Lovett Senior Wins Trip to NYC for Shakespeare Performance

Captivating audiences with a performance of a sonnet and monologue from Shakespeare, Abigail Van Horn, a senior at The Lovett School, placed as a semi-finalist at the 30th season of the English-Speaking Union (ESU) National Shakespeare Competition. The competition was held on April 22 at Lincoln Center Theater in New York City for 58 winners of ESU Branch competitions nationwide.

Abigail had previously won the ESU Atlanta Branch regional competition.  
The ESU provided the Branch winners with two full days of educational and cultural activities, including an exclusive acting workshop at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and a performance of the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Julius Caesar at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. 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 English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition is a school-based program 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.