USC Students Perform Shakespeare Scenes at O’Reilly Theater
On Tuesday, February 9, twenty Boyce Middle School students participated in the Shakespeare Monologue
and Scene Contest sponsored by the Pittsburgh Public Theater. In addition, 35 Fort Couch Middle School and Upper St. Clair High School students also competed in this annual event.
The USC participants were:
Maddie Bruno
Anna Cancilla
Nate Carroll
Aly Childs
Debbie Chu
Zoe Dvorin
Shivani Jajoo
Ava Keating
Rebecca Lang
Maggie Lowden
Erin Payne
Emma Pribanic
Sophia Putorti
Rosemary Ramierz
Joe Reeder
Sam Scalzo
Ritvik Shah
Jillian Shaw
Zach Sileo
Anoushka Sinha
Vivek Babu
Sadhana Boddhula
Gabby Brubach
Tyler Carroll
Christian Chiu
Harrison Chui
Antara Cleetus
Ami Doshi
Sam Dvorin
Dylan Fall
Sara Hess
Patrick Joyce
Bryce Keating
Richa Mahajan
Katie McCurrie
Morgan Meddings
Jack Myers
Danny O’Brien
Joe Phillips
Sophia Pries
Emily Rhodes
Caroline Sandford
Sammie Sewald
Ishaan Shah
Sophia Shi
Grace Suter
Maxwell Turnwald
Emme Wetzel
Gaurav Bhushan
Wyatt Keating
Quinn Murray
Michael Nastac
Christina Park
Shebl Rosati
Claire Zalla
All students did an extraordinary job!
With over 1,000 participants in 2015-16, the Shakespeare contest has become a wonderful opportunity for young people to experience the excitement of live performance while learning the works of William Shakespeare. Coaching sessions are conducted in January and February in the schools and at the O'Reilly Theater. Contestants present their pieces on the Public's main stage in front of a panel of judges, and those who advance to the final round of the contest have the opportunity to perform at the Showcase of Finalists.
Last year, with their interpretation of A Midsummer Night's Dream, Upper St. Clair High School students Ben Nadler and Sriparna Sen were named finalists for the “Upper Division Scenes” (grades 8-12) of the contest.
The faculty sponsors for the Shakespeare Contest are Ms. Diane Ecker and Ms. Susan Fleckenstein for Boyce and Ms. Connie Gibson, Ms. Pat Palazzolo and Mr. Jason O'Roark for Fort Couch and High School.
Pictured:
(1 top) The Boyce, Fort Couch, and HS participants in the Pittsburgh Public Theater’s Monologue Contest learned a lot about Shakespeare and the Performing Arts.
(2) Performing scenes from Macbeth, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Merry Wives of Windsor, King Lear and Romeo and Juliet were Boyce actors (front row, left to right) Rosemary Ramierz, Ava Keating, Rebecca Lang, Shivani Jajoo, Maggie Lowden, Sophia Putorti, Zoe Dvorin, Anoushka Sinha, Aly Childs, Sam Scalzo, (back row) Maddie Bruno, Debbie Chu, Anna Cancilla, Emma Pribanic, Jillian Shaw, Erin Payne, Zach Sileo, Joe Reeder, Ritvik Shah, and Nate Carroll.
(3) High school monologues were performed by (left to right) Claire Zalla, Christina Park, Quinn Murray, Michael Nastac, Gaurav Bhushan, Shebl Rosati, and Wyatt Keating.
(4) Fort Couch had a great showing at the contest: back row from left to right – Maddie Nolan, Abby Rutkowski, Sara Strain, Emily Rhodes, Vivek Babu, Sam Dvorin, Tyler Carroll, Danny O’Brien, Joe Phillips, Bryce Keating, Ami Doshi; middle row – Shay McDowell, Emme Wetzel, Katie McCurrie, Morgan Meddings, Harrison Chui, Christian Chiu, Richa Mahajan, Sadhana Boddhula, Sara Hess; front row – Dylan Fall, Antara Cleetus, Sophia Pries, Sophia Shi, Sammie Seewald, Gabby Brubach, Caroline Sandford, Grace Sutter