The National Shakespeare Competition Comes to HHS

William Shakespeare has descended on Homer High School! For the first time ever, HHS will participate in the National Shakespeare Competition!

This is a national contest sponsored by the English-Speaking Union of the United States. It gives students the opportunity to fully appreciate the power of oral communication and language, as well as Shakespearean literature. Students with an interest in Shakespeare can test their powers of verbal communication by performing monologues in front of judges.

Students begin by participating in a schoolwide competition. They select a monologue of their choosing, with a requirement of twenty lines or fewer, and they proceed to perform the piece before the panel of judges. The trick is that no props or costumes are allowed during the student’s performance. This is to place an emphasis on the power of verbal tone and expression. Homer’s competition date has not yet been finalized, but it will be held before midterm week.

The winner of the schoolwide competition may proceed to the state-level contest. In New York, winning students will travel to Syracuse Stage in March. In this stage of the competition, they will perform the monologue from their school contest, as well as a Shakespearean sonnet of their choice.

Finally, the winner of the statewide competition will advance to the national event. This final stage of the competition is held every year in New York City. Finalists compete against each other in front of a panel of distinguished judges, and they have the opportunity to win scholarships and cash awards. The tentative dates for the 2017 finals are April 23rd-25th. To read about the competition in detail, visit the ESU website at http://www.esuus.org/esu/ or follow them on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

At this time, three Homer students have declared their entry into the competition. Drew Gustafson (senior), Julia Gustafson (junior), and Reed Cleland (junior) are long-time members of the HHS Shakespearean and Thespian Society. Each of them has extensive acting experience which includes dealing with Shakespeare’s often-perplexing language. HHS wishes each of them good-luck in the National Shakespeare Competition!