Judges Announced For 2021 August Wilson Monologue Competition Regional Finals

Center Theatre Group has announced the four judges who are evaluating performances by 11 local high school students in the regional finals for the 2021 August Wilson Monologue Competition. The panel of judges features noted actors, directors and producers including Sophina Brown, Wren T. Brown, Colman Domingo and Michele Shay. The competition was held virtually with participants performing on the stage of the Kirk Douglas Theatre and the judges viewing remotely but in real time. Those performances were recorded and will be streamed during the live event on March 23 at 5 pm Pacific. The livestream of the event will be free to the public and available at CTGLA.org/AugustWilson2021.

This is the tenth consecutive year Center Theatre Group is hosting the Los Angeles component of the national monologue competition. The program is designed to inspire and educate Los Angeles youth using monologues from August Wilson's "American Century Cycle," a 10-play cycle that details the complexity of the African American experience in the 20th century. All previous competitions have culminated in an evening of monologues performed on the stage of the Mark Taper Forum.

The students selected to participate in the regional finals are Simone Baker (Sherman Oaks), Hazel Eko (Los Angeles), Willa Jackson (Los Angeles), Chazaiah Johnson (Los Angeles), Hailey Soomin Lee(Redondo Beach), Giselle Lopez (Los Angeles), Veronica McFarlane (Whittier), Stephen Moran (Los Angeles), Reva Pau (South Pasadena), Dillion Jerome Sowell (Moreno Valley) and Landon Wouters (Fullerton).

Two finalists will be announced during the livestream on March 23. Those two finalists will be joined by one of last year's finalists, Tyla Uzo, in advancing to the national competition. The students selected will receive master classes provided by Center Theatre Group. The sessions will allow the students to refine their performances while gaining valuable acting techniques.

The program kicked off this season with a preliminary audition that featured 113 students in 10th, 11th or 12th-grade from 33 different high schools in Los Angeles, Orange, San Bernardino and Riverside counties. Of those students, 45 advanced to a semi-final audition held live on Zoom in December 2020 where the aforementioned 11 regional finalists were selected to move forward.

Center Theatre Group also offers an in-school residency as part of the larger August Wilson Program. The August Wilson In-School Residency is a semester-long program that provides students from Title 1 schools with an in-depth study of the work of August Wilson. This year, classes from Carson Senior High School, Edward R. Roybal Learning Center and Animo Leadership Charter High School are taking part in the residency. The students and teachers from the three classrooms selected will have the opportunity to view the AWMC Los Angeles Regional Finals as part of their residency experience, witnessing the power of theatre as their peers bring August Wilson's characters to life.

AWMC is a national program presented by Kenny Leon's True Colors Theatre Company and Jujamcyn Theaters and hosted in cities throughout the country, including Atlanta; Boston; Buffalo, New York; Chicago; Dallas; East Lansing; Greensboro, North Carolina; Hampton Roads, Virginia; Las Vegas; Los Angeles; Maryland; Milwaukee; New Haven, Connecticut; New York; Norfolk, Virginia; Pittsburgh; Portland, Oregon; San Diego; Seattle; and Urbana-Champaign, Illinois. Each city runs its program differently and each experience is designed to provide learning opportunities for high school students to study and practice the craft of acting through the work of August Wilson.

Center Theatre Group's August Wilson Program is made possible by the Michael Shaw Jacobs Fund and The Dwight Stuart Youth Fund. Additional support is provided by Cindy and Gary Frischling, the Lawrence P. Frank Foundation, the Sascha Brastoff Foundation, the Find Your Light Foundation and City National Bank. The August Wilson Monologue Competition Los Angeles Regional Finals is presented by the Center Theatre Group Affiliates.

Center Theatre Group honors its long-standing relationship with August Wilson through its August Wilson Program, as well as through its continued production of Wilson's work. Center Theatre Group has presented nine of Wilson's "American Century Cylce," including two world premiere productions. Most recently, Wilson's "Jitney" had a successful run at the Mark Taper Forum in 2019.

More information on Center Theatre Group's August Wilson Monologue Competition can be found at CTGLA.org/AugustWilson.

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