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ALL THE WORLD’S A STAGE
For teens from ESU Branches across the country

 

With his stirring performance of a sonnet and monologue from Shakespeare, John-Michael Lyles from Mesquite, Texas, a student of Eleanor Liindsay at Booker T. Washington High School for the Performing Arts in Dallas, won the 2010 English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition. The national competition was held on April 26th at Lincoln Center in New York City for 58 winners of ESU Branch competitions nationwide. John-Michael had won the ESU Dallas Branch competition. his prize for winning the national competition is the ESU's Amanda Steele Scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art's Young Actor's Summer School in London, England.

Caroline Amos, this year's winner of the ESU St. Louis Branch competition, was runner-up in the National Competition, winning $1000 from the ESU. Third place winner, Sophia Wise, representing the ESU Central Florida Branch, won $500 from the Shakespeare Society. The other finalists, chosen from the 58 ESU Branch Competition winners were: Aubrey Hays from the Jackson Branch, Reid Henderson from the Monmouth County Branch, Connor Lawhorn from the Hawaii Branch, Andrew Nielson from the Kansas City Branch, Luke Pizzato from the Charlotte Branch, Josh Redfield from the Phoenix Branch and Julia Strange from the Kentucky Branch. Also onstage to present a demonstration of the performance that made her a finalist in the ESU Mexico Shakespeare Competition was Maria Antonieta Pereira Del Rio.


(L to r) runner-up Caroline Amos, winner John-Michael Lyles and third-place winner Sophia Wise.
Since it was established in 1983 as a tool for teachers to provide a dynamic element in their Shakespeare classes, The English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition has inspired more than 250,000 young people around the country to develop their speaking and critical thinking skills and their appreciation of literature as they explore the beauty of the language and timeless themes in Shakespeare's works. The 2010 Competition engaged some 16,000 students and 2,000 high school teachers. In progresive competition levels, students memorize, interpret and perform monologues and sonnets in their own schools, at ESU Branch-administered community competitions and at the National Shakespeare Competition. The dedicated volunteers in the 58 participating ESU Branches who administered school and Branch competitions are to be heartily praised for their outstanding work on the National Shakespeare Competition, as are the high school teachers who put so much personal effort into training and encouraging their students to excel!
 

The 58 winners of local English-Speaking Union Branch Competitions were awarded the trip to New York City for the final stage of the National Competition. On April 25 they arrived at ESU Headquarters and immediately began to make friends with their fellow competitors.


Over lunch, they autographed the Competition Poster and were reminded
of the rules and procedures of the approaching Competition.

 

Headquarters provided these finalists with two days of activities, including an acting workshop at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and tours of the Big Apple. 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 their love of theater and, particularly, Shakespeare.

In addition, attending teachers and coaches participated in a workshop at Headquarters on teaching Shakespeare, directed by Josh Cabat, a Master Teacher of the Folger Shakespeare Library.
Early on Monday, April 26, the competitors were brought to the Vivian Beaumont Theater at Lincoln Center for the full day Competition.  Among the distinguished judges for this year’s Competition were Shakespeare scholar and Rutgers University Distinguished Professor of English Maurice Charney; actor and teaching artist Jacqueline Gregg; actor Peter Francis James; Lincoln Center Associate Director of Education Alexandra López; Manhattan Theatre Club Casting Director Nancy Piccione; author and teaching artist Nancy Reardon; Shakespeare Society Executive and Artistic Director Michael Sexton; and New York University Tisch School of the Arts Classical Studio Director Louis Scheeder.
At the conclusion of the Semifinals, the Hon. Patricia S. Schroeder, Chair of The English-Speaking Union of the United States (center), presented each of the 58 competitors with a certificate as a Semi-Finalist in The English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition.  Each participant also receives a constructive, written critique of the judges’ comments on his or her performance complied by Gwenyth Reitz, a director, actress, teaching artist and creative arts consultant.
As a preamble to the Competition Finals, Edwina Sandys MBE, (pictured at left) granddaughter of Sir Winston Churchill, who was instrumental in establishing
the National Shakespeare Competition in 1983, read a proclamation from the
Hon. Michael R. Bloomberg, Mayor of the City of New York, officially declaring it “William Shakespeare Day” in New York City.
 
  ESU Chair Patricia Schroeder (standing fourth from left) and ESU President and Executive Director Alice Boyne (standing fourth from right) honored teachers and Branch Competition coordinators on the Lincoln Center Vivian Beaumont Theatre stage.

 
As ESU President and Executive Director Alice Boyne noted, “The 58 competitors came as winners of their Branch Competitions, and their vibrant and intelligent performances on the Lincoln Center stage and their immediate, heartwarming bonding with each other demonstrated each and every one to be a true winner on a national scale.  They beautifully embodied the ESU purpose: creating global understanding through English.”

 

 

Click here for more information on the National Shakespeare Competition.

 

 
The English-Speaking Union of the United States
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