On January 6, HBA students competed against each other in a Shakespeare competition.
The winner, junior Joyy Young, will go on to represent HBA at the 2016 Hawaii Branch Shakespeare Competition that will take place on February 20 at Punahou School.
Each participant of the HBA competition was required to perform a monologue from one of Shakespeare’s plays. Young performed Julia’s monologue from The Two Gentlemen of Verona. “I chose the piece because the physical comedy of the piece excited me and I thought it would be fun to work on,” she said. Young, a member of the Hawaii Theatre for Youth, will be performing in their rendition of Shakespeare’s Othello in April.
“I really admire Shakespeare and enjoy acting so being able to do both was a fun opportunity for me to expand my skills as well as learn even more about Shakespeare’s work.”
Junior Kylie Aoki
All of the competitors got extra credit and a chance to perform in front of their classmates. “Competing was really fun because, hey, I got extra credit and made Mrs. Ustare laugh!” said junior Alexa Yoo, who performed Katherine’s monologue from Act 3 of the play The Taming of the Shrew. “I chose this piece because it had a lot of sass and attitude in it, and that’s something I’m pretty familiar with, so It was easy getting into character,” Yoo said. “I think I’ll do it again next year if Mrs. Taylor offers extra credit for it, and I’ll find a piece that I’m interested in”.
Junior Kylie Aoki said that she really enjoyed the competition because it allowed her to dig into Shakespeare’s work and had a chance to watch her classmates perform. Aoki performed one of Portia’s monologue from The Merchant of Venice. She chose the piece because she loved its message. “I really admired the way this monologue was written and I found the character Portia’s characteristics and deeds very relatable,” Aoki said. “I really admire Shakespeare and enjoy acting so being able to do both was a fun opportunity for me to expand my skills as well as learn even more about Shakespeare’s work.”
The winner at the Hawaii Branch competition will represent the state at the English-Speaking Union’s National Shakespeare Competition in New York City this May. Mid-Pacific Institute’s Sarah Spalding (‘15) won the National Competition last year, beating 56 district winners from around the country. Spalding’s prize was a full scholarship to the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art’s Young Actors Summer School in London, England.
