Musical art students attend Shakespeare contest

Posted on February 20, 2018 by Caitlyn Slezak in Features // 0 Comments

“To go or not to go, that was the question” that Mrs Michelle Zamperini’s students recently asked themselves when presented with the opportunity to go to the annual Shakespeare Monologue and Scene Contest in Pittsburgh. The only requirement: to memorize an excerpt from a Shakespeare play.

Three students decided to take the trip and spend the day in Pittsburgh. By 8 a. m., Mindy Wagner, Ashley Vanorsdale and Jordan Brown, made their way to the auditorium to practice their monologue one final time.

“I was about half way through and stumbled on my words, which made me nervous,” Wagner said. “But the second time I was a lot better, so the nerves went away.” An hour later, the three were filled with Shakespeare’s words and were off to Pittsburgh to compete.

The three arrived at the O’Reilly Theater to perform, and while they were overwhelmed by their surroundings, they agreed it was such an honor to even be there with the opportunities they had.

The girls spent their time reciting their monologues. In alphabetical order they were called to perform: Brown went first, reciting an excerpt from The Merchant of Venice; Vanorsdale then recited a piece from The Tragedy of Romeo and Juliet, and Wagner recited lines from The Tragedy of Macbeth.

“When it was my turn, I was obviously nervous,” recalled Vanorsdale, “but once I was up there, I realized it wasn’t so bad.”

“The judges were very kind,” Wagner said. “I think that made the whole thing a little less nerve wracking for us all.”

Following the contest, the girls and Mrs. Zamperini headed to Station Square to walk around and eat lunch.

Besides incredible memories, each girl received a t-shirt and two tickets for any 2018 show at the O’Reilly Theater. The three girls agreed they were so glad they would love to do it again.