Captivating audiences with a performance of a sonnet and monologue from Shakespeare, Logan Sutton, a student of Sue Scarborough at Enloe Magnet High School, placed as one of 10 finalists at the English-Speaking Union National Shakespeare Competition. The competition was held on April 27th at Lincoln Center in New York City for 59 winners of ESU Branch competitions nationwide. Logan had won the ESU Research Triangle Branch regional competition.
The English-Speaking Union’s 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. Inaugurated in 1983, the program has engaged more than 250,000 young people.
As the winner of a local English-Speaking Union Branch Competition, Logan was awarded the trip to New York City for the final stage of the Competition. The ESU National Headquarters provided the finalists with three full days of activities, including a performance of the new Broadway production of Waiting for Godot, an acting workshop at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and tours of New York City. Perhaps best of all for these teenagers was the opportunity to spend three days with other students from across the country, who share their love of theater and, particularly, Shakespeare.
Among the distinguished judges for this year’s Competition were actor Gene Wilder; Shakespeare scholar Maurice Charney, Rutgers University Professor of English; Directors Barry Edelstein of the Public Theater Shakespeare Lab, and Michael Sexton of The Shakespeare Society; Manhattan Theatre Club Casting Director Nancy Piccione; Actor Peter Francis James; and Louis Sheeder, Director of the Classical Studio, Tisch School of the Arts, New York University.
The English-Speaking Union of the United States is a non-profit, non-political educational organization whose mission is to promote scholarship and the advancement of knowledge through the effective use of English in an expanding global community. The ESU carries out its work through a network of 72 U.S. Branches, sponsoring a variety of language and international education programs.
You can find more information on the Shakespeare Competition here.
Thanks to teacher Sue Scarborough for sharing her story