Local Student Graces Lincoln Center Stage for the 2014 ESU National Shakespeare Competition

News – May 2014

Captivating audiences with a performance of a sonnet and monologue from Shakespeare, Regan Sims from New York City, a student of Casey McClellan at the Professional Perfoming Arts School in New York, placed as a semi-finalist in the 31st annual English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition. The Competition was held on May 5th at Lincoln Center Theater in New York City for 58 winners of ESU Branch competitions nationwide. Regan had previously won the ESU New York Branch regional competition.

This year's winner of the English-Speaking Union Indianapolis Branch competition, Scott Van Wye, won first prize in the ESU National Shakespeare Competition, winning a full Scholarship to attend the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art's Young Actors Summer School in London, England. Second place winner, Chloe Bell, representing the Kentucky Branch, won a scholarship to attend the American Shakespeare Center's Theatre Camp. Third place winner, Ashish Ramachandran, representing the Greenwich Branch of the ESU, won $500 from The Shakespeare Society.

The English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition is a school-based program designed to help students 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. In three progressive competition levels, students memorize, interpret, and perform monologues and sonnets in their own schools, at ESU Branch-sponsored community competitions and at the National Shakespeare Competition. The program has engaged more than 250,000 young people since its inception. Citing its 31st season this year, the Honorable Bill De Blasio, Mayor of the City of New York, proclaimed May 5th as William Shakespeare Day. Danny Lopez, the British Consul-General in New York, read the proclamation, and Josiah Bunting III, Chairman of the English-Speaking Union, awarded certificates to the competitors.

The ESU provided the Branch winners with two full days of educational and cultural activities in New York City, including an exclusive acting workshop at the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and a performance of The Realistic Joneses on Broadway. 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 a love of theater, language and, particularly, Shakespeare.

The semi-finals competition judges were distinguished actors and educators: Sybille Bruun-Moss (Executive Director and Co-Founder of The Shakespeare Forum); Maurice Charney (Distinguished Professor of English at Rutgers University); Alexandra López (Associate Director of Education at Lincoln Center Theater); Geoffrey Owens (Actor and Director); and Ross Williams (Founder of the New York Shakespeare Exchange).

Read more about the 2014 National Competition.

Learn more about the program in New York City.

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