2024 Shakespeare Competition

News

Join Us On Sunday, February 25, 2024 • 2:00 PM

Kansas City Public Library • Plaza Branch • Truman Auditorium

4801 Main Street • Kansas City, Missouri

Free and Open to the Public • Registration Not Required

2024 marks the 40th anniversary for ESU Kansas City Branch Shakespeare Competition. Earlier this year, students at nine high schools in our region performed monologues from Shakespeare's plays and recited Shakespeare's sonnets in competitions held at their schools: Center High School; East High School; Garden City High School; Harrisonville High School; Olathe South High School; Paola High School; Paseo Academy; Saint Thomas Aquinas High School; and Salina Central High School. Join us at the Kansas City Public Library as the winners of those competitions represent their schools at the ESU Kansas City Branch Finals. Invite your friends, families, teachers, and classmates as our distinguished judges select our Kansas City Branch First, Second, and Third Place winners.

Our judges this year are: Sidonie Garrett, Executive Artistic Director of the Heart of America Shakespeare Festival, who has directed 20 of Shakespeare's 38 plays; Melinda McCrary, Director of Education at Kansas City Repertory Theatre, who has been an actor and director in numerous plays, including over 20 productions of Shakespeare's plays; and Mark Robbins, a founding member of the Kansas City Actors Theatre, who has more than 170 professional directing and acting roles to his credit, including title roles in three productions of Shakespeare's plays.

Since 1983, the competition has engaged more than 360,000 young people. Approximately 2,500 teachers and 20,000 students in nearly 60 ESU Branch communities across the country. The ESU National Shakespeare Competition has been recognized by the Globe Center (USA), the Children's Theatre Foundation of America, and the American Academy of Achievement.

Return to News & Events