 23 april 200716,000 students speaking shakespeare! The New Globe is very proud to have partnered with the English-Speaking Union for their National Shakespeare Competition. To learn more about the ESU, click here. 16,000 students and 2,000 teachers from across the United States participated in a curriculum-based program designed to help high school students develop their communications skills and appreciation of language and literature, through the study, interpretation and performance of Shakespeare's monologues and sonnets. On the Bard's 443rd birthday, the grand finale was held at Lincoln Center.  watch the award-winning performances from the finale Congratulations to Adam Brown from the Youth Performing Arts School in Kentucky (First Place), Jeweline Hale from the Curie Metropolitan High School in Chicago (Second Place), and Kristopher Dean from the North Penn High School in Philadelphia (Third Place) and all the amazingly talented participants. first place: Below you can admire Adam Brown's awe-inspiring performance of (1) Sonnet 130, (2) Shylock from The Merchant of Venice (Act III, Scene 1, lines 53-73 with cuts), and (3) his cold reading of Berowne from Love's Labour's Lost. With this brilliant performance Adam won a scholarship provided by the British American Drama Academy (BADA) to their four-week Midsummer in Oxford drama program in classical theater. During normal school hours, Adam Brown, 17, is a junior at the Youth Performing Arts School in Louisville, Kentucky. In the afternoons, he heads off to the Walden Theater, an afterschool conservatory for students, where he has studied for the last eight years. The entire drama department at his school, about 90 students, competes annually in ESU's National Shakespeare competition, but only upper grader students are allowed to compete in the Senior Division Competition. Adam provided these tips to students wishing to overcome the challenges of performing Shakespeare: "When reading anything by Shakespeare, you realize that it could be done in any of countless ways. For instance, with the Shylock monologue: you could go for the anger in the piece and play the fury of his years of oppression and humiliation; or you could find the sadness and play the pity me aspect of his psyche; or you could find his greedy side and play his lust for money, power and revenge. I tried to not only look at all of those different aspects, but to put them all together and see what came out. I think it's very simple to play one emotion, but if you do that, I think you are not getting the whole picture. Humans are complex beings and are capable of being on many emotional plains at once, and when performing Shylock, I know that he's not just angry for being cheated, but he's also sad and greedy and vengeful and delighted at the chance of revenge. The fun of the piece comes not from learning it, but from trying to grasp the genius of Shakespeare in 20 lines." To read the complete interview with Adam, click here. second place: Below you can view Jeweline Hale's award-winning performance of (1) Beatrice from Much Ado About Nothing (Act IV, Scene 1, lines 298-323 with cuts), (2) Sonnet 116, and (3) her cold reading of Volumnia from Coriolanus. Her excellent performance won Jeweline the $1,000 prize bestowed on the runner-up from the English-Speaking Union. When she looked around at her peers at the Lincoln Center competition, 17 year-old Jeweline Hale said that one thought kept going through her mind: "Wow ... Shakespeare rocks!" Describing herself as extremely shy and submissive person, Jeweline said that she chose Beatrice's monologue from Much Ado About Nothing because "it allowed me the chance to be a strong bold woman who wasn't afraid to speak her mind." Her biggest challenge, she said, was coming out of her shell, so that she could open up to the peers around her. Being on stage - which she says, she "loves, loves, loves" - allowed her to leave a part of herself behind, and enter into a space "where everything is great, and nothing is out of my reach ... everything is obtainable." Jeweline is planning to spend "every penny" of her $1,000 prize on her college books this fall. She has a few tips for next year's contestants: "enjoy yourself, don't be afraid to open up to people - they may become good friends, but most importantly, bring your 'A game' because everyone will be good, so it's up to you to be GREAT." third place: Below you can view Kristopher Dean's award-winning performance of (1) Sonnet 50, (2) his cold reading of Coriolanus from Coriolanus, and (3) Bottom from A Midsummer Night's Dream (Act IV, Scene 1, lines 200-219). Kristopher was awarded $500 from the Shakespeare Society for his wonderful performance. 17 year-old Kristopher Dean started acting in middle school, at 12, mostly performing in musicals. Four North Penn H.S. students competed with Kristopher in the school's competition. To gain a performing edge, he removed all punctuation from both his chosen monologue and sonnet, and searched for different ways to present the ideas that the "plain words" meant to him. Kristopher says the most challenging thing about playing Bottom (from A Midsummer's Night Dream) was trying to keep himself from being too eccentric and too big. He also had to make sure that in his stupor after waking up from the "dream," he could be understood and wouldn't stumble over his words. He wants to pursue an acting career in college - although he's not quite sure where he'll land. He considers acting "the best thing since sliced bread."  congratulation to the other 7 fabulously talented finalists! In order of performance, they were Ashley Montondo (The South Carolina Governor's School for the Arts and Humanities, representing the Greenville Branch), Leanne Troutman (Kenmore West High School, representing the Niagara Frontier Branch), Rachel Kenney (Gilmour Academy, representing the Cleveland Branch), Danny Skinner (Highland Park High School, representing the Dallas Branch), Gary Tremble (Chattanooga High School Center for Creative Art, representing the Chattanooga Branch), Lily Drexler (Lowell High School, representing the San Francisco Branch), and Gracie Terzian (Oakton High School, representing the Washington DC Area Branch). To watch Ashley Montondo's performance, click here. To watch Leanne Troutman's performance, click here. To watch Rachel Kenney's performance, click here. To watch Danny Skinner's performance, click here. To watch Gary Tremble's performance, click here. To watch Lily Drexler's performance, click here. To watch Gracie Terzian's performance, click here. stay tuned for our documentary following students from the first day of rehearsals to the grand finale at lincoln center! To learn more about the English-Speaking Union and the National Shakespeare Competition, click here. |