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Teenager from Hawaii wins 2016 English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition

The three winners of the 2016 English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition on stage at Lincoln Center in New York City. (l to r – Third place winner Cecilia Harchegani, First place winner Ari Dalbert, and Second place winner Zoë Oliver.

With a performance of a sonnet and monologue from Shakespeare on stage at Lincoln Center in New York City, ARI DALBERT  from Honolulu, HI, a student of Betty Burdick at Hawaii Homeschool Association in Honolulu, won the 33rd  annual English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition. The Competition took place on May 2, 2016 with 55 semi-finalists from as many ESU Branch competitions nationwide. Ari previously won the ESU Hawai'i Branch competition.

As the winner of the 33rd English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition, Ari received a full scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art Young Actors Summer School in London, England, this summer. The second place winner, Zoë Oliver, representing the Greenwich Branch, won a scholarship to the American Shakespeare Center Theatre Camp in Staunton, VA, while third place winner, Cecilia Harchegani, from the San Diego Branch, received $500 from The Shakespeare Society. 

The finalists were:

Tristan Whitney - Nashville Branch
Madison Breske - Delaware Branch
Jordan Ford - San Francisco Branch  
Rachel Hartner - Research Triangle (NC) Branch
Devin Bean - Boston Branch
Jake Mulé - Desert (Palm Springs) Branch
Abel Garcia - New York Branch

Watch videos of the 2016 Competition Finalists. 

View photos from the competition. 

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Debate Team from the Hackley School wins 2016 English-Speaking Union Middle School Debate Championship Tournament

The Hackley School, Stephen Fitzpatrick, Kiri Fitzpatrick, Hannah Ostfield, Alex Goldman

   

The English-Speaking Union Middle School Debate Program capped off a successful fifth year with its annual Championship Tournament, which took place at Stone Bridge Middle School in Allentown, NJ, on April 16, 2016.  All six ESU Middle School Debate Program leagues participated bringing together 250 debaters from 29 schools from New York, New Jersey, Virginia, Maryland, and Washington D.C. 

The English-Speaking Union Middle School Debate Program teaches the fundamentals of argumentation and debate to students in grades 5-8. Established in 2011, the program now includes three ESU-sponsored leagues in New York, two in New Jersey and one in Washington, DC.  Some 50 public, private, parochial and charter schools participate in the program, engaging more than 1,000 teenagers annually in weekly after-school debate activities designed to develop and hone student's public speaking, critical thinking, listening and debating skills.

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33rd Annual English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition

On May 2, 2016, more than 50 high school students from throughout the United States will converge at New York City's Lincoln Center to compete in the 33rd annual English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition. With the competition, the ESU celebrates the legacy of William Shakespeare as part of Shakespeare400, theinternational yearlong celebration of Shakespeare's works in 2016. This year, the ESU National Shakespeare Competition marks the milestone of exceeding 300,000 student participants since its inception in 1983. Among the winners and finalists of the Competition who have gone on to national acclaim are actor and director Joe Sofranko, whose Hulu series Complete Works is, in fact, based on the National Shakespeare Competition; actors Emily Bergl (Desperate Housewives, Southland); Tyler Hilton (Walk the Line, One Tree Hill); Heather Lind (Boardwalk Empire, Turn: Washington's Spies); Bronwyn Reed (Law and Order: SVU); as well as Broadway's Matt Harrington (Twelfth Night, Matilda) and Adam Wesley Brown (Once the Musical).

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Win a complete set of Folger Editions from the Folger Shakespeare Library and Simon & Schuster!

 

To celebrate The 33rd ESU National Shakespeare Competition and Shakespeare400, we are giving our Facebook followers a chance to win a complete set of Folger Editions from the Folger Shakespeare Library and Simon & Schuster (http://snip.ly/9qrzt).

To Enter:
 
2. Like the Folger Shakespeare Library's Facebook page.
3. Like and Share our contest post here.

The contest closes at midnight on 05.02.2016. T&C's apply. 

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A Salute to Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II

The English-Speaking Union of the United States salutes 

Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II

Patron of The English-Speaking Union
of the Commonwealth
on this
her 90th Birthday.  

 For information, click here

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