Chicago High School Students to Compete in the August Wilson Monologue Competition

Twenty Chicago high school students will once again compete in the finals of the August Wilson Monologue Competition for a chance to represent Chicago in the National Competition at the August Wilson Theatre in New York City. Hundreds of students competed across the city in preliminary rounds. The finals will be held at the Goodman Theatre, 170 N. Dearborn St on Monday, March 6, 2017 at6:00 pm. The August Wilson Monologue Competition is free and open to the public.

Judges for the competition on March 6 will be: Allen Gilmore, Alana Arenas, E. Faye Butler and ReGina Taylor. Competitors in the Finals will represent the following schools: Nicholas Senn High School, Kenwood Academy High School, Wendell Phillips Academy, The Chicago High School for the Performing Arts, DR. Martin Luther King Junior Preparatory High School, Advanced Arts Program at Gallery 37/George Westinghouse College Preparatory High School, Lincoln Park High School, Harper Academy Charter School, Southland College Prep and Simeon Career Academy High School.

The August Wilson Monologue Competition, sponsored locally by The League of Chicago Theatres, Goodman Theatre, and the University of Illinois at Chicago, and organized in Chicago by Derrick Sanders, is a national competition open to all high school students. For the Chicago and National competition, students perform a 2-3 minute monologue of their choosing from one of the ten plays in August Wilson's Century Cycle. They are adjudicated by a panel of Chicago theatre professionals on the basis of preparedness, understanding of the text, emotional connection to the material, and commitment to the performance. The host venue for the Chicago Finals, Goodman Theatre, was the first theater in the world to produce all 10 plays in Wilson's acclaimed Century Cycle-including world premiere productions of Seven Guitars(1995) and Gem of the Ocean (2003).

Open to Chicago area high school sophomores, juniors and seniors, the August Wilson Monologue Competition focuses on exposing students to the richness of August Wilson's Century Cycle, and incorporating the plays into the standard high school curriculum. Chicago's participation in this national event is coordinated by Derrick Sanders, who hopes to continue building robust partnerships with schools across Chicago, creating educational opportunities that allow students to connect to August Wilson and his work through the study of history, social studies and literature.

Hundreds of high school students compete in the AWMC preliminary rounds with 20 students advancing to the Chicago finals. The top three monologues from among the Chicago finalists will be awarded scholarships in the amount of $500 for first place, $250 for second place and $100 for third place. The top two winning students will receive expenses paid to travel to New York City for the National Finals to be held at Broadway's August Wilson Theatre on May 1, 2017. The Finals will include a weekend of activities around the competition and national prizes including monetary awards and scholarship opportunities.

Chicago participants have placed among the top three winners at the national competition since the competition began. Last year Chicago Public School student Ireon Roach was awarded first place in the National August Wilson Monologue Competition which included a $1500 cash prize and a gift of the TCG's Century Cycle collection. A student of Nicholas Senn High School, Roach also won first place in the Chicago competition, which included a $500 scholarship and expenses paid for the final competition in New York. While in New York, she and other finalists explored popular Manhattan attractions, attended the Broadway productions of Hamilton and The Color Purple, and worked closely with two of Wilson's closest collaborators- director Kenny Leon and dramaturg Todd Kreidler.

The 2017 AWMC Chicago Preliminaries were held February 6 at the Logan Center for the Arts at the University of Chicago and February 8 at Victory Gardens Theater. The Semi-Finals were held February 21, 2017 at Steppenwolf Theatre. Regional competitions also take place in Atlanta, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Boston, and New York.

The AWMC is made possible with support from Allstate.

For more information about the Chicago competition, visit: http://chicagoplays.com/august-wilson-monologue-competition.html.

About the Century Cycle

August Wilson's Century Cycle is a singular achievement in American theatre. Each of the ten world-class plays is set in a different decade of the twentieth century. At the plays' core are soaring, lyrical monologues that take the rich song, laughter, and pain of the African American experience and place it in the mouths of the most varied ensemble of characters written since Shakespeare. The plays of the Century Cycle are: Gem of the Ocean, Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, The Piano Lesson, Seven Guitars, Fences, Two Trains Running, Jitney, King Hedley II, and Radio Golf.

About Chicago theatre

Chicago theatre is a leader in the U.S. with more than 250 theatres throughout Chicagoland, comprising a rich and varied community ranging from storefront, non-union theaters to the most renowned resident theatres in the country, including 5 that have been honored with Regional Tony Awards, and the largest touring Broadway organization in the nation. Chicago's theatres serve 5 million audience members annually and have a combined budget of more than $250 million. Chicago produces and/or presents more world premieres annually than any other city in the nation. In the 2014-2015 season, Chicago theatre companies produced more than 100 world premiere productions and adaptations. Each year, Chicago theatres send new work to resident theatres across the country, to Broadway, and around the world.

About the League of Chicago Theatres

The League of Chicago Theatres is an alliance of theatres which leverages its collective strength to promote, support, and advocate for Chicago's theatre industry locally, nationally, and internationally. The League of Chicago Theatres Foundation is dedicated to enhancing the art of theatre in the Chicago area through audience development and support services for theatres and theatre professionals. For a comprehensive list of ChicaGo Productions, visit the League of Chicago Theatres website, ChicagoPlays.com. Half-price tickets are available each week at HotTix.org.

About Goodman Theatre

Called America's "Best Regional Theatre" by Time magazine, Goodman Theatre (Artistic Director Robert Falls and Executive Director Roche Schulfer) has won international recognition for its artists, productions and programs, and is a major cultural, educational and economic pillar in Chicago. Founded in 1925 by William O. Goodman and his family in honor of their son Kenneth, Goodman Theatre has garnered hundreds of awards for artistic achievement and community engagement, including: two Pulitzer Prizes, 22 Tony Awards (including "Outstanding Regional Theatre" in 1992), nearly 160 Joseph Jefferson Awards and more. Visit GoodmanTheatre.org.

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