In the spring of 2013, I was asked by Dan Bukovak, president of the English-Speaking Union's Kansas City branch, to participate as one of three judges in the area's regional Shakespeare competition. I was joined by my friends and colleagues Sidonie Garrett, Executive Artistic Director of the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, and Carla Noak, a very talented professional actress and director who teaches in the Theatre department at UMKC.
The English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition is a performance-based education program in which high school students nationwide read, analyze, perform and recite Shakespearean monologues and sonnets. Through the program, students develop communication skills and an appreciation of the power of language and literature. In three progressive competition levels, students present the Bard’s works in their own schools, at ESU Branch sponsored community competitions and at the National Shakespeare Competition.
Prior to the event, over 125 Kansas City-area high school students had participated in ESU Shakespeare competitions at their schools. Fourteen school winners from the Kansas City metro area participated finalist competition I judged. Each student performed a monologue and a sonnet by Shakespeare.
The winner was Wyatt McCall, a student at Olathe Northwest High School in Olathe, Kansas, who performed a monologue from King Richard III and recited Sonnet 61. He will go on to represent the Kansas City branch as a semi-finalist at National competition at Lincoln Center in New York City. Gabrielle Rehor, a senior from Shawnee Mission Northwest High School, Shawnee, Kansas, won Second Place and Joshua Nastasi, a senior from Center High School, Kansas City, Missouri, won Third Place.
Here are some photos of the winners, and a photo of a celebratory dinner afterwards:
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