ELLSWORTH — The sixth Maine student acting competition was held Saturday, May 7 at Ellsworth Middle School. This is a one-day acting, musical theater and improv tournament for middle schoolers. There were over 100 students competing from Belfast, Bangor, Searsport, Winslow, Bucksport, Ellsworth, Brewer, and Hancock. The MSAC was created by Belfast performing arts teacher and Midcoast Actors' Studio Artistic Director Jason Bannister.

"It was another great year of performances by the kids," says Bannister in a news release. "The MSAC is something they look forward to all year and practice real hard for."

The Maine student acting competition is open to all middle school aged students in Maine. Next year, in addition to the 7th Eastern Maine MSAC (location TBA), Bannister hopes to hold a Western/Southern Maine competition. In the future, he looks to have these events be qualifiers to a major state tournament. Bannister also sees the MSAC expanding to high school age as well.

Here are the winners:
Team Musical — 1-Bangor, 2-Belfast, 3-Brewer

Team Acting — 1-Belfast, 2-Bangor, 3-Winslow

Solo Musical — 1-Laila Al'Matrouk (Belfast), 2-Sophia Mullins (Bangor), 3-Emma Paterson-Dennis (Bangor)

Duo Musical — 1-Mataya Philbrick/ Delany Grover (Brewer), 2-William Bradley/Shannen Fitzjurls (Searsport), 3-Hana Woodard/Paige Ravenscraft (Bangor)

Group Musical — 1-Hard Knock Life (Brewer), 2-Carrying the Banner (Bangor), 3-Come to the Fun Home (Belfast)

Solo Acting — 1-Molly Hagerty (Bangor), 2-Hannah Nilsson (Brewer), 3-Sophia Mullins (Bangor)

Duo Acting — 1-Nevaeh Schuchardt/Aidan Larrabee (Winslow), 2-Riley Loftus/Ellie Hatt (Winslow), 3-Josh Chun/Sydney Densmore (Belfast)

Group Acting — 1-Original Piece (Searsport), 2-You're on, Ms. Jasper (Searsport), 3-Peter and the Starcatcher (Belfast)

Anyone interested in learning more information about the MSAC and how to compete next year please visit the Maine Student Acting Competition Facebook page or email jbannister@rsu71.org.