Leon, Kreidler Set for 2011 August Wilson Competition for Kids, 5/9

Jujamcyn Theaters and True Colors Theatre Company have announced the 3rd Annual August Wilson Monologue Competition, featuring high school students from Atlanta, Boston, Chicago, New York, Pittsburgh, and Seattle performing monologues by the legendary American playwright, to take place on Monday, May 9th at 7:00 p.m. at the August Wilson Theatre (245 West 52nd Street). The event is free and open to the public!

Co-sponsored by True Colors Theatre Company and Jujamcyn Theaters, this year's national competition, the third of its kind to take place on the stage of Broadway's August Wilson Theatre, will afford eighteen students from these cities around the country the opportunity to attend a Broadway show, work closely with Wilson's collaborators, director Kenny Leon and dramaturge Todd Kreidler, and explore popular Manhattan attractions before making their Broadway debuts.

Founded in 2007, the Annual August Wilson Monologue Competition aims to expose a new generation of creative minds to the life's work and artistic legacy of this seminal American playwright. Program participants in cities across the country encounter Wilson's ten play cycle and receive coaching from teaching artists as they prepare their monologues for local, city-wide and national competitions.

The national competition event has attracted the interest of many "Wilsonian Soldiers" who have lent their support as performers, judges, and special guests. Participants in past years have included Phylicia Rashad, Russell Hornsby, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, Scott Rudin, Guy Davis, Lynda Gravatt, Keith Randolph Smith, Chris Chalk, LaTanya Richardson, Heather Alicia Simms, and Mykelti Williamson, among others.

In addition to performance skills, the competition aims to build participants' confidence and leadership skills and to provide them with access to unprecedented opportunities. The top three contestants from the national competition are awarded college scholarship opportunities in addition to monetary awards and the generous gift of TCG's Century Cycle collection. The first place winner will receive a $500 cash prize, the runner-up a $250 cash prize and the honorable mention a $100 cash prize. Each of the winners will also become eligible for college scholarship opportunities. A number of AWMC participants from previous years have found themselves college-bound thanks in no small part to the competition experience.

This year, the August Wilson Monologue Competition is proud to count the Goodman Theatre, Huntington Theatre Company and Seattle Repertory Theatre among their regional partners. Center Theatre Group and a number of other regional theaters are currently poised to participate in the 2012 competition. For more information, visit www.truecolorstheatre.org/august-wilson-monologue-competition.

Jujamcyn Theaters, founded in 1956, owns and operates five theaters on Broadway: the St. James, Al Hirschfeld, August Wilson, Eugene O'Neill, and Walter Kerr. Jordan Roth is the President of Jujamcyn Theaters, whose current Broadway productions include American Idiot, The Book of Mormon, How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying, The House of Blue Leaves and Jersey Boys. Jujamcyn has been proudly associated with August Wilson since The Piano Lesson opened on Broadway in 1990. Thanks largely to Senior Vice President Jack Viertel's commitment, Jujamcyn co-produced the Broadway premieres of six plays in Wilson's ten play Century Cycle. In 2005 Jujamcyn renamed the Virginia Theatre in honor of August Wilson two weeks after the playwright's death.

True Colors Theatre Company, co-founded in 2003 by Artistic Director Kenny Leon and Founding Managing Director Jane Bishop, tries to preserve the classics by presenting them to a new generation and helping cultivate the voices that will be the classics of the next generation. Recent productions include The Sty of the Blind Pig, Black Nativity, Our Town, Jitney, Gut Bucket Blues, Broke-ology, and The Colored Museum with Fool for Love upcoming.

For more information, visit www.truecolorstheatre.org/august-wilson-monologue-competition.

 

Photo Credit: Peter James Zielinski