Searsport District High School Theater takes on 'The Waterspout,' Feb. 26, in Searsport, as part of the 2026 Maine Drama Festival. Belfast Area High School and Mt View High School will also be presenting their one acts, and host Searsport will be the last show of the evening to perform. Performances will also be February 27, at Mt. View, and February 28, at Troy Howard Middle School. Searsport’s regional competition performance will be March 7, at 1 p.m., at Strom Auditorium in Camden. 

"Research from the Penobscot Marine Museum tells us that a first-hand account of the 1869 Trovatore shipwreck and the waterspout that caused it was originally published in the Iowa Register in 1890, and later in the Belfast, Maine Republican Journal," said Christi Goosman, in a news release.

The account was dictated by Oliver Winslow Park, second mate on the bark Trovatore, commanded by Captain James M. Blanchard.  Oliver was the son of a Searsport captain, Oliver Crary Park, who died in 1865, leaving a wife and five children, and forcing Oliver, the oldest son, to ship as a cabin boy to help support the family back in Searsport. In 2024, Ms. Goosman adapted the newspaper account into a stage play of the same name, The Waterspout, that reimagines the events leading up to and including the shipwreck and the rescue. 

Actors in Searsport’s 2026 entry into the Maine Drama Festival include Seniors Nellie Stanley as “Catherine”, “Marco” AND “Ocean”, Dilyla Brown as “Oliver Winslow Park”, and Lillian Boyd as “Ocean”/stage crew. The cast also includes Sophomores Rosa Amaro as “Louise Park”, “Captain Greene Park”, and “Alexander”, Joslyn Merithew as “Berty Park” and “Emma Blanchard”. A large group of Freshmen round out the cast: Isabella Seekins as “Francena Park” and “Ocean”, Alton ‘AJ’ Penney as “Captain James Mosman Blanchard”, Anna Traves as “Maurice”, Gabe Fairbrother as “First Mate William”, and Madie Boyd as “Ocean”/stage crew.

"Crew members Rain Lane on sound, and Aaron Reynolds on lights round out this small but mighty troupe," said Goosman.

Tickets are $5 at the door, doors open at 6 p.m. for a 6:30 p.m. show start.