The competition is open to all public, private and parochial schools within participating English-Speaking Union Branch communities.

Eligible students must be enrolled in the 10th, 11th, or 12th grade. Since the competition is not intended for professional actors, contestants should not have performed for pay during the school year in which the competition takes place.

Among the 76 ESU Branches in the United States, approximately 60 administer and sponsor local Shakespeare Competitions.

Teachers interested in starting a competition in their school should contact an ESU Branch near them.

In the first stage, teachers incorporate the Competition program into their Shakespeare curriculum. Classroom activities culminate in school-wide competitions, often held during assemblies, where students are required to recite from memory a monologue of 15 to 20 lines.

The winners of the school competitions go on to the next stage, the local ESU Branch finals. At the Branch finals, competitors are asked to present both a monologue and a sonnet from memory. The Indianapolis Branch competition will be held on Monday, February 19, 2007 at 7pm on the Upper Stage of Indiana Repertory Theatre.

Every April, Branch winners receive an all-expense paid weekend to compete as National semi-finalists in a prestigious New York City theater before a panel of distinguished judges. In the last stage of competition, ten finalists perform a cold reading of a Shakespeare monologue in addition to their prepared monologues and sonnets.

Each year the National Shakespeare Competition winner receives a summer course in the United Kingdom. The 2003 winner studied with the Royal Shakespeare Company at the Shakespeare Institute in Stratford-upon-Avon.

You are invited to participate in our National Shakespeare Competition, which will take place this April in New York City! All materials you need are available for download here. If you have any further questions, please contact Barbara MacDougall drakemac@aol.com.

  ·  Student Invitation
  ·  Instructions for School Competition
  ·  Student Guidelines
  ·  Suggested Monologues (links to National ESU Site - opens in new window)
  ·  School Participation Form
  ·  School Winner Information
  ·  Student Workshop Flyer