On Thursday, February 18th at 1:30 in the afternoon, the Shakespeare Club hosted their first annual Shakespeare Competition in the Collins Theater .  The criteria for members in the contest required that each performance must be a speech from one of Shakespeare’s works, and the speech can be no longer than 20 lines. Leading up to the highly anticipated event were meetings where students could ask the club moderators questions and rehearse their speech before a small audience. A total of ten students took part in the contest, although only one would emerge victorious.

Hosting the event was senior Kim Ira, who kept the show running quickly and smoothly. She prefaced every performance by telling the audience what play the speech was from, benefitting all who hadn’t yet known the joy of reading Shakespeare. As for the participants, they all did an excellent job. I personally would never be able to memorize a speech in such a brief time, let alone act it out in front of a hundred people. Kudos to everyone who had the courage to be in the competition. Although there was the occasional missed line, students simply asked the prompter (junior Mimi Torres-Kelly) and continued on. Every superb speech was accompanied by great lighting, which created an ambiance for the speakers.

The winner of the show was junior Enzo Giordano, who chose a speech from Macbeth, which began with the famous line “Is this a dagger I see before me?” and runner up for the contest was fellow junior Lucie Bhisitkul. By winning, Enzo qualified for the regional competition, which will be held at Archbishop Riordan High School on March 5th. Both Enzo and Lucie did an outstanding job, as did everyone else, reliving the Shakespearean text. Special thanks to all who were involved with the event, especially the judges: Ms. Kuehl, Mr. Morris, and Mr. Barnes.