North Catholic musical cast. First row, from left, Abby Brown as Roxie Hart and Mary Narvett as Velma Kelly Second row, from left: Drew Haring as Billy Flynn, Logan Mlecko as Amos Hart, Greta Sperling as Matron Mama Morton, Jorji Goldstein as Mary Sunshine. Submitted photo

The annual Mancini Award nominees have been released, and Butler County students dominate the list.

The award program, which is named for composer, conductor, arranger and Beaver County native Henry Mancini, recognizes outstanding student achievement in high school musical theatre in Beaver, Butler, Lawrence, and Mercer counties.

Two local schools have students nominated in the Best Actor and Best Actress categories.

Lauren Karg, who played Mary Poppins in the Mars Area High School musical of the same name, is nominated for Best Actress, and her classmate, Nicholas Ferrari, who played opposite her in the role of Bert, is up for Best Actor.

At Freeport Area Senior High, Zack Kladny, who played Billy Flynn in “Chicago: Teen Edition,” was nominated for Best Actor, while his cast mate, Bella McKivigan, who played Velma Kelly, will vie for Best Actress.

Drew Haring, the North Catholic High School student who played Billy Flynn in “Chicago: Teen Edition”; Anderson Franco, the Slippery Rock High School student who played Jack Kelly in “Newsies”’ and Ava Breese, who played Dolly Levi in “Hello Dolly” at Knoch High were the other county students up for Best Actor and Best Actress.

Best Musical nominations in the various budget categories locally were Freeport Area, Slippery Rock, Knoch, and Mars Area.

Aiden Krepin, the Mars Area student who played Michael Banks, was the only local student nominated for Best Supporting Actor.

Local students nominated for Best Supporting Actress were Knoch’s Lauren Howard, who played Irene Malloy; and Mars Area’s Jenna Smith, who played Jane Banks.

Local schools up for Best Choreography Execution as well as Best Costume Design in the various budget categories are Freeport Area, Slippery Rock and Mars Area.

Best Crew/Technical Execution nominations among local schools went to Slippery Rock and Mars Area, while Best Ensemble nominees locally were Freeport Area, Slippery Rock, Knoch and Mars Area.

Local nominees for Best Execution of Direction were Freeport Area, Slippery Rock, Knoch, and Mars Area.

Local nominees for Lighting Design were Freeport Area, Mars Area, Slippery Rock and Knoch.

Freeport Area, Slippery Rock Knoch and Mars Area were nominated for Best Scenic Design, and Freeport, Knoch North Catholic, and Mars Area were nominated for Best Student Orchestra.

Mars Area student Dominic Spreanza and Slippery Rock student John Barkley won the Civil Light Opera Academy Scholarships, and Mars Area High School took a Special Judge Award.

The Henry Mancini Award ceremony will be held on May 19 at Lincoln Park Performing Arts Center in Midland, Beaver County.