sign in sign up
<<
Home , Andre Braugher, Annie Parisse, Bernard Gersten, Cynthia Nixon, Dana Ivey, David Hare (playwright)

National Shakespeare Competition 2013 30th Season

The English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition is a school-based program designed to help high school students develop their speaking and critical thinking skills and their appreciation of literature as they explore the beauty of the language and the timeless themes in Shakespeare works. In the Competition, students read, interpret, and perform monologues and sonnets in three qualifying stages—at the school, community, and national levels.

Since its beginnings with 500 students in NYC, the ESU National Shakespeare Competition has given more than 250,000 young people of all backgrounds the opportunity to discover Shakespeare’s writings and to communicate their understanding of his language and message. Celebrating its 30th anniversary this year, the Competition currently involves 59 English-Speaking Union Branch communities nationwide.

Every spring, the winners of the local Branch Competitions come to City to take part in the ESU National Shakespeare Competition semi-finals held at . In the semi-finals, all contestants perform a monologue and a sonnet onstage. In the last phase of the Competition, those students selected as finalists present a cold reading of a monologue from one of Shakespeare’s plays in addition to their prepared monologues and sonnets.

The winner of the ESU National Shakespeare Competition receives a full tuition scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art’s Young Actors Summer School in London, England. The runner-up receives a full tuition scholarship to the American Shakespeare Center’s Camp in Staunton, Virginia, and third place is awarded $500 by The Shakespeare Society.

The ESU National Shakespeare Competition has been recognized by the Globe Center (USA), the Children’s Theatre Foundation of America, and the American Academy of Achievement. Judges for the Competition have included Andre Braugher, , Maurice Charney, , Barry Edelstein, Lisa Hamilton, , , , Peter Francis James, Kristin Linklater, Peter MacNicol, Jesse L. Martin, , Tina Packer, , Nancy Piccione, Phylicia Rashad, , Louis Scheeder, , , Courtney B. Vance, , , and . THE ESU NATIONAL SHAKESPEARE COMPETITION STAFF

Alice Boyne: President & Executive Director Carol Losos: Director of Educational Programs Katharine Moran: Manager, Shakespeare Education Programs Tanzilya Oren: Education Department Manager Karen Ruelle: Education Department Manager Alice Uhl: Education Department Manager Caitlin Murphy: Education Department Coordinator Christian Acevedo: Program Intern (NYU)

For more information on programs and membership, please visit: www.esuus.org The English-Speaking Union, 144 East 39th Street, New York, NY 10016 Tel: 212-818-1200 | Fax: 212-867-4177 11 The English-Speaking Union 2013 National Shakespeare Competition Semi-Finalists

Student Branch Teacher School Student Branch Teacher School

Rebecca Vangelos Los Angeles Christopher Tulysewski Sierra Canyon School Rachael Buchanan Syracuse Nichole Kuriatnyk Cicero-North Syracuse Hannah McNew Monroe Beckie Huckaby Cedar Creek School & Lisa Lynch High School Zachary Krietemeyer Naples Denise Gosselin-Rubiano Naples High School Josiah Price New Orleans Daniel LeBoeuf Early College Academy Sarah Feist Oklahoma City & Tulsa Kevin Hurst Jenks High School Brandon Paris Jacksonville, FL Dave Thomas Middleburg High School Augustus Cuddy Rochester Marcy Gamzon School of the Arts Thomas Bowden Albany Adam Collett The Albany Academies Annie Barbour Denver Shawn Hann Denver School of the Arts Levi Prudhomme Washington, DC Delilah Morris South Lakes High School & Kimberly Small Veronica Slater Delaware Liz Slater Padua Academy Anna Bortnick Boston Stephen Wrobleski Wellesley High School Xavier Pacheco Gabriel Silva Urban Assembly School for the Performing Arts April Davis Colonial North Carolina Matthew Clay Raines Kinston High School Roxanne Snider Greensboro Lindsey Clinton-Kraack Weaver Academy Dylan Wade Southwest Virginia Rebecca George Salem High School Matthew Nelson Memphis John Maness Arlington High School Mary C. Taylor San Diego Kim Strassburger Coronado School of the Arts & Sara Lyn Archibald Katherine Warnusz-Steckel Saint Louis Kelley Weber Clayton High School Sara Costello Central Florida Patti Magee Timber Creek High School & Justin Seiwell Krysteen Hammond Columbus Jessica Sharp Reynoldsburg High School Teresa Gilstrap Nashville Alana Wortman Pope John Paul II High School Lucas Reilly Austin Johanna Whitmore Round Rock High School Eliza Hopkins Niagara Frontier/Buffalo Susan Drozd Buffalo Seminary & Charles Hobby Jay San Luis Desert (Palm Springs) Christian Kiley Etiwanda High School Hannah Antman Hilerre Kirsch New Trier High School Annabel Hope San Francisco Phillip Rayher Ruth Asawa San Francisco Stoan Maslev Palm Beach Wade Handy Alexander W. Dreyfoos School of the Arts School of the Arts Breanna Bloom Indianapolis Scott Garvin Goshen High School Abigail Van Horn Eric Brannen The Lovett School Benjamin Ellsworth Phoenix David L. Gardner Mountain View High School William (Liam) G. Rowland III Charlottesville Bridget Mitchell Renaissance School Brandon Glaser Fort Lauderdale Julia Perlowski Pompano Beach High School Carter Ford Princeton Kirsten Lynch-Walsh Gloucester County Ryan Brophy Houston Paul Shaffer Clements High School Institute of Technology Benjamin Briggs Seattle David Grosskopf Roosevelt High School Emily Sullivan Cincinnati Julia St. Pierre Wyoming High School Holly Strother Sandhills Adam Faw Pinecrest High School Emily Shue Central Pennsylvania Susan C. Biondo-Hench Carlisle High School Colton Ryan Kentucky Paul Thomas Lafayette High School Aric Floyd Cleveland Julia Griffin Hawken School Jacob M. McHugh Charlotte Heidi Breeden Ardrey Kell High School & Peggy Smith Eric Yanes Tucson Cathy Simon Desert Christian High School Wyatt McCall Kansas City Robin Murphy Olathe Northwest High School Hunter Morton Lexington, VA Michael Villacrusis Turner Ashby High School Alvaro Soto Providence Deloris Grant Central Falls High School Casey R. Pressler Jackson, MS Dr. Robert Brooks Mississippi School of the Arts Emily M. Schmid Research Triangle, NC Christine Northrup William G. Enloe Magnet High School Madelyn Monaghan Monmouth County, NJ Joe Russo Red Bank Regional High School Daniel Wisniewski Philadelphia Marlene Goebig The Philadelphia High School for Davis Tate Savannah DJ Queenan Savannah Country Day School Creative and Performing Arts Lea DiMarchi Hawaii Edward Moore Punahou School Madelynn Pedersen Portland Matthew Wilson Tigard High School Rachel Pride Dallas JE Masters Highland Park High School Eunjeong (Hannah) Jeong Toledo Kevin J. Hayes Maumee Valley Country Henry Ayres-Brown Greenwich Carolyn Ladd Educational Center for the Arts Day School Troy Henry Fort Worth James Venhaus All Saints’ Episcopal School

1 2 Semi-Finals Judges

The English-Speaking Union MAURICE CHARNEY is past President of the Shakespeare 2013 National Shakespeare Competition Association of America. He is Distinguished Professor of English at and a Shakespearean scholar. Dr. Charney is Semi-Finals | April 22, 2013 | 8:30 a.m. the author of many books, including Shakespeare’s Roman Plays, Style in , Hamlet’s Fictions, and How to Read Shakespeare, as well as other books on modern and contemporary The Judges literature. He has also edited numerous plays in addition to the book, Bad Shakespeare. Dr. Charney has had three books Maurice Charney Melinda Hall Wendy Halm-Violette published by Press—one of commentaries, Distinguished Professor of English Actor, Writer, Director & Producer Teacher Trainer All of Shakespeare, a critical analysis, Shakespeare on Love and Rutgers University Willful Pictures The Shakespeare Society & Lust, and Wrinkled Deep in Time: Aging in Shakespeare. Dr. (Shakespeare’s Birthday Sonnet Slam) Lincoln Center Institute Charney has published a two-volume work entitled Comedy: A Geographic and Historical Guide, an analysis of The Comic World of the Marx Brothers’ Movies, and, most recently, an exploration Alexandra López Geoffrey Owens of Shakespeare’s Villains. Associate Director of Education Actor & Director Lincoln Center Theater

PROGRAM MELINDA HALL is a writer, director, producer and actor who lives in New York City. She is producing the 3rd annual Welcome by Alice Boyne Shakespeare’s Birthday Sonnet Slam which will take place President & Executive Director, The English-Speaking Union of the ~ on April 23rd from 1-4 pm at the Bandshell in . Introduction of the judges and summary of competition rules Come hear all 154 sonnets read aloud by people of all ages. ~ It’s free! For the Shakespeare Series at the New York Public Presentation by Regina Ríos Gudiño, Library 2013, Ms. Hall was honored to give a talk on the style ESU Mexico Shakespeare Competition of directing for Shakespeare for the stage. She is a member ~ The Competition, First Session of SAG-AFTRA, Actors’ Equity Association, the Dramatist Twenty contestants present a monologue and sonnet Guild and the Independent Filmmaker Project. Her current ~ film project is How Shakespeare Changed My Life, which The Competition, Second Session interviews people sharing a pivotal moment when Shakespeare literally changed their lives. Twenty contestants present a monologue and sonnet Follow her on : @willfulpictures and @sonnetslam. ~ The Competition, Third Session Eighteen contestants present a monologue and sonnet ~ Judges retire to deliberate WENDY HALM-VIOLETTE is currently a Teacher Trainer for The Shakespeare Society and ~ Lincoln Center Institute. For the past 33 years, she taught English and the popular Shakespeare Closing remarks elective at New Utrecht High School in , while coordinating the first Peer Mediation program in New York City schools. Ms. Halm-Violette was one of the first teachers to work with the New York Shakespeare Festival at (NYU) and was a co-founder of the Brooklyn Shakespeare Festival. She has developed and conducted workshops for students and teachers at 4 several New York high schools and at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. 3 4 Semi-Finals Judges continued

ALEXANDRA LÓPEZ has worked as a theater director, producer and educator. In her current role as Associate Director of Education at Lincoln Center Theater, Alexandra works on the Middle School Shakespeare Program, which is based on the belief that students learn best when they approach Shakespeare The English-Speaking Union as actors and work towards a final creative product that explores National Shakespeare Competition collaborative ways of retelling Shakespeare’s stories. Alexandra | | has directed for the Creative Arts Team Youth Theatre, Henry Finals April 22, 2013 5:00 p.m. Street Settlement/Abrons Arts Center, INTAR, Judith Shakespeare Company, New York International Fringe Festival and Puerto Rican The Judges Traveling Theatre, and she has produced theater performances Adjoa Andoh Ralph Alan Cohen Peter Francis James at the University of Pennsylvania, Hamptons Shakespeare Festival, INTAR and the Actor Director of Mission and Co-founder, Actor Royal Shakespeare Company American Shakespeare Center Fringe Festival. As the Coordinator of the Paul A. Kaplan Center for Educational Drama, Alexandra administered graduate level courses for NYU students and NYC teachers, and produced the New Tina Packer York City Student Shakespeare Festival from 1993 to 2004. She also served as a Shakespeare Teacher, Director, Actor, Playwright Actor and Founding Artistic Director Festival commentator and directing coach between 2005 and 2008. As an educator, Alexandra Shakespeare & Company worked for several years as an Actor/Teacher for NYU’s Creative Arts Team in public schools PROGRAM throughout NYC, and as a teaching artist for New Jersey Performing Arts Center. She was also Welcome by Alice Boyne a drama teacher and director at the Brearley School and Bank Street School for Children in New President & Executive Director, The English-Speaking Union of the United States York. Alexandra has a Bachelor of Arts in English and Theatre from the University of Pennsylvania. ~ Introduction of the judges and summary of competition rules ~ The Competition — The finalists present a monologue, sonnet and cold reading ~ Judges retire to deliberate GEOFFREY OWENS has performed numerous Shakespeare ~ roles (including Puck, Romeo, Orlando and Bottom) at theaters Reading of a Proclamation from The Honorable such as The New York Shakespeare Festival, The Long Wharf Mayor of the City of New York, Theater, The Two River Theater, Circus Theatricals, and by Shakespeare Festival LA. He has also directed productions of Mark Thompson President & CEO, Company , Richard III, , The Taming of ~ the Shrew, The Two Gentlemen of Verona, and As You Like It. Presentation of certificates to the 59 participants by He has taught Shakespeare (at HB Studio and through private Danny Lopez The British Consul-General New York workshops) for over twenty years. He is currently directing Henry ~ the Sixth, Part II at the NYU-Tisch School. Announcement of third, second and first place winners ~ Presentation of prizes to third, second and first place winners Third prize provided by The Shakespeare Society Second Prize provided by The American Shakespeare Center First prize provided by The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art ~ Closing remarks

5 6 Finals Judges Finals Judges

ADJOA ANDOH is currently starring as Portia in the Royal which he also co-edited for Oxford University Press’s Collected Works of Thomas Middleton. He is Shakespeare Company’s production of Julius Caesar at the the author of ShakesFear and How to Cure It: A Handbook for Teaching Shakespeare, has twice Brooklyn Academy of Music. She originated this role in Stratford, guest edited special teaching issues of Shakespeare Quarterly, and has published articles on as well as touring in the production in the UK and Russia. She teaching Shakespeare as well as on Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and Elizabethan staging. He is the has also appeared in the RSC productions of The Dispute (Lyric recipient of the Virginia Governor’s Award for the Arts for his work with the American Shakespeare Hammersmith), Tamburlaine the Great, The Odyssey. Theater Center. Dr. Cohen earned his undergraduate degree at Dartmouth College, his doctorate at Duke includes: Or You Could Kiss Me, The Revenger’s Tragedy, His Dark University, and he has honorary degrees from Georgetown University and St. Lawrence University. Materials, (National Theatre); Joe Turner’s Come and Gone, In the Red and the Brown Water (Young Vic); Purgatorio (Arcola); Nights at the Circus (Kneehigh/Lyric Hammersmith); Sugar Mummies, Breath Boom (Royal Court); Blood Wedding (Almeida); PETER FRANCIS JAMES has appeared on Broadway in Edward Pericles, Glory (Lyric Hammersmith); The Vagina Monologues Albee’s The Lady From Dubuque and The Merchant of Venice. He (Monologues Ltd.); The Murder of Jesus Christ (Three Mills Studio); Starstruck (Tricycle). TV: Law also previously appeared in The Lady From Dubuque with Dame and Order UK, Scott and Bailey, MI High, Doctor Who, Missing, Mrs. Inbetweeny, The Shadow in (London – ) and he starred the North, Wire in the Blood, Silent Witness, Chopra Town, Dalziel and Pascoe, In Search of Myths as Colin Powell in David Hare’s newest play about the Iraq War, and Heroes, Casualty, Jonathan Creek, Close Relations, Brass Eye, , Paul Merton’s Twelve Stuff Happens, at The Public Theater (OBIE, Lucille Angry Men. Films: In the Dark Half, Invictus, Adulthood, Every Time You Look at Me, A Rather Lortel, and Drama Desk Awards). Other theater credits include: English Marriage, What My Mother Told Me. Radio: Frequent appearances in radio as well On Golden Pond, Drowning Crow, Judgment at Nuremberg as Books at Bedtime, Poetry Please, Something Understood, and A History of the World in 100 (Broadway), August Wilson’s Gem of the Ocean (Mark Taper Forum, Objects. Andoh has been featured in many audiobooks, including The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective L.A.), House of Flowers (Encores!), the Baron in Suzan-Lori Park’s Agency series. Venus, Claire in The Maids (), Jupiter in Amphityron (CSC), Scent of the Roses with , and Jean in Miss Julie (McCarter). He has also appeared in A.R. Gurney’s Buffalo Gal at the Baltimore Center Stage. He has performed many Shakespeare roles including: in Othello, (Baltimore Center Stage), RALPH ALAN COHEN is the Director of Mission and Co-Founder Oberon in Sir ’s production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Ahmanson), Coriolanus in of the American Shakespeare Center, which he co-founded with Coriolanus, Don Pedro in Much Ado About Nothing, Pisanio in Cymbeline, Aenas in Troilus and Tim Kaine in 1988. He is also the Gonder Professor of Shakespeare Cressida, Benvolio in Romeo and , and Octavius Caesar in Julius Caesar. and Renaissance Literature in Performance in the Master of Letters and Fine Arts program at Mary Baldwin College. Dr. Cohen is a Mr. James’ film and credits include: Recurring on as Milton Crawford, former professor of English at James Madison University. While True Story (Summer release), The Losers, The Pack, The Rebound, The Messenger with Woody at JMU, he won Virginia’s award for outstanding faculty. In 2002 Harrelson, The Story with , Joe Gould’s Secret, The Wedding (mini- and 2004, he was the project director for the National Endowment series), Simple Justice, and The Ruby Bridges Story. He has also worked on the television shows Oz, for the Humanities-sponsored institutes, “Shakespeare’s , , Kings, Third Watch, Guiding Light, and all three Law & Order series. Inside and Out,” held at the Blackfriars Playhouse in Staunton and Mr. James is a graduate and an associate of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, and he teaches Shakespeare’s Globe in London. He was the project director for acting at Yale School of Drama. the building of the Blackfriars Playhouse.

Dr. Cohen has directed twenty professional productions of plays by Shakespeare and his Finals Judges continued next page contemporaries. In 1990 he directed a student production of Thomas Middleton’s Your Five Gallants,

7 8 Finals Judges continued

TINA PACKER is currently performing in Women of Will: The Overview at The Gym at Judson Memorial Church in New York City. She wrote the script and the book, which follow the fortunes of Shakespeare’s women, the Bard’s own psychological development The English Speaking Union and its relevance to today’s world. The book is to be published by National Shakespeare Competition Supporters Knopf in Fall 2014. Women of Will runs in NYC until June 2nd. In 1978, she founded Shakespeare & Company, a center for “So, thanks to all at once and to each one.” training, education and performance in the Berkshires, and led the Macbeth 5.8 Company for 33 years, stepping aside as Artistic Director in order to develop Women of Will. She has directed most of the plays The English-Speaking Union of the United States gratefully acknowledges the supporters of the ESU National Shakespeare Competition’s 30th Anniversary. in the canon, acted in many, and explores some twenty of them in Women of Will. She has taught at Harvard, MIT and Columbia Dr. Paul Beresford-Hill, MBE Business School (leading to her book, Power Plays: Shakespeare’s Lessons in Leadership and Jean Paul & Margaret Elard Management, with co-author John Whitney). Her book for children, Tales from Shakespeare, won Vivien H. Gurfein the Parents’ Choice Award. Among her other acknowledgements, she received ’s Ludmila S. Hess highest honor, The Commonwealth Award, for her contribution to the arts. She is the subject of the Dorothy N. Hidalgo PBS documentary Sex, Violence and Poetry: a Portrait of Tina Packer; and Helen Epstein’s book, Marjorie Kennedy The Companies She Keeps. Last month, she finally made it onto Charlie Rose. She remains with Shakespeare & Company as a teacher, director and actor. Mary Ann Moran Natalie T. Pray The Honorable Patricia S. Schroeder Dr. Henry P. Williams, III ANNIE PARISSE has appeared in diverse projects spanning Bessie L. Wilson motion pictures, television and stage performances on and off Broadway. Last year she starred in the Tony Award winning play The Achelis and Bodman Foundations at the . She also starred in The American Shakespeare Center Price Check, which premiered at last year’s Sundance Film Marguerite Casey Foundation Festival, and One for the Money opposite , and was & Lincoln Center Theater seen last summer in Sony’s blockbuster The Amazing Spiderman. J. M. Kaplan Fund Her past TV credits include recurring roles on the CBS drama F. M. Kirby Foundation, Inc. Unforgettable, HBO’s Rubicon and the award winning Showtime drama The Big C. She played Lena Riggi in the acclaimed HBO The Morgan Library & Museum miniseries . Annie was also a series regular on Law & The Mountbatten Institute Order for four seasons playing A.D.A. Alexandra Borgia. The The Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) Annie has appeared in many films including: My Own Love Song, Tickling Leo, Definitely, Maybe, The Shakespeare Society Prime, Blackbird, Monster-in-Law, National Treasure and How To Lose a Guy in Ten Days. She has Tisch School of the Arts, New York University also starred on Broadway in Prelude to a Kiss at the Roundabout Theatre. She played the title role ~ in Becky Shaw at Second Stage, where she received a nomination. She also received To contribute to the English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition, a Drama Desk Nomination for her work in the off-Broadway production of The Internationalist. please visit www.esuus.org Previously this year, she returned to her recurring role on CBS’s hit drama Person of Interest. Currently, Annie can be seen starring on FOX’s new hit drama The Following.

9 10 The ESU Shakespeare Competition Coordinators:

Albany Nancy Mahar Monmouth County, NJ Janet D. Pitman Atlanta Pamela Sellman & Ellen Quirk Austin Leslie Thomas Monroe Karen Pittman Boston Antonio Cinelli Naples Joy Gorence & Ellen Stephens Central Florida Ginger Bryant Nashville Dr. Ann Cook Calhoun Central Pennsylvania Nadine Kofman & Bonni Resinski New Orleans Clare Moncrief Charlotte Dr. Robert Doak New York City ESU Education Charlottesville C. Brian Kelly Niagara Frontier/Buffalo Susan Drozd, Albert Franco & Ruth Robson Chicago Victoria Arnold & Jacqueline Thompson Oklahoma City Kathryn McGill & Paul Stevenson Cincinnati Bob Amott & Janice Flanagan Palm Beach Beverly Blanchette, James Hilliker Cleveland Lisa Ortenzi & Peggy L. Phillips & John Rampe Philadelphia Sheila Leith Colonial North Carolina A. Barbara Vickers & Dr. Ray Vickers Phoenix Steve Abaroa Columbus Patricia Moore Portland Susan M. Ferris & Anne McDonald Dallas Martha Chawner Princeton Kathryn Marmion Delaware Sylvia F. Lahvis & Sonja Herzinger Denver Lisa Cillessen Providence David C. Burnham & Brian Kurz Research Triangle, NC Gina Winter Desert (Palm Springs) Dr. Charles W. Gay Rochester Wendy Low Fort Lauderdale Julia Perlowski & Kathy Ryan-Fores San Diego Rhoda Auer & Alice Kirby Fort Worth Sharon Haberer San Francisco Jo Ellis Greensboro Anne N. Jones & Laura Phelps Greenwich Anne Hall Elser Sandhills Anthony W. Hantjis & Caterina Kavanagh Savannah Wilson Morris Hawaii Mark Lawhorn & Linda Fisk & Lynn Haff Seattle Susan Wilson Houston Mary Koenig & Eli Kirkpatrick Indianapolis Mary-Patricia Warneke Southwest, Virginia Drew Gibbons Jackson, MS James Lander & Jane Sandel & Dr. Charles Jackson Saint Louis Robin Weatherall Jacksonville, FL Catherine B. Baum & Barbara Lewington & Barbara Willette Syracuse Susan T. Jarosz Kansas City Daniel Bukovac & Wendy Davenport & Jeffrey L. Schnabel Toledo Amy Spaulding-Heuring Kentucky J. Andy Perry & Madge Levinson Lexington, VA Al Gordon Tucson Jerome Helm Los Angeles Susanna Adkins & Sherry Weiss & Jean Bruce Poole Tulsa Kathryn McGill Memphis Carla Loveless & Paul Stevenson & Wilma Rutland Washington, DC A. Graham Down & Susannah Patton

11

A glance at our past ......

The National Shakespeare Competition was initiated during this international arts festival.

15 16 17 18