Shakespeare Competition 2015

Announcement

The Syracuse branch of the English-Speaking Union of the United States today held its twenty-seventh annual Shakespeare Competition at Syracuse Stage's Archbold Theatre.

Each year area high school students, winners of their local school competitions, recite a monologue and sonnet with the hope of joining sixty other nationwide winners in New York City for ESU's National Competition held this year at the Lincoln Center on April 26-28.  The National winner will receive a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art's Young Actors Summer School in London.  Second and third place winners also receive awards.

The purpose of the competition is to develop students' understanding of Shakespeare and his universality, as well as to support the worldwide ESU's mission of celebrating English as a shared language and fostering global understanding and good will by providing educational and cultural opportunities for students, educators and members.  Syracuse's event is made possible by the generous support of The Allyn Foundation and The Richard Mather Fund and by the members of ESU's Syracuse branch.

Malcolm Ingram, Associate Professor of voice and acting in Syracuse University's Drama Department, conducted a workshop for Syracuse's competition participants on Tuesday, March 3, at Archbold Theatre of Syracuse Stage.  Judges today were Matt Chiorini, Celia Madeoy, and Joan Hart Willard.

This year's participants represented nineteen schools:

Camden – Gracie Rinehard                                       Marcellus – Mackenzie Sadler          
Cazenovia – Sydney Levinson                                  
P.V. Moore (Central Square) – Samuel Santorelli
Christian Brothers Academy –Madeline George       Nottingham –  Lucy Purnine
Cicero-North Syracuse – Jessica Lisi                                    Onondaga – Bernadette Castilano
Fabius-Pompey – Abby Young                                
Red Creek – Emilie Pitts                              
Fayetteville-Manlius – Bridget Dugan                        Skaneateles – Ellen Legg
Jamesville-Dewitt – Erica Joyner                               Syracuse Academy of Science – Nathali Zequeira
Lansing – Scott Williamson                                        
Union Springs – Connor Coleman
Liverpool –  Catie Kobland                                          Westhill – Mae O'Neill                                    
Manlius Pebble Hill – Emily Leggat                                       

1^st place was awarded to Mae O'Neill
2^nd place went to Lucy Purnine
3^rd place winner was Gracie Rinehard
Honorable mention recipients were Emily Leggat, Erica Joyner, and Catie Kobland

Each of the school winners received a copy of The Complete Works of William Shakespeare.

All students participating in their schools receive a certificate of participation from Syracuse's ESU branch; those students number 130.

Further information is available at www.esuus.org or from Syracuse ESU Shakespeare Committee Co-chairs, Wendy Davenport, wendyd1998@twcny.rr.com, and Susan Jarosz, tedsu@verizon.net.

Click here to view photos from the event.  

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