{"id":168,"date":"2022-12-26T11:29:51","date_gmt":"2022-12-26T11:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/esustage.wpengine.com\/kansas-city\/?page_id=168"},"modified":"2025-10-02T15:14:22","modified_gmt":"2025-10-02T15:14:22","slug":"shakespeare-competition","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.esuus.org\/charlottesville\/what-we-do\/shakespeare-competition\/","title":{"rendered":"ESU National Shakespeare Competition – Charlottesville"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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THE ESU NATIONAL SHAKESPEARE COMPETITION – CHARLOTTESVILLE<\/h5>\n \n
A performance-based educational program serving grades 9-12<\/div>\n \n \n
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\n PROGRAM OVERVIEW <\/div>\n \n
\n Charlottesville Shakespeare Competition <\/div>\n \n \n
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The ESU National Shakespeare Competition is a performance-based education program. High school students develop analytical and communication skills by performing Shakespeare at the school, community, and national levels. Since 1983 more than 360,000 students have brought the timeless works of Shakespeare to life. The Charlottesville Branch began participating in 1983 and has had National winners selected from its local competitors.  <\/strong><\/p>\n

The Competition helps students develop speaking and critical-thinking skills while they explore the beauty of the language and the timeless themes in Shakespeare’s works. By preparing a monologue and sonnet for public presentation, students bring Shakespeare to life in their own way and learn to express his works with understanding, clarity, and feeling. Approximately 2,500 teachers and 20,000 students in nearly 60 ESU branches participate each year.<\/span><\/p>\n

High school students from the Charlottesville area (Grades 9-12) will be competing for First Place at the Charlottesville Finals with the winner advancing to the National Finals in New York City each April.  Students perform and recite Shakespeare monologues and sonnets in three qualifying stages: school, branch, and National levels.<\/span><\/p>\n

Charlottesville leverages the Blackfriar’s Playhouse in nearby Staunton for its competitions.  Blackfriar’s Playhouse is the world’s first re-creation of Shakespeare’s indoor theatre.<\/p>\n

If you are a Theatre, English, Forensics teacher, or administer a home school program, we encourage you to enter to give your students an opportunity to participate in this exciting competition. If you are an interested high school student, please alert your teachers to this valuable program. <\/span><\/p>\n

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The ESU National Shakespeare Competition gets underway in schools across the country each fall. Following is the generic schedule for each year\u2019s competition:<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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  • Branch Registration in October <\/li>\n
  • School Registration in November<\/li>\n
  • Branch Competitions must be held prior to the middle of March <\/li>\n
  • National Competition at Lincoln Center occurs in April<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

    The National Competition finals will be held at Lincoln Center in NYC in late April<\/p>\n

    Prizes Include:<\/strong><\/h4>\n
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    • 1st place: British American Drama Academy Mid-Summer Conservatory Program in Oxford, London<\/li>\n
    • 2nd place: American Shakespeare Center Theatre Camp in Staunton, VA<\/li>\n
    • 3rd place: $1000<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n <\/div>\n \n \n\n
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      \n Cville ESU Branch Success Stories <\/div>\n \n
      \n Shakespeare Competition Winner Participates with Area Shakespeare Troupe <\/div>\n \n
      \n Queen Charlotte’s Villeins <\/div>\n \n \n
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