RBC Student Wins ESU Monmouth County's Shakespeare Competition

Red Bank Catholic Student to Compete in the 35th English-Speaking Union (ESU) National Shakespeare Competition at Lincoln Center in New York

Red Bank, 3/15/18 — Devlin Stark, student of Mary King at Red Bank Catholic won first place at the ESU Monmouth County Branch Regional Shakespeare Competition on March 10th. Devlin will travel to New York City, joining more than 50 other students from around the country to compete in the ESU National Shakespeare Competition at Lincoln Center on April 23, 2018. The ESU National Shakespeare Competition is a performance-based education program in which high school students nationwide read, analyze, perform, and recite Shakespeare’s works.

Shea Grant earned second place, and Christianah Akinsanmi was awarded third place in the Monmouth County Branch competition. Each student performed a Shakespearean monologue and a sonnet. Competitors were judged on their ability to communicate their interpretation of their selected texts to the audience. Judges for the Branch competition included Kate Cordaro (Two River Theater), Samantha Giustiniani (Count Basie Theater), John Bukovec (Brookdale Community College), and Jamie Brink, a theater teacher.

“Devlin chose a challenging speech, Queen Anne’s address to Richard III over the corpse of her husband, whom Richard had killed,” said competition coordinator Janet Smuga. “She presented it with both passion and dignity. We wish her luck at the National competition on April 23rd.”

The Shakespeare Competition program involves three levels for student competitors. First, students perform in their own schools; winners progress to the ESU Branch competitions. Branch winners go to the National Shakespeare Competition. Since 1983, more than 300,000 young Americans of all backgrounds have participated in bringing the timeless works of Shakespeare to life.

On stage, each competitor performs a monologue and sonnets. Then, seven to ten finalists are selected who perform their selections again, and a cold reading of a monologue. The winner earns an all-expenses-paid scholarship to the Young Actors’ Summer School at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London. For information regarding the Shakespeare Competition, please visit www.shakespearecompetition.org

Founded in 1920, The English-Speaking Union is a non-profit, non-political educational organization that employs English as a catalyst to foster global understanding and good will. For additional information about the ESU, please visit www.esuus.org and the Monmouth County Branch at https://www.esuus.org/monmouth/ .