THE ENGLISH SPEAKING UNION Education – Scholarship – Understanding Newsletter Desert Branch – May 2016 ESU CALENDAR
MAY
20 – 22 Region VIII Meeting-Denver, CO
HAVE A WONDERFUL SUMMER STAY SAFE AND COOL
SEPTEMBER
8 – Board meeting – 11 AM City Hall, Cathedral City
OCTOBER
12 -14 2016 ESU Annual General Meeting Winter Park, Florida 13 – Board meeting – 11 AM City Hall, Cathedral City 22 – Speakers Corner - TBA
P.O. Box 4796, Palm Springs, CA 92263-4796 Telephone – 760-862-5505 – Voice Mail Email: [email protected] Facebook: ESU-Desert Branch ESU DESERT BRANCH 2015-2016 OFFICERS
PRESIDENT Rick Cherry PRESIDENT’S MESSAGE 760-641-7757 [email protected] Greetings to all ESU members VICE PRESIDENT Shakespeare Chair President’s Message – Dave Richardt This will be my last President’s Message for this season and as TREASURER President of this branch. What a wonderful season we had! Ed Kazlauskas, PhD My heartfelt thanks go out to the entire Board of Directors that worked tirelessly this past season to make all of our events, mixers SECRETARY Mary Ann Sutherland and programs such a success and who have supported me these last 3 years.
IMMEDIATE PAST My thanks also to our members, who have supported our efforts with PRESIDENT their attendance at our events, for volunteering and for your Geri Dicks encouraging words during the year.
BOARD MEMBERS Our profitable Mixers this year have been important in continuing to raise funds for our educational activities such as our very successful Term Expires 2016 Shakespeare High School Competition in March and our High Sid Adair Patti Gallagher, PhD School Creative Writing Contest. Audrey Provan Our annual Shakespeare High School Competition was one of the Term Expires 2017 best ever and I am always amazed at the talent of these students. Bill Gay, PhD The updating to the locations of the preliminaries and finals was an Term Expires 2018 added treat this year. Jean Hopkins Lew Pusch Our Speaker’s Corner event with The Desert Sun report, Denise Goolsby, was fun and informative and our Special Mixer at Cabot’s HONORARY Pueblo Museum was delightful. BOARD MEMBERS Nancy Adams Holliday Matilde Jones Again, I appreciate everyone who has helped to make my term as President so rewarding for me.
PRESIDENT EMERITA Have safe and fun summer and I look forward to seeing you in the Joy Daniels Brower Fall.
WEBSITE Many thanks, www.esuus.org/branches/desert Rick EMAIL [email protected]
FACEBOOK ESU Desert Branch And the Winners ARE . . .
Each year, the ESU holds a creative writing competition for high school students in the Coachella Valley. This year we had over 100 submissions – on the topic of “Tomorrow is not promised.”
The students’ approaches varied widely. Some wrote formal essays, others submitted short stories. The judging was “blind”; the readers did not know the names of the students or their schools or their teachers. So we were surprised when the three winners were all from the same school – Coachella Valley High School – and from the same teacher – Simon Moore.
And the winners are: First place: Simon T. Moore (yes the teacher’s son!), who wrote an affecting story about the struggles of a young man and his loving family to help him escape his environment and get get to college. Second place: Teresita Hernandez, who wrote about friendship in the face of a tragic illness. Third place: Lesley Chavez, who wrote about young people seeking connection and love amid the dislocations of an imagined war.
Congratulations to each of our winners! If you would like to read their wonderful stories, you will find them attached to this newsletter
ESU ANNUAL MEETING
ESU held their Annual Meeting on Saturday, May 14 at Seven Lakes Country Club. A wonderful buffet luncheon was enjoyed by ESU members and guests.
Officers for the coming year were elected: Geri Dicks, President; Dave Richardt, Vice President; Patti Gallagher, Secretary; Rick Cherry, Treasurer; and Rick Cherry will also serve as Immediate Past President. Board members elected to a second 3 year term were Sidney Adair and Audrey Provan. Lisa Luisi was elected to her first 3 year term.
Prizes were given to the ESU Writing Competition winner and Shakespeare winner Jake Mulé presented his winning sonnet and monologue. He also told of his trip to New York. His parents thanked ESU for giving Jake the opportunity to experience this special event.
Gifts and thanks were given to outgoing President Rick Cherry for his 3 years of dedication and also to Ed Kazlauskas for the 8 years he served as Treasurer. JAKE MULÉ A FINALIST IN 33rd ANNUAL ENGLISH-SPEAKING UNION NATIONAL SHAKESPEARE COMPETITON IN NEW YORK CITY
With a performance of a sonnet and monologue from Shakespeare on stage at Lincoln Center in New York City, JAKE MULÉ from Rancho Mirage, CA, a student of Susie Zachik at Palm Valley School in Rancho Mirage, won a place as one of the 10 finalists in the 33rd annual English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition. The Competition took place on May 2, 2016 with 55 semi-finalists from as many ESU Branch competitions nationwide. Jake previously won the ESU Desert (Palm Springs) Branch competition.
The 2016 English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition is part of Shakespeare400, the international yearlong celebration of Shakespeare’s works. This year, the Competition marked the milestone of exceeding 300,000 student participants since its inception in 1983. Among the winners and finalists of the Competition who have gone on to national acclaim are actor and director Joe Sofranko, whose Hulu series Complete Works is, in fact, based on the National Shakespeare Competition; actors Emily Bergl (Shameless, Desperate Housewives, Southland); Tyler Hilton (Walk the Line, One Tree Hill); Heather Lind (Demolition, Boardwalk Empire, Turn: Washington’s Spies); Bronwyn Reed (Law and Order: SVU); as well as Broadway’s Matt Harrington (Twelfth Night, Matilda) and Adam Wesley Brown (Once the Musical).
This winner of the 33rd English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition, Ari Dalbert, representing the Hawai’i Branch, received a full scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art’s Young Actors Summer School in London, England, this summer. Second place winner, Zoë Oliver, from Greenwich Branch, won a scholarship to attend the American Shakespeare Center Theatre Camp in Staunton, VA, while the third place winner, Cecilia Harchegani, representing the San Diego Branch of the ESU, received $500 from The Shakespeare Society.
The ESU provided the semi-finalists with two full days of educational and cultural activities in New York City, including an exclusive acting workshop at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and a performance of the Something Rotten! on Broadway. Perhaps best of all for these teenagers was the opportunity to spend a weekend in New York City with other students from across the country who share a love of the English language and, particularly, Shakespeare. Founded in 1920, the English-Speaking Union is a nonprofit, nonpolitical organization that promotes English as a shared language to foster global understanding and good will by providing educational and cultural opportunities for students and educators.
Jake Mulé, finalist, competing at Lincoln Center in New York City during the 2016 English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition. ESU ANNUAL MEETING AND AWARDS LUNCH
ESU Writing Competition Winners Co-chairs Lew Pusch and Mary Ann Sutherland Teresita Hernandez, Simon Moore and Lesley Chavez All students at Coachella Valley High School
CoachellaValleyHSTeacher ESUWritingCompositionCo-Chairs JakeMulé’sparentsthankingESU SimonMoore MaryAnnSutherland&LewPusch fortheopportunitygivenJaké ESU DESERT BRANCH 2015-2016 OFFICERS
President – Rick Cherry Vice President – Dave Richardt Treasurer –Ed Kazlauskas, Ph.D [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 760-641-7757 760-324-0591 760-773-2129
Secretary – Mary Ann Sutherland Immediate Past President–Geri Dicks [email protected] [email protected] 760-548-0707 760-568-6412
2015 – 2016 COMMITTEES AND BOARD MEMBERS
Membership Mixers Creative Writing Competition GeriDicks RickCherry/Ed Kazlauskus, PhD Mary Ann Sutherland/Lew Pusch [email protected] [email protected]/[email protected] [email protected] 760-568-6412 760-641-7757/760-773-2129 [email protected] 760-5480707/760-832-6080 Shakespeare Competition Special Events Publicity Telephone Tree DaveRichardt RickCherry RickCherry SidAdair [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] 760-324-0591 760-641-7757 760-641-7757 760-325-1739
BOARD MEMBERS Patti Gallagher, PhD Bill Gay, PhD Jean Hopkins Audrey Provan
Newsletter – Geri Dicks – 760-568-6412 – [email protected]