Winners crowned in Public Theater’s 25th Shakespeare Monologue & Scene Contest
“Nay, I prithee now with most petitionary vehemence, tell me who it is.” — Rosalind in “As You Like It”
The answer on Monday night was: It is you. Madeline Dalesio and Lindy Spear, playing Rosalind and Celia in that scene from “As You Like It,” were crowned among the winners at the 25th Shakespeare Monologue & Scene Contest.
From the more than 1,000 students who began the Pittsburgh Public Theater’s annual competition Feb. 4, 41 actors in grades 8-12 (Upper Division) and 4-7 (Lower Division) made it to the Showcase of Finalists at the O’Reilly Theater, Downtown.
Madeline and Lindy, of the Venice Homeschool Co-op and CanonMcMillan High School, respectively, were the Upper Division scene winners. Brynn Burnsworth, Macie Capel, Bailey Edgar and Cherish Erb-White, sixth-graders from Baden Academy, were the victors in the Lower Division for a scene from “Much Ado About Nothing.”
Finishing atop the Lower Division for his monologue performance was Wesley Madge, a sixthgrader from Chartiers Valley Middle School, who kicked off the night by rallying the troops with a speech from “King Henry V.” Carolyn Jerz, who is homeschooled, took the Upper Division as the Duke of York in “King Henry VI, Part 3.”
Each participant in the competition was evaluated by a team of judges, and those with the highest scores had been named Friday to move on to Monday’s Showcase. Pittsburgh Public artistic director Marya Sea Kaminski and actors from the company’s “The Tempest” and “Sweat” judged the finals.
The competition was the brainchild of Rob Zellers, the Public’s now retired director of education. He returned on Monday to join with his successor, Shaun Hall, in presenting the first Ron Zellers Award for Excellence in Arts Education to Doris Stupka, for her work with students in the North Hills School District.