News And Events

News And Events

2018 Shakespeare Competition Results

Our 16 contestants in the Central Florida branch Shakespeare Competition.


On February 26, sixteen students from the tri-county area arrived at The University Club to participate in The English-Speaking Union's annual Shakespeare competition. Vying for the opportunity to win $1,000.00 for First Place, along with an additional $500.00 to cover the cost of travel and the chance to perform in New York City, this year's contenders made for difficult judging decisions. On the panel of judges this year were Anne Hering: Director of Education at The Orlando Shakespeare Theater, Kate Ingram: Associate Professor and Graduate Acting Program Coordinator at UCF, and Dr

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2018 Drey Scholars Honored at Reception

Joseph Cummiskey, Jennifer Gautier, Elaine Wiedemer, Amanda Dickson, Barbara Ihns and Reta Jackson, Scholar Chair

Members of the Central Florida Branch of ESU gathered with friends and families of the teachers chosen as 2018 Drey Scholars at the Winter Park University Club on Sunday afternoon, Feb. 25th.

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The Englishness of Georg Frideric Handel

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January Dinner Meeting

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Central Florida Branch Program Meeting December 4, 2017


Dr. Grant Cornwell, President of Rollins College, spoke to our membership on the topic: On Purpose: Liberal Education and the Question of Values. Dr. Cornwell then answered questions from the audience on issues ranging from the concerns of the proposed tax bill's impact on higher education to why higher education costs have skyrocketed in recent years to the role of sororities and fraternities on college campuses.

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2017 TLAB Scholars Present Reports to the Membership

From left to right Cynthia Hutsell(Oxford), Sheri Hjelm (Oxford), Gabriella David's (theGlobe), Gail Chase (the Globe), Nancy West (Oxford) and Reta Jackson, Scholar Chair.

One member of the audience at the Central Florida Branch's November 13th meeting told me, "I expected the ESU event to be informative, but I found it inspirational! Congrats on such an inspiring group of teachers. I envy their students and applaud these teachers…." I think everyone will agree that Cynthia Hutsell, Nancy West and Sheri Hjelm reporting on their experiences at Oxford this summer and Gabriella Davids with Gail Chase explaining how the Globe Theater's program impacted their teaching was an outstanding program. The key word of the afternoon was "transformative."  Each teacher demonstrated the importance of being a life long learner and how that translates in her classroom. We will hear from James Brendlinger, who attended the Creative Writing program at the University of Scotland in Edinburgh, at a future meeting as James had a bout with the flu bug. Our Branch is so fortunate to have such amazing scholars.

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Dinner with Harpist Jan Jennings

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CENTRAL FLORIDA TEEN COMPETES IN 34th ANNUAL ENGLISH-SPEAKING UNION NATIONAL SHAKESPEARE COMPETITON IN NEW YORK CITY

With a performance of a sonnet and monologue from Shakespeare, Paige Pedersen  from Orlando, FL, a student of Louise Williams at Olympia High School in Orlando, placed as a semi-finalist in the 34th  annual English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition in New York City. The Competition took place on May 1, 2017 on the stage of the Mitzi Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center with 54 semi-finalists from as many ESU Branch competitions nationwide. Paige previously won the ESU Central Florida Branch competition.

This year's winner of the 34th English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition, Ogechi Egonu, representing theSan Francisco Branch, received a full scholarship to attend the American Shakespeare Center Theatre Camp in Staunton, VA, this summer.  Second place winner, Brandon Burk, from the Kentucky Branch, won a cash prize of $1,000 from The English-Speaking Union, while the third place winner, Trevon Wainwright, representing the Kansas City Branch of the ESU, received an award of $500 provided by The Shakespeare Society.

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ESU Central Florida Second Annual Scholars Reunion

SCHOLARS' REUNION SOCIAL A BIG HIT

Marlow's Tavern on 17-92 in Winter Park hosted the second annual gathering of ESU of Central Florida's TLAB (formerly BUSS) Scholars from 5:00 to 7:00 on March 30th. Twenty four scholars from the past several years enjoyed the opportunity to share travel ideas, experiences from the U.K., stories of favorite professors and classes as well as plans for bringing their real life adventures to their students here in Orange and Seminole Counties. Our new 2017 scholars were sharing their acceptances to London's Globe and Oxford University and comparing the classes that have been assigned. A couple scholars realized they will be taking the same class on Jane Austen or Shakespeare and Politics Then and Now. Networking was also a key of the day with many teachers making connections with each other. Do you have your plane tickets reserved yet? And how much did yours cost? And are you planning to go over early or stay later to see more of Europe…. How about Paris or are you going over to Italy? These were just a few of the conversations of the day. There was so much excitement in the air. Yes, our Scholars' Reunions have proved most successful.


From left to right: Gail Chase, 2017 Scholar Barbara Hughes, Executive VP of Central Fl Branch, Jan McClure, Branch Secretary and Donna Miller, 
Drey Endowment VP.

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Proposed Calendar of Events ESU 2016-2017

 

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The English-Speaking Union

Central Florida Branch

Central Florida Branch Landmark Photo

Welcome to the ESU

The ESU celebrates English as a shared language to foster global understanding and good will by providing educational and cultural opportunities for students, educators, and members.

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