THE CINCINNATI BRANCH
OF THE
ENGLISH-SPEAKING UNION
To: Re: Shakespeare Competition
From: ESU Shakespeare Committee
Date: February 11, 2003
Congratulations on choosing a student to compete in the semi-finals of the Shakespeare Competition sponsored by the Cincinnati Branch of the English - Speaking Union.
We are pleased to announce that the semi-finals scheduled for Saturday, February 22, 2003 at 9:00 a.m. are to be held at Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival Theatre at 719 Race Street in downtown Cincinnati. Registration is at 9:00 a.m., followed by the competition starting at 9:30 a.m. Parking is available in the immediate vicinity and some street parking is available.
Six finalists will be chosen on February 22, to compete in the finals on Saturday, March 1, also at the Cincinnati Shakespeare Festival Theatre at 719 Race Street in downtown Cincinnati. Registration on March 1 is at 12:00 p.m., and the competition will start at 12:30 p.m. Teachers and coaches are asked to remind competitors and their families not to bring children under 10 to the semi-finals or finals. One year one of the teachers failed to let a participant's family know and frankly, it was embarrassing for all to have to ask the person with the underage child to leave. However, it is imperative to our young participants to be protected against an outburst by an underage child in the middle of a performance.
PLEASE NOTE: Contestants will be performing one memorized monologue and one memorized sonnet. Students are required to bring a copy of their monologue for review by a committee member at the time of registration. Monologue must be 15-17 lines prose or 15-20 lines verse. These limits are strictly enforced by the National Shakespeare Competition. Unfortunately, in the past some of our contestants have recited more than the maximum lines. Rather than stop a contestant who goes over 20 lines and disqualify him or her, we have opted to do the review so that he or she has time to make the necessary changes prior to performing.
The national competition has been set for April 26-28th, 2003. Students will arrive in New York on Saturday afternoon, April 26th and will depart on Tuesday morning, April 29th. In addition to the opportunity to perform on the stage of Lincoln Center, all participants will attend a workshop, attend a Broadway show and will have time to explore New York City with the group.
Looking forward to seeing all of you,
The Committee: Janice Flanagan and Bob Amott, 859-291-0621
Robert and Eileen McCarthy, 513-533-3515