuff. I want to do this again” thus bringing out his love once more for theater and working in that professional setting, and it is 100 percent his mom that he credits for getting him involved in theater in the beginning.

First trying every sport out there, Efird was encouraged by his mom, who he shared was an all star athlete herself, to try the stage and see what kind of actor he was. So he went to an audition, “and it was all her. I pretty much owe everything to her because I don’t know if I ever would have done anything like this because it brought me so out of my comfort zone, but then I was just like this is awesome.”

It is her dad that Trail credits for her passion for theater as he is the one who introduced her to it and encouraged her to try community theater and took her to theater camps offered during the summertime. He was the band and chorus kid who also did community theater, she said.

And for her, once being introduced to the theater and then “being able to be on that stage and just live that, I learned that through hard work and a lot of dedication, it can really pay off.” 

In addition to the friends they made, this experience afforded them the opportunity to meet Blumey alumni and directors and others who helped them with throughout the performance.

Trail spoke of being starstruck when she got to meet past Blumey Award winner Justin Rivers and “getting to meet all of these important people and making things happen,” she said she wanted this to be her.

Efird shared about how he and another student just couldn’t get a particular dance move down, and Dan Knechtges, Tony-nominated director and choreographer, who was serving in those roles for the big event, came over and helped them one on one with their dance routine. He was “very nice and very welcoming,” Efird said.

Both students have been involved in theater for quite a long time beginning in third grade for Efird and fifth for Trail.

“White Christmas” was what Efird said he remembered being his first performance and has since performed in a few shows at Carson along with Lee Street Theater and the Piedmont Players Theater. 

Playing the part of Lumiere at a former school she attended, was Trail’s first role, she said, one where “I learned how to talk with a French accent and dance with candlesticks.” The following year she was in Mary Poppins.

And both are slated to be in the school’s upcoming spring production of the “Addams Family” with Trail being a member of the ensemble with solo parts in some of the songs as she noted she has sung more onstage than she has acted. Efird will perform as the character Pugsley, the little brother, which is a role he has played in other productions and one where, he noted, “I shine through.” 

The two also share a common dream of continuing theater in the future, hoping to make it a career.

Trail has both sung and acted, which she loves, but she shared, “I tend to really feel like I shine more on the production end” helping create sets and organize the cast. Serving as stage manager for past productions and seeing it all come together “is what fills my heart.”

While Trail does hope to pursue her dream of theater in the future, if it doesn’t happen, she shared that she “can teach kids these techniques and show them the love that I have and where they can really break out of their shell. I’ve seen so many people who are very quiet and once they got put in that spotlight, they just shined.” 

Admitting that acting is a risky business, Efird shared that it is what he wants to do. “I would love for this to be my career for the rest of my life,” he said.

When watching others perform on stage, he said, “I like how they are making people happy being onstage. I really like giving other people that joy.”

And, he noted, while some fall out of love with the theater, he said, “I haven’t even gotten close to that. So I think it would be great to do it for the rest of my life,” but if things don’t work out, he can see it at least continuing through college, noting that he’s considering Catawba, which has a great theater program.

Following the performance which included two acts, an intermission and finale, a special gala event was held to which the performers were invited to attend.

Family and friends were in attendance at the celebration that served to create lifelong memories for them as well as the students.

Efird shared that his mom walked up to him crying at the time and said, “that’s the best memory I’ve ever made.”

Trail said that her mom, “almost with tears in her eyes said ‘you just did that. I’m so proud of you. It brought so much joy.’”

Her sister and her closest friend both shared what a great job she did on stage and how proud they were as well.

What’s next? Trail said that in April some of the actors and ensemble members would submit a 16-bar audition to be considered for nomination as best actor or actress, best supporting or ensemble and additional categories followed by the announcement in May of who has been nominated and then at the end of that month, the Blumey Awards, as the 2024 ceremony is scheduled for May 26, once again to be held at the Belk Theater.