Workshop Kicks Off 2017 August Wilson Monologue Competition
Up to 80 high school students expected to compete in January Dallas preliminaries; SMU Meadows provides teaching artists, location for regional competition
SMU Meadows is hosting the Dallas regional competition for the nationwide 2017 August Wilson Monologue Competition for the second year in a row. This year’s competition kicked off on Saturday, November 12 as 39 area high school students gathered at Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts, where teaching artists from sponsoring organizations SMU Meadows, Dallas Theater Center, Soul Repertory Theater and African-American Repertory Theater worked with competitors on their two – to three-minute monologues. Each monologue is from one of August Wilson’s “Century Cycle” plays, a collection of 10 plays that focus on the African-American experience in the U.S., for which he received two Pulitzer Prizes for Drama.
An estimated 80 competitors from a pool of 18 Dallas-area high schools will compete in the Dallas regional preliminaries on January 19, 2017 at SMU Meadows School of the Arts’ Greer Garson Theatre. From that, an estimated 16 competitors will advance to the Dallas finals on February 20; the two winners will receive an all-expenses-paid trip to compete in the national finals at Broadway’s August Wilson Theatre in May.
Students of all ethnicities are invited to participate.
For more information, contact Assistant Professor of Theatre Benard Cummings.