August Wilson Monologue Competition

Protocol and Suggested Tips for school competition

Preparation for theAugust Wilson Monologue Competition

  1. Set a date for your school competition. During the school day is preferable, so the student body can participate as audience members. It would be most beneficial to your competition to create an assembly and invitestudents and teachers to attend for additional support. If possible, have a school assembly, an assembly by grade, or an English/theatre class assembly.

All competitions are required to take placebefore January13, 2017.

Once you have set your school’s competition date, please email the date to the Huntington Theatre Company’s Education Department at

  1. Advertise the competition around your school to stir up interest.
  2. Print posters
  3. Make your competition date part of your morning announcements (have “August Wilson Week” as part of the announcements with facts about the playwright)
  4. Send “save the date” notices to the administration and staff
  5. Have an “August Wilson Week” in your school library featuring the August Wilson Century Cycle
  6. Advertise in the school newspaper
  7. If awarding prizes (see below), include that in your advertising for incentive.

Format for School-Level August Wilson Monologue Competition

Judging

  1. Recruit three performance judges from your community. These judges will evaluate the students’ acting and could include teachers, local actors, arts reporters, politicians,or members of the school board. Parents should not serve on the panel.
  1. Recruit a fourth person to serve as your accuracy judge. This person will have a separate score sheet as well as a copy of each monologue being presented, and will focus solely on how well the contestant has memorized his/her monologue. The accuracy score will then be added to the total performance score. In the event of a tie, the contestant with the higher accuracy score should be named the winner.
  1. A fifth person should serve as tabulator. After each student performs, give the judges a few minutes to fill out their forms and then collect all three performance judge score sheets and the accuracy score sheet. The tabulatorwill receive the score sheets and will tally the final scores.

Competition Logistics

  1. Choose someone from your school to act as theemcee and begin the competition with anintroduction. The emcee willalso act as a liaison between the judges and the students, so students know when it’stheir turn to take the stage. It’s important for the judges to have time to score one monologue before the next performer begins and this process ensuresjudges give their undivided attention to each contestant.
  1. Play music in between monologues while the judges are scoring. If possible, include the school band or small ensemble to play between monologues, or have appropriate recorded music over a sound system. We recommend blues and jazz selections, as these genres were major influences on August Wilson.
  1. Student competitors may sit in either the front row of the audience or in a semi-circle of chairs onstage. If seated onstage, students should step to the downstage center (front and middle) part of the stage when it is their turn to perform. Remind the students waiting to perform their monologues that they should be an appropriate, supportive audience.
  1. The students will take their place in the performance area and introduce themselves as follows:

“Hello, my name is ___student’s first AND last name__and I will be playing the role of __character’s name__ from the play ___play title___.”

  1. Performance requirements:
  • Monologue selections MUST come from the official national competition compendium provided by the Huntington Theatre Company. No edits or cuts may be made to the monologues as they are presented in the compendium.
  • Performances MUST clock in at 3 minutes or under. Longer performances will be disqualified at the regional level.
  • Student may NOT use any props or costumes. Students may use one chair for their performance.
  • Students may NOTuse a podium or a microphone. A prompter should be located in a front row, sostudents can call for “line” when needed. The prompter should have a binder with copies of each monologue in performance order. If the student calls for “line,” the prompter will provide the next few words of the monologue to help the student along. The student should pick up and jump back into their performance as quickly as possible.
  1. Supplies: Each performance judge will need a pen and a clipboard that is prepped with a copy of the “Judges Evaluation Sheet” for each student, in performance order, with the student’s name and play title carefully written at the bottom where indicated (typed labels work great). The accuracy judge will need a pen and a binder with a copy of the monologue and an accuracy score sheet for each student, in performance order.
  1. Set up a place for the judges to sit separate from the audience. Judges should be seated far enough away from the performers that they can accurately judge the “vocal presentation and projection” category.
  1. After all of the students have performed, usher the judges to another room to share the tallied scores. Whoever is tabulating the scores should be included, but is only present to share the numerical results.Allow judges to review and discuss the score if needed. While the audience waits for the final scores to be announced,administrators, teachers, or special guests could read August Wilson facts or perform excerpts from August Wilson plays. Another option during this time includes playing music.
  1. One winner from your school will compete in the Boston regional competition. Announce your winner and any runner(s) up and award prizes if you wish. The Huntington Theatre Company suggests presenting participation certificates to all studentperformers and special certificatesto the winner and runners-up (the Huntington can provide a template if needed). Have a short awards ceremony for the students and provide the students and the audience with the date and time of the Boston regional competition.
  1. Submit your winner’s name, monologue, and contact information to the Huntington Theatre Company on our website athuntingtontheatre.org/education/august-wilson. Submit the same information for your alternate. The deadline to submit this information is Friday, January 13, 2017.
  1. Your winner and one alternateare invited to participate in a workshop scheduled for Saturday, January 21, 2017from 10am-12pm at the Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. This is a free workshop led by members of the Huntington’s Education staff, designed to help contestants meet each other, learn more about the Boston regional competition, and receive individual and small group coaching. When you submit your winner and alternate’s information, please indicate whether or not they plan to attend the workshop.