Esko is moving on in one-act

Carlton County teams delighted audiences in competition Saturday, but only the Esko team is moving on to the next level of competition.

After placing first at the subsection competition in Two Harbors, Esko will perform "Our Place" at the One Act Play Sectionals at 12:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 1 in Aitkin.

"As a first time co-director, I thought the competition was great," said Joyce Bergstadt. "It was very interesting to see what type of play each school brought to the competition and then to see how they interpreted their play and performed it.

She was thrilled with the Esko students and their performance.

"Our cast and crew did an awesome job - all the way from our actors and actresses to our sound and light technicians. The students successfully portrayed a variety of emotions in each of their scenes, ranging from comedic to tragic.

Cromwell-Wright director Mary Rose Varo's team placed third at its subsection meet in Aitkin with their performance of "Hard Candy" by Jonathan Rand. C-W actors included Lexi Randall, Johnathon Schiller, Anaka Burton, Josh Lindman, Micah Burton, Catriona Cahoon, Anja Johnson, Katelyn Denton and Grace Swenson.

"Our kids performed marvelously well." Varo said. "It was a wonderful experience and fun to see all the talent in other teams."

In Cloquet, which hosted the Section 7AA northern subsection in its newly remodeled auditorium, the Lumberjacks performance of "Tartuffe" received rave reviews from audience members afterward and "mainly complimentary" feedback in a meeting with one of the three judges following the show. Cloquet took fourth place, while the top three teams moved on.

Director Alex Goebel said it was difficult to not move on in the competition, but said his actors knew they accomplished something worthy.

"But art is subjective and hard to judge," he said. "If they had fun and they walk away proud and wanting to do it again, that's all I can ask for."